A Surprisingly Passive President Amid Turmoil

New York Times: “He stayed largely out of sight as the stock market plummeted in its most volatile week in years. He was largely uninvolved as Congress crafted a two-year budget agreement without him, ending a brief, middle-of-the-night shutdown Friday morning after just a few hours rather than allowing the full shutdown he wanted to force an immigration deal. And he angrily chastised aides for keeping him out of the loop on spousal abuse allegations against a top aide.”

“There are times when it serves a president’s interests to step back and let events play out around him, but it goes against the grain for Mr. Trump, who has always styled himself as the master of his universe. The passive presidency of recent days presumably will not last, but even when he tries to impose his will on the capital and the world, Mr. Trump has found that there are limits to his ability to shape events.”