On Tuesday, Aug. 22, President Donald Trump’s criticism of his fellow Republicans was just one of the cruxes that dribbled off of his chin in a combative press conference he gave from Trump Tower.

After only six minutes, while he stood alongside several Cabinet members, the president’s scripted remarks on infrastructure promptly concluded, at which point his message took an immediate U-turn in a heated exchange with press officials that would last more than 45 minutes. Among the onslaught of questions reporters hurled toward the podium were those regarding his failure to cohesively denounce acts of violence that took place during a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, about which he had initially claimed off-the-cuff that there was “hatred … on many sides.” The president sat at the front lines of his war on the media Tuesday while reporters got a rare chance to field his true personality at point-blank range.

Those who watched the remainder of his welcomed showdown with the press last week were given a glimpse behind the veil of our 45th president as he flamboyantly paraded his short-range incapability as a leader. Unencumbered by pesky press secretaries and “fake” news organizations, as he likes to call them, the president prefers communicating his message straight to the public. But so far throughout his young presidency, his message has done nothing to produce any legislation as he continues to burn bridges with his Republican colleagues in Congress. While making distinguished efforts to separate himself from the apparent dysfunction, Trump has also fanned the flames amongst members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. 

With so much in-fighting going on between Republicans on issues like health care, it should come as no surprise that the president’s mixed messages and Twitter tirades have laid an impossible path toward common ground within the Republican Party on legislation either repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act, let alone tax reform.

With the threat of an impending government shutdown looming and the dismal track record of lawmakers on Capitol Hill this term, the field of play is starting to take shape for Congress in its upcoming 2018 mid-term elections. Seven months after taking office, Trump has had little-to-no positive impact on his party’s (in)ability to move the ball forward on key aspects of its legislative agenda. 

Even with a Republican president in the White House, and despite sitting atop a majority of the seats in both the House and Senate, Republicans have failed to uphold the promises many of them campaigned on during their last elections. As a result, conservative lawmakers, like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have been met with a barrage of disparagement not only from voters, but also from their commander in chief.

Even the leaders of some of the top Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. have sought out distance from the president in light of his recent shortcomings regarding his messaging and public relations. In fact, this week, according to the Washington Post, so many CEOs withdrew from the president’s Business Advisory Council that the administration thought it better to disband the board of advisers altogether rather than try to withstand the steady leak of resignations from its members.

With so many self-inflicted injuries sustained by Trump, many are losing patience. In the latest battleground poll taken this week by George Washington University, 71 percent of voters agreed Trump’s behavior is “not what (they’d) expect from a president.” But perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is whether or not this type of leadership is something we’d expect from any person in a position of power, let alone the president of the U.S.

If there’s one thing voters can take away from the president’s mixed messages this week, it should be the vigor with which he defended his tolerance toward hate and the lack of respect he shows for keeping our states united.