Disaster as commander-in-chief; awful as TV hero.

We have perhaps just seen the worst performance by Donald Trump as president -- and, more cogently here, as commander-in-chief.

So the Iranians shot down one of our unmanned drones, which they claim had invaded their airspace in the Gulf region.   That's debatable.   We say it was over international waters.

The point here, however, is not who's right about where the plane was.   The point is Donald Trump's behavior vis a vis the retaliation he agreed to and then aborted at the last moment.   And about why, who he last talked to, and what were the reasons.  We don't know the answer to any of those questions.

Here's Trump's version for TV audiences.   I'm paraphrasing, but it's as likely to be true as anything that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth.

A retaliatory airstrike was planned for last night.   Trump had signed off on it.   Everything was a "go" -- until the last moment.   Trump says it was just before take-off;  some reporters covering him closely suggest the planes may have already been in the air.

Whether he got cold feet, whether some friend or TV host talked to him.   Who knows.   Suddenly Trump the would-be hero becomes concerned about how many people will be killed in our retaliatory airstrike.   So he asks his general, "How many people will die?"

Trump's version is that the general said, "I'll have to get back to you."   A few minutes later, the general comes back and says the estimate is that 150 will die.

[My private suspicion is that the general needed a moment to get out of the room and yell, "HELP!!!   The president is losing it."]

Now Trump, playing the compassionate president on TV, tells us he says to himself.   Wow.   For one unmanned drone, 150 people will die?    That's not good.    So he cancels the strike -- either with the planes on the runway or, maybe, already in the air.

We really don't know the truth because Trump lies about everything.  Our allies and our adversaries know this too.

Some have suggested that the Iranians may have sent a message to Trump through Oman.    Some suggest that Putin may have told him to cool it.    We just don't know.

That's the point.    This is government by chaos, unreliability, and incompetence.

If in fact neither Trump, nor his generals in on the planning, knew and had discussed the likely human loss , weighed against an unmanned drone -- that's incompetent.   If this is a cover story for something else, it's a great example why you don't telegraph these things in advance.    Whatever . . .  it's just not credible that Trump's story is the truth.  Some things need not to be made public.  So, then just keep quiet about it all.   Don't go blabbing so that you then have to give some reason to explain changes.

As some commentators have said:   It's impossible to brief Trump.   He cannot follow a line of thought, let alone think tactically and strategically.

What scares me is that, the more desperate he becomes to get re-elected, the more erratic he will become.    I'd says the odds are good that we will be at war with Iran before the year is out.    And with no permanent secretary of defense, and then there's John Bolton who's been itching to attack Iran for years.

Frankly, I'm less outraged than I was -- but way more scared.

Ralph