While it is easy to assume that Trump is incompetent -- and believe me, he certainly puts forth the image -- but twice now his opponents have underestimated him to their peril.
It verges on the conspiratorial, but what if Trump knows what he's doing? Or, if not Trump, Bannon? That this chaos is the ends, or perhaps a means to some future manipulation? To draw a parallel, a student who gets 45% on a test clearly didn't study; a student who gets exactly 0% clearly worked very hard indeed.
With this (again, unsupported) assumption, what would the goal be in creating the chaos?
A few options come to mind:
- An immediate controversy to drive liberals out of the woodwork in the government. Those that oppose the administration might hide until a more opportune time, while this large controversy will cause them to rise up at this time of the administration's choosing.
- An attack on the integrity of the United States. Perhaps Bannon or others believes that he cannot bring about his fascist agenda so long as the institutions of the US are healthy (which, I should hope, is true). Weakening these institutions by causing them to fight among themselves (such as turning state reps against state police) cracks the foundations of government, giving the roots of fascism space to grow.
-A Producers-style intended flop. Perhaps Trump intends to fail in such a way that his own agenda is served. Heck, he may have doubled-down on gold and shorted dollars and intends to crash the economy; this would explain his failure to release his taxes.
- Earnest idealism. I suppose it should not be ignored that Trump/Bannon very well might believe -- or have chosen to represent people who believe -- that Islam is a threat and that his ban is morally justified. If this directive comes from Bannon, this would explain his position on the NSC.
These are only four of a multitude of potentials from one assumption. The core of this, however, is a warning: We must be cautious not to underestimate Bannon and his lackeys.