There he was again, descending the steps of Air Force One like a man negotiating a peace deal with gravity. One hand welded to the rail, the other dangling, his body listing forward as he lurched for the tarmac below as if it might suddenly fall away. The officials waiting below held their collective breath not out of awe, but out of risk assessment.

President Donald Trump, 79, doesn’t stride off planes anymore. He negotiates with them. And on this latest Asian tour, the person whom we assumed would be at his side, Melania, the world’s most famously disengaged First Lady, was once again conspicuously absent. One begins to wonder if she’s in hiding, or holed up writing a sequel to her memoir. Either way, the man is alone.

And increasingly, it shows.

Let’s drop the pretense: Trump needs

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