Who's really in charge of the United States government?

Official Washington, especially its Republican elements, is telling itself a comforting story about the Trump administration.

Senator John McCain summarized the story to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

“Sometimes it’s important to watch what the president does rather than what he says.” The senator added: “[Trump is] surrounding himself with an outstanding national security team. I can’t guarantee to world leaders that he will always listen to them, but he has so far.” (You can watch the whole interview here.)

McCain’s caution about Trump’s future actions should be worrying enough. But even his assurances about the present ought to be deeply worrying.

The basis for McCain’s Sunday interview was the latest reversal in Trump foreign policy. It’s a bad and troubling story leading up to a supposedly happy ending—but in reality, the ending is not happy at all.