For Trump the enemy is inside America, not outside it – could the ‘Resistance’ trigger civil war?

Donald Trump and his Cabinet

Fear by one of the great Liberal Lions of American Journalism, Bob Woodward, paints a picture within the White House far more dangerously dysfunctional than most of us feared.

That people are removing dangerous pieces of legislation from Trump’s table before he can sign them is bad enough, that he doesn’t seem to notice is truly terrifying.

That book would have been bad enough for Trump, but being released in the same week that an anonymous editorial appeared in the New York Times where invisible officials boasted of waging a war against Trump from the inside, has set in motion all the ingredients for a major political meltdown at a time when Trump is engaging in a dangerous game of chicken with China and the ICC.

Anyone else facing such a scorching assessment of their capabilities might pause, reflect and change course. Trump is devoid of any such ability to self reflect and will instead double down and make his circle of advisors even smaller.

This is particularly dangerous when you consider John Bolton, the Super Hawk of America, is one in that inner circle, take a look at his extraordinary threats towards the ICC this week…

In his tirade against the court, Mr Bolton said it:

• Was a threat to “American sovereignty and US national security”
• Lacked checks and balances, claimed “jurisdiction over crimes that have disputed and ambiguous definitions” and failed to “deter and punish atrocity crimes”
• Was “superfluous” as the US administration did “not recognise any higher authority than the US Constitution”

Mr Bolton said: “We will not co-operate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders backed Mr Bolton, saying President Donald Trump would use “any means necessary to protect our citizens [and] those of our allies from unjust prosecution from the ICC”.

.. he followed that up by threatening to prosecute any of the Court’s Judges or prosecutors who take cases against America.

Bolton is also a hawk on China and is part of a group around Trump who are convinced that a Trade War against China is the way to break China’s threat to American dominance.

With Trump being so erratic, the paranoia of the Deep State working against him will push him further into dangerous ill thought out decisions, not pull him back.

How these machinations must be getting viewed by his supporters is probably the biggest factor here. If Democrats win the House of Representatives and can start impeachment procedures, Trump voters will feel as if the entire system has been rigged against their choice of President and by extension them.

The anonymous resistance inside the White House might have wanted to calm people opposed to Trump but it has instead enraged Trump supporters.

That’s a lot of angry armed people with an enormous grudge Democrats could be creating here.

There’s only one thing worse in a  democracy than allowing angry people to elect a leader who feeds their resentment, and that’s attempting to remove that leader before they’re due to go.

We are in a far more perilous position than most imagined, Trump has the potential to go crazy at any stage while he is conducting high wire international gambles.

If you aren’t frightened, you aren’t paying attention.