Don't let 'Crazytown' distract you from these failures

Trump’s antics in his “Crazytown” White House inevitably dominate the headlines. Meanwhile, however, his wrongheaded policies are damaging far more than the nation’s dignity and honor.

Hampered by inexperience and incompetence, the administration is pursuing a radically un-American agenda that should alarm progressives and conservatives alike. Trump’s warped worldview is guiding federal government policy, with awful — and worsening — consequences for the nation and the world.

A few lowlights:

— More than 2,600 children of would-be Latino immigrants were ripped away from their families at the border, and 416 remained in federal custody last week at facilities around the country. It is likely that many will never see their parents again. This “zero-tolerance” policy of snatching kids and jailing their parents was intended as a deterrent, not as legitimate law enforcement, and it was an appalling exercise in gratuitous cruelty.

— Trump has reversed decades of environmental policy, adopting the 18th-century view that coal is the energy source of the future. He does not believe in climate change, though its effects are evident in rising seas, raging wildfires, deadly heat waves and the opening of a heretofore undreamed-of Arctic shipping lane. The administration seems determined to ensure that Europe, China and India reap the economic benefits of an inevitable global shift to a clean-energy economy, while the United States misses out.

— Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department has abandoned traditional civil rights enforcement. No longer is the focus on protecting and expanding the rights of minorities such as African-Americans, women, Latinos and the LGBT community. Instead, the government is now more concerned about alleged “reverse discrimination” and what it describes as threats to “religious freedom.” In particular, onerous voting laws that disproportionately affect minority groups are just fine with the Trump administration.

— White supremacist views have made their way into the mainstream of political discourse. “How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?” former president Obama asked last week. No answer from the White House thus far.

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