More from the OpEd...

... The former Clinton administration official and regular Daily Beast contributor painted a picture of a leader increasingly out of his depth. The latest example of Trump's ineptitude? His seemingly impulsive decision to claim credit for Friday's Israeli air strikes on Iran -- even after his own Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied prior knowledge and said Israel had acted "unilaterally." Both Trump and the Israelis then scrambled to make the attack look like a joint effort.

"Trump wants to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral," Rothkopf quipped, mocking the president's need to put himself at the center of every news story. ...

International leaders aren't buying the act either, according to Rothkopf. "People are making fun of Trump publicly on stage," he said. "They just don't think he's a serious character."

While the international order appears increasingly fragmented, Trump is sending in both the National Guard and the military against protests described by the administration as an "insurrection." There could not be a worse time to have someone as incompetent as Trump in charge of the country, Rothkopf argues.

"People around the world look at it and they say the U.S. is collapsing." ...

@#2 ... Pithy summary. ...

Yup.

Pres Trump seemed to use PM Netanyahu's attack on Iran as an excuse to back out of negotiating with Iran.

So, why did PM Netanyahu apparently ignore Pres Trump's negotiations with Iran in the first place?

Maybe because PM Netyanahu saw those negotiations as being unsuccessful, so better to strike now than later?

Or maybe, because the negotiations might have been successful, and Pres Trump, in his long-time eagerness to "strike a deal" sold Israel off to the Iranians in a transaction to attain that deal?