The Memo: Trump’s unpredictability roils waters from Iran to Capitol Hill

President Trump’s long-established trait of unpredictability is affecting two huge issues at home and abroad.

On Iran, Trump went from setting a 48-hour deadline for an attack on Iran’s power stations to a public postponement of such actions and a suggestion that he is preparing to bring the curtain down on the war.

On the partial government shutdown, Trump had suggested that any deal on new funding should be tied to progress on separate voting legislation he wants — the SAVE America Act.

But Trump appears to have abruptly reversed himself in a Monday evening meeting with a group of GOP senators, apparently deciding no such linkage is necessary after all.

Trump’s change of heart on the latter topic appears so complete that he is open to some kind of nascent compromise, which would see funding restored for the Department of Homeland Security as a whole, but with the most controversial element — money for certain activities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — to be decided at a later date.

The two abrupt changes have left allies and adversaries alike unsure what Trump is intending to do.

His most ardent defenders insist there is method to his volatility, helping him wrong-foot his opponents and ultimately seal deals.

“A lot of the things he does are just for negotiation purposes, and he’s really good at negotiation,” Barry Bennett, who worked as a senior advisor on Trump’s 2016 campaign, told this column. “He will throw something out that he really doesn’t want, which he’s willing to trade away to get what he wants.”

Bennett insisted confusion arises only for those who are “naive enough” to think Trump is making policy pronouncements rather than setting out a position as part of a dealmaking process. 

Even so, the trait draws consternation even among some people who are broadly supportive of the president but who can be left out on a........

© The Hill