Donald Trump’s appointment of a partisan hack as acting U.S. attorney general makes me wonder: Has the president lost his mind or does he know precisely what he’s doing?

Matthew Whitaker has no more business than I do as being the acting chief law enforcement officer of the United States. The AG — acting or permanent — must be above reproach. He or she must be squeaky clean.

Whitaker is known on the basis of his own rhetoric to oppose the investigation that is underway into the Trump campaign’s involvement with Russian operatives who attacked our electoral system in 2016. He has no business, therefore, managing the department that appointed Robert Mueller to lead that investigation. Mueller got the call because the former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from anything to do with Russia.

Trump’s appointment of Whitaker as acting AG has sent a clear signal to Mueller that he intends to do something to impede the investigation. I suppose one can hope that the signal hasn’t been lost on Mueller; I’m quite sure the former FBI director has received the signal loudly and clearly. Therefore, I expect him to expedite the conclusion of his investigation.

That take me back to my initial question. It think the answer is twofold. Yes, the president’s butter has slipped off his noodle. Yes, he also knows what he’s doing.

He is doubly dangerous.

Donald Trump is fond of extolling his love and admiration for the troops who serve in harm’s way.

However, the president who’s been in office for nearly two years has yet to venture into a war zone to tell them so to their face.

He needs to go. Trump needs to fly to Iraq or to Afghanistan, shake the hands of the men and women who serve there and tell them in no uncertain terms that he supports them fully.

Trump critics point that he has spent a lot of time on the golf course while serving as president. I don’t begrudge him fully for that; he is always “on the clock.” What is maddening is how he criticized former President Obama for playing golf, although Trump’s immediate predecessor did so far less frequently than Trump has done. Hypocrisy? Oh, just a bit … yes?

Visit the troops, Mr. POTUS

I spent a bit of time in Vietnam. I remember when President Nixon went there in 1969, shortly after taking office that same year — and the year I began my service in Da Nang. The president didn’t come to Marble Mountain, but he did mingle with the troops south of us and, I presume, told them to their faces how much he appreciates the sacrifice they were making in defense of our nation — and in defense of South Vietnam, which needed our help against the communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army.

Donald Trump has boasted about all he has done for the military. He brags about how strong we are — and about how “busy” he is building the strongest economy in our nation’s history.

OK, but  he’s not too busy to spend a few hours on an airplane and then express his admiration for the work these men and women are doing.

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing, teeth-gnashing and angry recrimination being tossed around in the wake of news that Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a virtual shoo-in to join the U.S. Supreme Court.

Let’s take a breather, even for just a moment.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined her Republican colleagues in supporting Kavanaugh’s nomination by Donald Trump to the high court. Almost immediately afterward, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, announced his support for Kavanaugh.

Critics of them both are blasting them for their decision. In the case of Collins, critics say her speech today was a “partisan” hit job. Manchin has been called a coward.

Women are outraged, given the allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman 36 years ago when they both were teenagers.

Don’t misunderstand me. I would have voted “no” against Kavanaugh were it my decision to make. Yes, I live in Texas and I never would be elected to high office from this state, given my own political leanings.

However, I want to state that we operate in a “representative” form of government. The men and women who serve in both congressional chambers work for the people they represent. Yet, Collins’s decision today has been blasted because, according to her critics, she should have voted her conscience — regardless of what her Maine constituents want her to do.

That’s not what politicians do, normally. They serve at the pleasure of the people back home. They don’t serve their political leaders in Washington. They should listen to what the home folks are telling them. It well might be that Mainers told Collins they wanted her to endorse Kavanaugh’s nomination. Yes, Donald Trump lost Maine to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Her decision today and her expected vote Saturday to confirm Kavanaugh likely means she won’t run for re-election in 2020.

We have witnessed senators from “red” states and “blue” states make their decisions based on what their constituents want them to do. That appears to be the case with Sen. Manchin, who represents a state that voted overwhelmingly for Trump two years ago.

I just want to caution critics to temper their anger and remember that a representative form of government quite often binds our elected officials to the needs and wishes of those whose interests they represent.

The upcoming 51-49 vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh quite likely, moreover, mirrors the stark, deep and widening division in our country’s political infrastructure.

I feel the need to pre-empt an argument I am certain will present itself as the nation debates whether a U.S. Supreme Court nominee assaulted a young woman when they were both in high school.

The argument will go something like this: Brett Kavanaugh is entitled to a presumption of innocence.

To which I will say: Oh, no he isn’t.

Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault at a party in the early 1980s. She alleges that Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth and sought to tear her clothing off.

He denies the incident happened.

Now, he is entitled to make all the denials he chooses to make. However, he isn’t standing trial for his alleged misdeed. The issue at hand is a purely political one: Should he be seated on the nation’s highest court? Donald Trump has nominated the federal judge to succeed Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

Ford then came forward to say, in effect, “Not so fast. The judge did something to me that needs to be reviewed.”

A second woman now has alleged a similar incident occurred involving Kavanaugh.

I am not passing judgment on Kavanaugh. I want to hear him defend himself. I want to gauge his body language. I also want Christine Ford to speak publicly about what she accuses him of doing to her, and I want to read her body language.

But I am not going to grant Judge Kavanaugh some phony presumption of innocence. He’s not on trial. He’s only trying to persuade the U.S. Senate to grant him a lifetime job.

AMARILLO, Texas — It’s not every year you get to watch the seasons change right on cue.

That’s going to happen for us while we visit Amarillo for the next few days.

The first day of autumn on Friday is going to feel like … the first day of autumn!

That’s according to the TV meteorologists who spend a lot time on the air telling us about what the weather will bring us. Yes, there are times when the TV weather talking heads annoy me by breaking in with “news” to tell us that there’s nothing to worry about when a rainstorm cuts loose over the Panhandle.

But that’s another story. Perhaps. On another day.

Today, though, the weather guys and gals are telling us that an actual autumn cold front is going to blow in over Amarillo during the night. Put on a sweater in the morning, they say. Prepare to get wet, too, they add.

OK on all of that.

I’m just amazed that the calendar that says the seasons are going to change coincides with what Mother Nature has in mind.

Who’da thunk it?