Donald Trump has never been a responsible person. In his earlier life he was perpetually bailed out by father, family, and business associates. He got almost $700M from his father alone, which included rescuing him from numerous bankruptcies, which were caused by his poor business decisions and profligacy (how can you bankrupt a casino!?). Eventually, Trump became such a poor risk that he could only get money from questionable sources, including Russian banks and Deutsche Bank. The former was confirmed by Eric, who in 2014 famously said “We don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.” The latter is becoming increasingly recognized as the numerous investigations into his Presidential run go forward.

When he started running for President, Trump’s irresponsibility took on new and far more dangerous dimensions. Because he’s very susceptible to ego-flattery, he’s a particularly easy mark for foreign governments wishing to undermine the US. Trump’s debt to the Russian banks meant that he was compromised from the time he started running for office. He further compounded that compromise by continuing to negotiate a deal for Trump Tower Moscow throughout the Presidential campaign. He also famously used his Russian connections to fight against his electoral opponents, saying on July 27, 2016, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 [Hillary Clinton] emails that are missing” and proclaiming his love for Wiki Leaks. The most charitable assessment of these acts is that they stand in violation of federal election laws.

Since taking office, Trump’s irresponsibility as gotten geometrically worse. From scaling back environmental regulations to gutting wildlife protections to stirring up ethnic and racial hatred to abandoning major economic, diplomatic, and nuclear agreements, he has continually acted to destabilize American values and interests. He has constantly undermined our alliances and has cozied up to strongman such as Vladimir Putin, Oleg Deripaska, Mohammed bin Salman, Victor Orban, Jair Bolsonaro, Recep Erdogan, Andrzej Duda, and Kim Jong Un. These are not “many fine people.” He uses irresponsibly bellicose rhetoric in dealing with leaders who don’t agree with him, including Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, and Justin Trudeau. And he won’t pursue MbS’ clear role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist and American national. Because he operates in a world of transactional ethics, his worst decisions are justified either in terms of arms deals or trade advantages.

I recently wrote about Trump’s family separation policy, which shows such a callous disregard for the safety of young children and their families. However, there is a more basic way in which Trump is irresponsible. I refer to his long-seen behavior at his political rallies. He has repeatedly encouraged his supporters to physically attack protesters and has widely encouraged hostility towards journalists. I understand that Trump doesn’t respect the institution of the free press (after all, it’s not unfailingly uncritical of him) but to put journalists in danger is completely unacceptable. To say nothing of the fact that journalists enjoy First Amendment protections.

At his rally last night in El Paso, TX, a Trump supporter violently pushed and shoved a BBC camera man, screaming at him “f**k the media.” Jim Acosta has faced serious harassment at these rallies, as has Katy Tur, along with any protester who might dare show up. However, Trump, in his usual display of arrogance, refused to do anything to stem this level of hostility.

Although I hope it doesn’t happen, it is almost inevitable that someone will be hurt at one of these rallies, and it is unclear that Trump will ever do anything about to curb this behavior. He continually foments situations that play to his audience’s rabid anger without managing it. Like any good carnival barker, he knows that the behavior of crowds can take on a life of its own. But he does nothing to stop it, because if a journalist gets beaten up, he’ll no doubt say, “that’s what happens when you spread ‘fake news.’”

Donald Trump is 72 years old. It is extremely unlikely that he will change a pattern of behavior that has served him so well. He has never expressed even a modicum of shame, other than when he issued an apology after the Access Hollywood tape was released. Even then, he rapidly turned to going after his accusers in the most base of ways, criticizing not only their truthfulness, but their looks. He’s even commented on the attractiveness of his own wives and daughters. In general, he seems to see others as objects and not people.

His unique mix of shamelessness and arrogance make him especially dangerous when he’s in trouble. And he’s in a lot of trouble. There are more than 17 active investigations against his campaign and his behavior in office. At best, he’ll never know a day of peace in his entire presidency.

The continued cowardly unwillingness of the Republicans to deal with their Frankenstein monster can only have negative consequences for the country. It would be nice to see them pursue their oversight duties, but I don’t count on it. The saving grace is that we now have a Democratic house, so that at least there can be some level of oversight and a limit on money allocated for some of his worst impulses. However, it is up to the courts to prevent him from willy-nilly reallocating money to serve those impulses.