Part of why Trump is so “capable of changing into anything” is that he believes in absolutely nothing except what he thinks is good for him at that moment. So, while some in the media have given him credit for some sort of instant maturation or recognition of the realities of governance, I see him simply adapting via his finely-honed survival instincts.

It seems clear that he had no idea what he was infor with regard to how impossible it is to get things done in Washington. As a guy who has been a dictator most of his business career, he was very poorly suited for this job. The healthcare debacle made him realize this and he quickly, somewhat to his credit, turned exclusively to things over which a president has almost complete control.

Consequently, renegotiating trade deals, building massive walls, draining the swamp, repealing Obamacare, putting Hillary in jail, and maybe even drastically reducing taxes, are all out. What remains are, usually vastly overblown executive orders and military strikes.

Effectively, Trump is feeling impotent in most of the job, so he is now going to basically ignore the areas where he lacks real power and simply focus on the parts where people pretty much have to do exactly as he says.