I long for the good old days when we could lead our lives without wondering what the president had done or said. Generally, weeks went by without my giving much thought to the president’s activities.

All that has changed. Now that we have a president who is given to impulsive actions, surprising tweets, and off-the-cuff remarks that reverse longstanding policy, it is impossible to ignore him. This is what he wants. Constant attention. All eyes on him. It’s like watching a train wreck in real time but it is nonstop.

Donald Trump is a loop that plays over and over.

Read the full transcript of his interview with the Wall Street Journal in Politico, which was first to get it. CNN posted a summary of the interview. See if you can find a coherent sentence or a coherent thought process.

The latest story I read is too amazing to ignore. Trump doesn’t seem to draw a distinction between his wish and external reality. He promised to end the war in Afghanistan, this guy who never served in the military. But it is not over yet, and he wants to fire the top commander there.

And it gets worse.

“During the July 19 meeting, Trump repeatedly suggested that Defense Secretary James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford replace Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, because he is not winning the war, the officials said. Trump has not met Nicholson, and the Pentagon has been considering extending his time in Afghanistan.

“Over nearly two hours in the situation room, according to the officials, Trump complained about NATO allies, inquired about the United States getting a piece of Afghan’s mineral wealth and repeatedly said the top U.S. general there should be fired. He also startled the room with a story that seemed to compare their advice to that of a paid consultant who cost a tony New York restaurateur profits by offering bad advice.”

He told them to end the war, and they didn’t. He doesn’t understand why they didn’t do what he told them to do. As to mineral wealth in Afghanistan, I recall that he said during the campaign that the U.S. Should have seized Iraq’s oil to compensate for our efforts on their behalf. At the time, many people said that to do so would have been a war crime. Apparently he hasn’t abandoned the idea of seizing another country’s natural resources as war booty.