Our impulsive Imp in Chief

Sometimes he does act more like an imp than a commander.   A couple of days ago, writing about the Republicans passing their tax cut scam, I wrote that there was discussion of having the president wait until January to sign the tax bill.

Here's why that might be a good idea (for them).   If he signs it in December, it immediately triggers a requirement to cut spending to offset the decrease in revenue.   If he waits until January, that requirement does not trigger until January of 2019, which gives the Republicans an extra 12 months to figure out how to do it with less devastating effects.

Unsaid, but probably the main factor behind Republican closed doors:   politics.   If he signs it now, what little temporary tax cuts the middle income people will get, will be overshadowed by all the news of popular spending programs being slashed -- right in the middle of the midterm elections, when every member of the House is up for re-election and a number of senators as well.

However, if he waited just 10 days, it would be 2018 and they could maybe slide through the election cycle on "tax cuts" without those annoying cuts to popular programs until 2019.

So what does Donald Trump do?    Here's how he described it himself.   "You know I was listening to the news this morning, and they were saying:   'I wonder if he'll keep his promise to sign a tax cut bill by Christmas.'    So I said to myself, 'I have to keep my promise.   And I called downstairs and told them to get the bill ready.  I have to sign it now."

And that's exactly what he did.

Never mind what all his advisers might have told him.  Never mind the formal signing ceremony planned for when Congress is back in town.  Never mind what Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan might think.  The little imp has to have his way.  And his way is what will make him popular on Fox News.

Of course, as a Democrat, this does not distress me -- at least not as far as the political problem he may have caused for his party.    Let them lose every seat, and I'll cheer like crazy.

But what it says about the president's lack of capacity to consider more than one factor at the time, no matter how weighty the issue -- that scares the bejeebers out of me.

Ralph