Not to sound overly dramatic but I’d say the news rolling out of Washington is close to catastrophic these days. I know we’ve all accepted a lower standard of behavior for the duration of this presidency. Not “accepted” in the sense that it’s okay but accepted that this is his version of normal and it shouldn’t be shocking when it happens. My head hurts a lot less now that I’ve stopped banging it against the wall every day.

But since the whistleblower report dropped (or is it first whistleblower report yet?) Trump has taken unpredictable to an entirely new level. Like, we’ve had “geez, that’s so not presidential” level and “crap, someone else accused him of rape?” and “omg, COULD SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE HIS TWITTER AWAY” level, but now? Now we’ve got “phone call summary that indicates quid pro quo with Ukraine, threats against the whistleblower, steady release of documentation that shows he was advised against it, and doubling down in front of the White House with a call to get China to pile on the Bidens” level crazy. As in he literally stood in front of the leader of the free world’s house and asked a foreign country to investigate a potential Democratic nominee.

This is next level crazy.

We’ve spent three years treading water, discounting Trump’s behavior as ridiculous or offensive or detrimental to our country, but this is the first time I’ve found myself seriously concerned at what unhinged reactions come from a man with the nuclear codes. Especially since I’m beginning to wonder if there’s anyone nearby who could or would say no when push comes to shove. And you know it will.

Like I said. Catastrophic.

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “-tast-.” Find a word that contains “tast” and use it in your post. Enjoy!