snip to end (bold is mine) :
What chess move, after all, requires picking a quarrel with the pope? The only conceivable answer might be that Trump is engaging in prestidigitation, fabricating a row to distract from something worse. What, though, could be worse? Is he worried that voters will suddenly wake up to the ways in which he and his associates have been enriching themselves in office? That there will be a belated interest in the favors sought from foreign governments, the digital currency boondoggles, the consultants offering access for cash, and the acceptance of a private jet from a Gulf state? Or does he fret about the fate of his Hungarian ally, Viktor Orban, hammered by voters last week after rising concerns about his autocratic style and the enrichment of his cronies?

CAN TRUMP SURVIVE AFTER LOSING A WAR?

These things are possible, I suppose. The likelier explanation, though, is that this is exactly what it looks like. A 79-year-old man who has long dealt in chaos is now being consumed by that chaos. His episodes are becoming more frequent, his good days further apart. What he has lost is not a sense of decency or decorum — he never had those — but any remaining sense of self-control.

Everyone around him can see it. Yet, whether from ambition, cowardice, or weary acceptance, they keep looking for ways to rationalize his behavior. The tragedy is no longer Trump’s. It is now America’s.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/4533358/donald-trump-losing-his-mind-pope-feud/