What did Donald Trump do today?

He saw more of his own administration officials saying he was screwing up Iran badly.

Joe Kent, who Trump appointed as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned today in protest over the Iran War, saying that there was "no imminent threat" to the United States and accusing Trump of being a puppet of Israel. Kent is a white nationalist whose comments may have been motivated more by antisemitism than any real nonpolitical experience with national security issues. But his defection clearly caught the Trump administration by surprise.

Trump responded as he usually does in these situations: by saying that the person resigning was never qualified in the first place. He dismissed Kent as "weak on security." Trump, who campaigned on appointing "the best people" to government work, did not explain why he had put Kent in one of the most critical security roles in government.

Kent was not the only person attacking the Trump administration from within today. More administration officials told reporters today that Trump's strategy was backfiring, continuing a trend in which the people with the clearest view of how Trump is handling the situation are washing their hands of it. They said that, through erratic choices and failure to heed his military advisors' warnings, Trump had blundered into giving Iran control of how and on what terms the war ends. 

In a move that was probably calculated to force Trump's attention, one administration official used a favorite Trump phrase against him, saying that "they hold the cards now."

Also not supporting Trump's unfolding Iran debacle today: essentially every other military ally of the United States besides Israel, the American people and in particular independent voters, and, in a bizarre detail, the four living former presidents of the United States. Trump said yesterday, during remarks in which he appeared to be having difficulty controlling his impulses, that one of his predecessors had told him that he wished he'd attacked Iran like Trump had. According to Presidents Bush, Clinton, Obama, and Biden, this is a lie: none of them have spoken with Trump recently or said any such thing about Iran.
 

Why does this matter?

• It's a bad sign when staffers chosen first and foremost for their loyalty are distancing themselves to this extent.
   
• A 79-year-old who'd had to think about the Vietnam War for longer than it took to get a fake doctor's note excusing him from it would probably not be making the same mistakes but faster. 

• Americans' safety and security, and the stability of the entire Middle East, are more important than Donald Trump's wounded pride.