What did Donald Trump do today?

He tried to project strength as his personal and political problems got worse by the moment.

Trump is so incapable of admitting any kind of mistake or failure that he once told a group of evangelical Christian leaders that he'd never even asked God for forgiveness. (By Christian standards this is, to put it mildly, blasphemy.) Perhaps the only time he's ever even come close to apologizing in public was during the 2016 campaign, immediately after the infamous Access Hollywood video in which he talked about grabbing women "by the pussy" without consent—and even then, he tried to deflect blame onto others.

But over the past week, he's been uncharacteristically back on his heels. A casual reference to his aide Natalie Harp, sometimes referred to as the "human printer" for her habit of carrying around printouts of news articles meant to soothe Trump emotionally, blew up into a major scandal. Members of his own inner circle told reporters they were worried about the intensity of the hold the erratic Harp had over Trump and his agenda. Those letters showed that Harp shared Trump's unusual habit of incorrectly capitalizing random words in the middle of sentences, suggesting she was the author of far more of his social media announcements than previously suspected.  

Possibly related, Trump's wife Melania got into a public argument with him yesterday in full view of television cameras, which the White House unlawfully tried to get shut down as Melania stormed away.

Trump is also suffering defections from previously loyal constituencies as his approval rating has sunk to the low 30s—inches above where Nixon was when he was forced to resign. Congressional Republicans who can afford to are distancing themselves. One Republican voter in a swing Ohio district where Trump has backed an incumbent Congressman accused of child abuse, was asked about his message for Trump. His response: "Resign." Even beef ranchers are lashing out at Trump, furious for dropping protections on beef imports while herds recover from a screwworm infestation caused by Trump's killing a cheap eradication program.

This morning, Trump seemed to try to get back on his feet by lashing out at friends like Canada and foes like Iran in equal measure. Iran's response was predictable: mockery and threats to carry out assassination attempts in revenge for his assassination of regime leaders at the start of the war. But Canada's was much more serious. Trump had demanded that Canada "fall in line" or suffer "far worse" consequences than tariffs, an approach that couldn't possibly anger the Canadian public more than if that had been the intent. Prime Minister Mark Carney's government prepared to release details on the American industries it will attack with retaliatory tariffs, and Ontario premier Doug Ford threatened to cut off the billions of dollars worth of electricity that Canadian power plants provide to northeastern states. If that happened, it likely physically couldn't be replaced on the American side.

Trump responded by mocking Ford's dead brother. 

Why does this matter?

• The economy would be much, much stronger right now if the President of the United States had the emotional control of a toddler. 

• Nobody who can't keep their personal problems from affecting their work is fit to serve as president.