As Shakespeare tellingly wrote troubles come not as single spies but in battalions. The art of politics consists in identifying the most serious ones and dealing effectively with them.

Presently the President of the US has a number of problems to solve; among them the after effects of more than one hurricane striking the south of his country. How he reacts to these natural calamities, or rather their after effects, will determine how he is seen by a majority of US electors and will first be noted in the results of next year’s elections.

One thing that will have little or no effect on the results of those will be whether he decides to notice that his calendar for the 12th.of this month includes a date to grant a formal reception at the White House to a mega criminal from Malaysia named Najib Razak.

Quite how this date was arranged is not publicly clear though the US electorate is well aware that this visitor has been proved by America’s own Department of Justice to have stolen billions of Malaysian public money and that US criminal action in respect of the series of crimes organised by this “visitor” is imminent.

In such circumstances, which are well known to President Trump, can it be wise, or politically sensible or even, going outside the political boundaries, morally right to receive such a visitor? If the facts were not known when the visit was originally arranged they certainly are now and a sensible politician would extricate himself from such a situation.

Fortunately for President Trump, if not for the inhabitants of some of his southern States,a series of devastating hurricanes have struck that part of the US and a wise leader would want to see for himself the extent of the damage and what can be done about it. Also, in a democracy, the electors like to feel that those they elected continue to care about them and their problems after the votes have been counted. After all there is always another election in the wings.

So a visit to Texas and Florida would do a lot more for the President’s image than receiving in the heart of America’s government a mega criminal seeking a presidential whitewash.