David Brooks has called President Trump a coward. Let's think about how this mild conservative Brooks, a man of moderation, might have come to this conclusion. The presidency is a high-wire balancing act with no safety net - the safety of the world is at stake. Ego can have no place in that tightrope walk, only cold, rational consideration of the most consequential decisions. Yet Trump has wasted a week already on "tweets". TWEETS!" I tell you. He has angered China. He has frightened Europe. He has broken a trade agreement with SE Asia. And he has sidled up to Russia, enemy of six Baltic Sea states. He has outraged the government and the citizens of Mexico, our necessary neighbor. He has made Canada uneasy. And he has disrupted the human commerce of international talent with his anti-Muslim proclamation.

All this in his first week. This is an inauspicious beginning to the Trump administration.