A gun to his head, whether real or imaginary

Imagine you are a US foreign service officer.

You agree to spend most of your career outside the United States, in one hell-hole cesspit of a nation after another: places where you are constantly liable to kidnapping, murder, assault, wiretaps, blackmail attempts, and the collateral damage of military coups and civilian riots.

Then a foreign dictator decimates your office, where representatives of dozens of US government agencies work- hard, and for poor pay- to advance the interests of the United States people.

And your President says this:

"I want to thank him because we're trying to cut down our payroll, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll," Trump told reporters at his Bedminster, N.J., golf club.

"There's no real reason for them to go back," the president continued. "I greatly appreciate the fact that we've been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We're going to save a lot of money."

Trump's fiscal year 2018 budget proposed cutting the State Department budget by 29 percent.

There are really only two ways to explain this comment.

One is that the President is mentally ill.

The other is that he is being blackmailed by Russia.