Proof that Trump's policy-by-tweet eruptions are a menace to our national security

Donald Trump's on-the-fly policy making has become legendary, but what we don't always see is the behind-the-scenes damage it inflicts on the process of actually making policy. But the AP has new reporting that pulls back the curtain on just how harmful Trump's errant thumbs are to any sort of informed, measured attempt at formulating policy that might, say, serve our national interests.

Aides to President Donald Trump were in deep talks about how to defuse tensions between Qatar and other Arab nations when the door to the secure room at the White House burst open.

The urgent message: Trump had just tweeted about Qatar.

One adviser read the tweet aloud and with that, the policymakers in midconference call had no other choice but to rework their plans to reflect the president's tweeted assertion that Qatar, host to some 11,000 U.S. troops, was funding terrorism.

It was an accusation against a close U.S. ally that had never been voiced so publicly and with such indelicacy.

Trump's Qatari tweets, like his military trans ban tweets, weren't workshopped, no groundwork had been laid, nothing. The policy wasn't strategically thought out, the implementation wasn't considered, and there was no rollout plan. Trump just shot something into the ether and left his own national security team, his own diplomats, and Qatari officials to deal with the fallout.

Trump's tweeting, while consistently entertaining and bizarre, is a total menace to the welfare of this country. That phone should be confiscated and destroyed, for the sake of our national security.