What in the name of blathering idiocy has become of Donald J. Trump, the self-proclaimed dealmaker in chief, the guy who always vows to negotiate his way out of any scrape?

The dude has yet to show his overfed puss in this fight over health insurance, food for the neediest Americans. It has resulted in a shutting down of the federal government. It is jeopardizing air travel as we enter the busiest travel season of the entire year. This is the guy who supposedly wrote “The Art of the Deal” in which he boasts about the deals he has struck.

Oh, wait. I forgot. The guy also is a pathological liar who cannot be trusted to tell the truth on anything, at any time, on any subject … no matter how trivial.

We’ve trudged through the previous record for government shutdowns. We’re now in virgin territory. I am one American who is scheduled to board a jetliner in a few days and fly east for a couple of days and nights. It is imperative that I arrive at my destination on the day I said I would be there. I am not entirely sure I’ll be able to do so.

Why? Because the self-proclaimed master of his domain refuses to get off his ass long enough to make a few phone calls and push his Republican sycophants to work on behalf of those who put them in power.