Bread and Circuses: The rise of the Mooch and the military guy (MORE LIKE CIRCUSES AND CIRCUSES)

On Friday, Trump named as his new chief of staff Homeland Security Secretary General John Kelly, a man who fits neatly into the Trump ethos of order, control, and the appearance of power. The message here is seamlessness.

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Why is the President so focused on appearances? It should be clear by now that his approach to the presidency is to serve as entertainer-in-chief. For a real estate magnate with previous experience in boosting Nielsen ratings for reality TV, not running a country, the focus on keeping his staff camera ready seems to come naturally.

The country is grappling with life-or-death questions about how to structure our health care system, and North Korea is threatening a nuclear attack. But never mind. The President or one of his aides is constantly conjuring outrageous tweets and claims that attract our attention elsewhere -- especially when the administration experiences an embarrassing failure... the underlying strategy is as old as politics itself. Two thousand years ago, Roman emperors learned to keep people well fed and entertained with "bread and circuses" so they wouldn't interfere too much in public policy.