Donald Trump seems to now be in full retreat on his trade war. Which is good news, since American consumers are the ones who would have paid the price for it all. The strategy for other countries to follow is becoming clear now -- just wait Trump out, and eventually he will cave on his own, due to political and economic pressures increasing on him over time.

This strategy worked wonders for China, as last weekend Trump dropped his tariff levels against the country by a whopping 115 percentage points. This was precisely what China had been demanding he do before any trade negotiations could even begin. All they had to do was wait.

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Will Democrats have an opening to pick up a Senate seat next year... in Texas? Personally, I have to remain skeptical, since Texas has long been the source of perennial disappointment for Democrats who have the dream of "flipping Texas blue." It's an enticing dream, to be sure, because Texas would be incredibly pivotal in electing a Democrat back into the White House. Flipping Texas blue in the Electoral College would make it practically impossible for a Republican to put together the 270 votes needed to become president. But flipping it blue even in a Senate race (or a governor's race, for that matter) has not happened yet, despite several exciting campaigns and lots of money donated to the cause. After all, even Ted Cruz -- one of the most-disliked senators around -- managed to win re-election. So it's a stretch, at best, to imagine John Cornyn being defeated by a Democrat next year.

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There are plenty of things wrong with the proffered gift (to Donald Trump from the rulers of Qatar) of a luxury 747 airplane to serve as a sort of interim Air Force One. For starters, Qatar has "historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level." For another, it's one of many Middle Eastern countries "that horribly abuse women and L.G.B.T. citizens" -- a country that "oppress[es] women, gays and people of different faiths." You could get even more specific: "You talk about women and women's rights? So these are people that push gays off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money." These complaints merely scratch the surface of the wrongness of accepting this plane, but they are relevant because they are all quotes from Donald Trump himself, castigating Hillary Clinton for accepting contributions to the Clinton Foundation from Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries.

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What would you think if an arsonist set fire to your house, waited until the flames were causing major damage, and then rushed in and put (most of) the fire out? Would you thank the arsonist for saving your house, or would you be angry with him for starting the fire in the first place? Would you look around your home, now drenched in water and with some spots still smoldering and burning, and be thankful? Probably not.

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If you'll check a historic calendar (which is easy enough to do), you will clearly see that there are three possible days which could validly be celebrated as marking the end of World War II. They are: August 14th, August 15th, or September 2nd. The initial announcement of the surrender of Japan was made on August 14th, in Japan. Due to the nature of time zones, this happened when it was August 15th in America already. Then the formal surrender, which happened on the deck of the battleship U.S.S. Missouri, was signed on September 2nd. The president at the time, Harry Truman, announced the United States would celebrate what was known as "V-J Day" (for "Victory over Japan Day") on September 2nd. So that would be the most likely day you'd expect any subsequent American president to announce as a new semi-holiday, since it was when World War II actually officially ended. But you'd be wrong.

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There was some good news today for all Americans who cherish the United States Constitution. Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin's nomination to be permanently confirmed for the job is in trouble. Senator Thom Tillis -- a Republican who will be facing a tough re-election fight next year in North Carolina -- has announced he will not support Martin's nomination in the Judiciary Committee. So Martin's confirmation won't even make it out of the Senate committee responsible for vetting candidates. Since no Democrat is going to vote for him, it leaves Martin with only 11 votes for and 11 against -- which is not enough to make it out of the committee.

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Yesterday, the NBC show Meet The Press aired an interview that host Kristen Welker had held with Donald Trump two days earlier. It generated a lot of news, since it's one of the few interviews he has given as president to a news organization that doesn't inhabit the rightwing echo chamber. It generated a lot of headline quotes, including Trump answering: "I don't know" to the question: "Don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?"

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Donald Trump hit two milestones this past week: his first 100 days in office, and his first quarter of negative G.D.P. growth. True to form, he celebrated the first of these with a rally, while blaming the second on Joe Biden. He even tried to front-load any bad economic news in the second quarter as Biden's fault too. Oh, and for good measure, Trump expressed a desire to become the next pope. Which would probably be fine with plenty of Americans -- as long as he quits his current job in order to do so.

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Donald Trump's trade war is on the brink of going from bad to worse. Up until now, American consumers have seen the stock market tank (and go through wild swings) and are beginning to see higher prices for some of the things they buy. But all that's about to go into overdrive, as the shock to the global trading system works its way down all of the supply chains. The next big phase of this may wind up being empty shelves in the stores -- which is going to be a monumental psychological shock to consumers.

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Which brings us to Trump's strongest point, albeit one where his polling is also falling fast. On the subject of the southern border, the public does approve of what Trump has been doing. But on the larger subject of immigration, Trump is underwater in most polls, after starting out his term with those numbers in the positive ranges.

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