EDITORIAL: And now, a special counsel. How Trump still could save his disaster-prone presidency.

May 18--The best Donald Trump can hope for over time is that "10 days in May" becomes shorthand for the darkest period of his presidency, when hubris, incompetence and scandal damaged but did not engulf him.

In this theoretical scenario, the Justice Department's appointment of former FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel Wednesday evening would catch the president's attention: Whoa, this is serious. He would soon acknowledge that he is in crisis. He recognizes he is ill-equipped to manage the political, ethical and legal nuances of governance. He replaces bungling staffers with a more savvy team. He listens. He heeds their advice on issues of substance and style. He focuses on the agenda he was elected to pursue. And in the end he survives the intensifying probe of ties between Russian interests and his campaign.

That would be the Hollywood version of Trump's recovery from this disaster-movie period in the White House.

The more likely scenario: There will be plenty more catastrophes to come because the president lacks judgment and discipline. If nothing changes, Trump's character flaws eventually will destroy his effectiveness as president. He'll either wither on the job, accomplishing little, or be driven from office.

Trump's 10 days of disarray began on May 9 with his firing of FBI Director James Comey, whose former agency is investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. While Trump had legal authority to dump Comey, the timing made it look like an effort to derail the FBI probe. The White House provided a flimsy cover story in the guise of a Justice Department memo criticizing Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email fiasco. By last Thursday, even Trump admitted he was thinking about "this Russia thing" when he fired Comey.

One day later, with the nation still digesting Comey's dismissal, Trump -- improbably -- hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office, where they discussed the terrorist threat posed by Islamic State. Here the president's judgment failed him again. He reportedly shared highly classified intelligence with Lavrov without permission from the source, an unidentified U.S. partner believed to be Israel. It was a clumsy mistake by the president and his team that could provide Russia, an adversary, with useful intelligence info and put undercover operatives in danger. Lavrov should not have been in the West Wing, especially with Russia-related scandal in the wind.

Russians-in-the-White House remained Trump's biggest headache of this week ... but only until Tuesday afternoon. That's when the saga turned back toward Comey. News broke that, in February, Trump allegedly asked Comey to drop the part of the Russia investigation focused on former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump supposedly didn't demand action, but he wheedled for it. Trump said Flynn is "a good guy. I hope you can let this go," Comey wrote in a confidential memo cited by The New York Times. Taken together with his decision to fire Comey, it appears Trump can't grasp why a president must avoid the appearance of meddling in ongoing investigations.

And now, a special counsel.

Mueller is widely respected by Democrats and Republicans in Washington. We expect that he'll essentially oversee the FBI's work, determine where to look for possible wrongdoing and decide whether charges are warranted.

Beyond that probe of possible Russian collusion with Trump associates, House and Senate committees also are investigating. These quests will play out over time. While the appointment of a special counsel always raises the profile of an investigation, it doesn't necessarily change how FBI or other federal agents operate. Whatever their trajectory, Trump had better stay out of the way. That's elemental advice we shouldn't have to provide to a president.

Trump's challenge is that, down to his bones, he is an entrepreneur and sales guy who believes in the big pitch. Details matter less. His skills won the presidency but don't translate to leadership of the country. Democrats are out to get him, but he helps them by making these unforced errors due to his rash temperament and inexperience.

In the White House, he is a captive of his own ego, unable to admit he needs help to manage the immense job of being president. His hastily proposed immigration ban, haphazardly issued during his first week in office, remains hung up in the courts. His Mexican wall is more punch line than possibility. Now the Comey and Russia stories. What goes wrong next? Skepticism like that kills a president's brand.

These 10 days are squandered time. The arrival of a special counsel will further consume him and his White House. When he's doing damage control, Trump isn't campaigning for tax reform, rethinking the future of America's urban centers or managing the North Korea nuclear threat. And every moment counts: He needs an immediate reboot. He needs new staff, a new perspective and an end to the self-inflicted wounds dragging him down.

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