Trump can’t not talk about impeachment

This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a Lancashire hotpot of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here.  Today's Agenda Trump's having trouble ignoring impeachment. We'd better hope Trump knows what he's doing in the trade wars. Emmanuel Macron isn't quite the NATO savior we expected. Tokyo can't replace Hong Kong as Asia's financial center. Don't Think About the Impeachment in the Room House Democrats apparently want to wrap up this whole impeachment thing by Christmas, making every day between now and then like opening an advent calendar to find the hidden impeachment gift.  Today's little present was the House Intelligence Committee's report wrapping up its two weeks of hearings. It accused President Donald Trump of abusing his office to push Ukraine to help his re-election and obstructing the House investigation of same. Trump, at the NATO meeting in London today, claimed he was "not even thinking about" impeachment and then proved it by railing about it at every public opportunity, calling it "unpatriotic" and "bad for the country" and diagnosing Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as "a deranged human being."  Once upon a time, presidents facing impeachment absolutely yearned for stuff like NATO meetings in London: to change the subject, escape the Washington spotlight, and demonstrate command of the normal functioning of government. But Trump's government is neither "normal" nor "functioning," notes James Gibney, and Trump's brain appears incapable of the kind of compartmentalization Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon demonstrated during their personal crises. So every Trump action, foreign and domestic, will be steeped in impeachment — and probably not to Trump's benefit. Further Impeachment Reading: Trump's conduct is clearly impeachable as the Founders understood the term. — Cass Sunstein More Trade War? You Got It When Trump wasn't railing about impeachment or fighting with French President Emmanuel Macron in London, he was scaring markets by ratcheting up global trade tensions even more. Yesterday morning he opened new South American fronts in his trade war, and last night he took the fight to France. For good measure, this morning he said a "phase one" trade deal with China might not happen until after the 2020 election, causing the Charlie Brown of the stock market to end up flat on its back once again, after being sure Lucy would let it kick the football this time. It's possible Trump's wild trade belligerence is part of a "madman" strategy meant to drive rivals to the bargaining table before he blows up more stuff, writes John Authers. We'd certainly better hope so; otherwise he simply has no idea what he's doing, and the risk to the economy and markets is that much greater.  Trump's threat to slap tariffs on French cheese and whatnot is certainly a madman kind of move, way out of proportion to France's plan to tax U.S. tech companies, writes Leonid Bershidsky. But then again, France was asking for it by jumping the gun on an OECD solution to taxing big tech firms. In trade wars as in any war, cooler heads don't always prevail. Emmanuel Macron Isn't Quite the Hero We're Looking For As mentioned above, Trump has an awful lot of differences with Emmanuel Macron these days. He's not alone. Just a couple of years ago, Macron looked like a perfectly timed counterweight to Trump's wrecking-ball approach to the NATO alliance, representative democracy and other Western liberal institutions. Unfortunately, it turns out Macron is just as disruptive, writes Hal Brands. He's trying to step in to the leadership gap left by the U.S., but his ideas favor France first and foremost, sometimes to the detriment of allies.  Further European Antihero Reading: Neither Boris Johnson nor Jeremy Corbyn has the right take on the London Bridge attacks. — Therese Raphael  Tokyo Isn't Quite the Hong Kong Replacement We're Looking For As David Fickling wrote yesterday, street protests and tensions with mainland China put Hong Kong at risk of losing its status as Asia's financial hub. In the event this happens, some city or city-state or floating city will have to take up that role, and this week David is exploring the possibilities, with help from chart wizard Elaine He. Today he looks at Tokyo, which was the Hong Kong of 30 years ago, back when "Rising Sun" was just a gleam in Michael Crichton's eye. Japan's capital city still has many advantages a global financial capital needs. But its growing disadvantages outweigh them now.  Further Japan Reading: Japan's stimulus package is necessary to paper over the error of a tax hike. — Dan Moss and David Fickling  Further City Reading: Cebu in the Philippines is the world's most typical city. — Tyler Cowen  Telltale Charts You wouldn't know it from its bloated stock price, but Roku Inc. is a shrinking player in the streaming game, notes Tara Lachapelle. Then again, that's not such a bad thing to be these days. Amazon's bet on English Premier League games hinges on a glitch-free viewing experience for viewers, writes Alex Webb. The chances of that look iffy.  Further Reading For all its stock-market woes, Twitter Inc. will have no trouble raising money in the junk-bond market, mainly because it doesn't need the cash. — Marcus Ashworth  It's admirable that European oil company Repsol wants to go carbon-neutral, but it won't exactly be easy. — Chris Hughes  Gene therapy just got a $3 billion vote of confidence. — Max Nisen  With Iranian protesters dying, it's a bad time for Europe to throw the regime a financial lifeline. — Eli Lake  For economic growth to continue, we'll need productivity growth to awaken from its long slumber. — Conor Sen  Decriminalizing sex work makes all women safer, studies have shown. — Karl Smith  ICYMI Kamala Harris dropped out of the 2020 race. China's schoolchildren are now the world's smartest. Flight-shaming has revived the sleeper car. Kickers Scientists find a black hole so massive it shouldn't theoretically exist. (h/t Ellen Kominers)  Aerial radar finds a Viking ship in a farmer's field. (h/t Scott Kominers)  "Sesame Street" turns 50. (h/t Alisair Lowe)  A morning routine may not be the answer to all your problems.  Note: Please send morning routines and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. FOLLOW US SEND TO A FRIEND You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. Unsubscribe | Bloomberg.com | Contact Us Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022