A partial government shutdown looms as of this writing. But in many ways, government — or at least governance under President Donald Trump — hasn't been fully functional since his inauguration.
This has been apparent to any rational analyst of this White House, although this week's news seemed to amplify the failures.
The week began with news of two separate U.S. Senate reports detailing the depths of Russia's attack on our democracy, in which trolls tied to the Kremlin deployed social media to spread antisocial missives aimed at deepening social divides, especially on race.
These assaults accelerated once Trump took office, perhaps in defense of the Kremlin's preferred president, who now faces at least 17 investigations into nearly every entity of his political, business and, sadly, even charitable endeavors.
One of the many administration figures implicated was Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser. Facing a Reagan-appointed judge on Tuesday, Flynn also faced the truth: "Arguably, you sold your country out," U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said.
Flynn was once part of a quartet of core Trump appointees he liked to call "my generals." One, H.R. McMaster, replaced Flynn, until Trump turned on him, just as he did with John Kelly, who resigned as Trump's chief of staff.
The fourth, Jim Mattis, was the most consequential in Washington and world capitals alike because he represented American commitment to alliances and values. But the secretary of defense resigned on Thursday, reportedly unwilling to endorse Trump's announcement (via Twitter, of course) of a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.
Trump justified his highly criticized move by claiming ISIS had been defeated. But that's not true, something the president himself seemed to acknowledge when he later tweeted that Russia, Syria and Iran "will now have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us."