When I say the stage was set for the legislative breakthrough of the year, I’m being quite literal: An actual Capitol Hill stage was put in place, complete with a presidential podium and bill-signing table, with the expectation that Donald Trump would sign a bipartisan housing bill into law on Wednesday afternoon.

The White House said the president would do exactly that — right up until he changed his mind shortly before the scheduled ceremony, directing congressional Republicans to instead focus on his anti-voting bill, which he calls the SAVE America Act.

For GOP officials, the president’s surprise announcement was a disaster. The legislation, several months in the making, was poised to be the single greatest accomplishment of the current Congress and the only bipartisan breakthrough of Trump’s entire political career. What’s more, Republican lawmakers had no idea this was even a possibility: Several GOP members were taking victory laps on Wednesday morning, blissfully unaware of the pothole the president was digging.....

Not to put too fine a point on this, but those looking for evidence of a dysfunctional White House should start here. When a president’s aides are routinely shocked to learn of decisions from their boss, who wildly careens between contradictory paths without reason or explanation, the White House not only doesn’t work, it can’t work.

In a healthy and functional executive branch, ideas and important decisions are supposed to be scrutinized and carefully thought through ahead of a presidential announcement. This is less about norms and political courtesies and more about common sense: White House teams want to make sure the ideas will work and be implemented effectively before a president shares a decision.

In 2026, however, none of that applies to Team Trump, whose members are often as shocked as everyone else to learn what the president puts online.