The Associated Press last week reported that President Donald Trump was amused with the headlines about tumult in the White House over recent staff departures and firings.
"With a laugh, Trump said: 'Who's next?'" read the Thursday AP story.
It sums up Trump's warped attitude about leadership. He has no sense about leadership - only his own entertainment, achieved by wielding knee-jerk power.
In recent weeks, Gary Cohn, the president's top economic adviser, has resigned over a policy dispute; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whom Trump has long clashed with, was fired via Twitter; and a slew of top aides headed for the exits. Trump, clearly relishing his game of "stir-the-pot," says he may soon have the cabinet he wants. Of course that won't happen until he looks around the table and sees a bunch of mini-Trumps.
Much reporting at major news organizations indicates Trump also will replace National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster when he settles on the timing or a successor. Chief of Staff John Kelly is not on the president's list of favorites, either. Nor is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos right now. And Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, under fire for ethics violations, would seem to be short-timer.
So much for adults in the room.
Instead of wondering who's next, we should ask what's next. And will our country survive.
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Last week's headlines also were filled with titillating (pun intended) indications that not only Trump's attorney but also a Trump organization attorney had worked to silence a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who seems determined to kiss and tell about our president's alleged affair with her.
There is much gnashing of teeth over whether she must abide by a non-disclosure agreement that the president didn't sign - either with his real name or his fictitious pen name on the document.
Well, who cares whether Stormy tells all?
The folks who owe our country some patriotism are the so-called adults who've recently been ousted from or quit the Oval Office amid Trump's chaos.
They need to talk and talk loudly about what they've seen and heard.
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Meanwhile, special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation plods on.
The New York Times writes that Mueller "has subpoenaed the Trump Organization in recent weeks to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter."
It is the first known instance of the special counsel demanding records directly related to President Trump's businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president, according to The Times.
Mueller already has indicted 13 Russians and three companies accused of meddling in our 2016 presidential campaign and election. He also has indicted several Trump aides and his national security adviser, and accepted a handful of guilty pleas.
This new subpoena is evidence that the special counsel is broadening the case now to see what, if any, role foreign money played in the Trump campaign activities, according to The Times.
No collusion? We'll see.
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Finally, our president last week criticized Russia and announced the government would impose sanctions for Russia's election meddling.
Never mind that these sanctions were required by a rare and overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of Congress last year.
And never mind that these timid and weak sanctions will do little to really affect Russia - a country that we surely could best without blood and treasure if we just gave it some reasonable, rational thought. Russia's economy is about one-eighth that of the U.S. In fact, it's about the size of Italy's.
But, hey, Trump apparently has finally realized that he must say something bad about Russia as Mueller's investigation and the media's continuing reporting gets closer and closer to uncovering the links and connections that seem simply too pervasive to be coincidence.
We have to wonder if Trump cleared the criticism with his buddy, Vladimir.
Collusion or no, Putin favored - and worked to help elect - Trump because having what Soviet spies used to refer to as "a useful idiot" in the Oval Office would severely weaken the United States without Russia having to fire a single shot - or frankly do little else.
But Russia is hardly doing little else.
On the contrary. Putin is devastating Syria. Setting off nerve-gas attacks in the United Kingdom. Hacking into our nuclear plants and power grid in America and in Europe.
Putin and Russia are taking these actions - flexing muscles - precisely because Trump's chaos in the White House and his unpredictable national strategies are paralyzing the United States.