The president’s solution to losing allies, credibility and moral authority: more war.

There is an emerging pattern to the trajectory of the Trump regime in the wake of Charlottesville.

While corporate CEOs flee the taint of association with a neo-Nazi sympathizer in the White House, the obviously unconvinced commander in chief is sending 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan without a visible goal or plausible timetable.

The president, his family and associates are under criminal investigation for colluding with a foreign power and obstructing justice, while the U.S. government and its allies wage five wars (Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen) against forces that pose about the same threat to Americans as domestic terrorists.

The ability of the president and the Republican Party to keep the government from defaulting, much less passing significant legislation, is openly doubted in Washington while Trump’s intention to renege on the 2015 nuclear non-proliferation deal with Iran in October is sure to outlive the departure of Steve Bannon.

In short, as Trump’s presidency grows less stable, the national security state grows stronger.

Palace Intrigue v. Pentagon Power

As Jeremy Scahill writes in The Intercept:

The reality that Trump may not even finish a full term as president, either due to removal or resignation, means that the palace intrigue must be reported on thoroughly by the press. But a dangerous consequence of the overwhelming, obsessive focus on the daily Trump affairs is a virtual dearth of coverage on the permanent, unelected institutions of U.S. power, namely the military and the CIA.

The focus on daily Trump developments has to include the story of who is gaining influence as Trump’s presidency shrinks.

The firing of Bannon, announced by Gen. John Kelly, White House chief of staff, is a victory for military interventionists.