Though he rarely admits even the slightest discontent with the job he schemed for in unprecedented ways and somewhat accidentally fell into (thanks to the vagaries of the Electoral College), Donald Trump's presidency hasn't been what Americans would call a bowl of cherries. Yet no other week of his presidency so far has been filled with such problems and so many dark omens for him.
Last Friday, Trump was implicated by his own Justice Department in a felony, on the basis of sentencing recommendations for his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and for his former longtime lawyer and consigliere, Michael Cohen, by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The clear implications in both reports were that Trump himself would eventually be the target of serious charges. Moreover, it's widely believed that some members of his family might well be charged.
Two days earlier, Trump had to sit alongside three past presidents through the funeral of President George H.W. Bush. With Bush lauded as almost his exact opposite in style and manner, Trump looked throughout as if he wished he were anywhere else. Meanwhile, the stock market's entire gains for the year were wiped out as Trump's supposed trade truce with China fell apart.