BigBadgers I completely agree with everything you said at 07:18:15.
I think the hangers on, now settling into their positions of power, will quietly get on with their own agendas. Meanwhile the headlines will be filled with the blustering toddler genuinely tantrumming because he wanted the pink bowl not the green one.
He'll stomp in and break their toys occasionally, but mostly they'll get good at feeding him a few sweets and then shouting "Look over there!" and sending him off to stamp on someone else's sandcastle.
A number of things worry me about this.
One is that the "Look over theres" will get bigger and bigger, and are likely to be things that are directly harmful to other people (there's nothing like a lynching for drawing the crowds).
Another is, it really isn't just the US administration who will be doing this. The toddler is unpredictable in detail, but in he's also easily manipulated because his buttons are so obvious and easy to press, and I'm sure Putin knows how to do this. Concerned about Trump's interest in your military build-up near the Black Sea? Just tell him a 3-yr-old muslim in San Francisco didn't like his hair. Job done.