Just because you don’t like seeing the plumbers crack doesn’t mean you should stop him before he gets the shit ball unclogged. The loony left needs to be dealt with and unless you are advocating for Mattis to attack with our armed forces (fine by me, but you are more sensible than that) then the gutter fight must continue.
Lovely.
And what I think I'm seeing is the "gutter fight" is a tool, a lever.
Trump has the ability to hold his tongue when appropriate. In the last 2-3 weeks, he's exercised more discipline than in any given stretch since being elected.
Why? Because the Rs unveiled a fully functional battle station in the form of Senate R's. They absolutely handed the Dims their ass the last few weeks. They continued the gutter fight calmly, professionally, and viciously.
Why else? Trump has created an environment of expectations for the Dims. They expect he will not practice discipline, keeping their base fired up and providing cover for them to act batshit crazy.
So what happened? Dims predictably overplayed their hand, Trump went largely silent leaving a vacuum in which the Dims continued to expose themselves, and the GOP Senators said what he would have said (with a little more polish, but packing the same punch).
Trump running his mouth in the past has provided cover for the GOP to speak much more frankly about crazy libs, now, in the run up to a confirmation and midterm election.
He "triangulated" the GOP into the position of being social media killers.