House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s memorable retort to Donald Trump’s October 16th meltdown in the White House — “All roads with you lead to Putin” — ranks up there with Trump’s reference to American “carnage” in his inaugural address. Both will figure prominently in retrospective assessments of this strange time.

Trump is now unfiltered. The guardrails are gone. The advisers whose company he now keeps are less able or willing to save him from himself. For particulars, look no further than the puerile and embarrassing letter Trump sent to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan after apparently giving him the green light to crush the Syrian Kurds.

If Senator Mitt Romney’s speculation is correct – that Erdogan told Trump that he was crossing the Syrian border and that it would be wise for U.S. troops to get out of his way – then the United States is in serious trouble. If Turkey, a NATO ally, can dictate terms, it’s open season.

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