Less than a day ago, Axios created a hullabaloo with an anonymously sourced story intended to make President Trump look crazy and stupid:

President Trump has suggested multiple times to senior Homeland Security and national security officials that they explore using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes from hitting the United States, according to sources who have heard the president's private remarks and been briefed on a National Security Council memorandum that recorded those comments.

Behind the scenes: During one hurricane briefing at the White House, Trump said, "I got it. I got it. Why don't we nuke them?" according to one source who was there. "They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Why can't we do that?" the source added, paraphrasing the president's remarks.

President Trump has since furiously denied it.

The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2019

It was, after all, intended to make him look like a nutbag.

But I don't think Axios, despite its anonymous sourcing, was entirely making the whole thing up. There were three specific sources with different identifiers, citing three slightly different things, so this wasn't a "sources said" or a "twenty different sources claimed" type story, which does set off red flags. One significant difference in the source reports is that some said that Trump wanted bombs to be considered as a means of breaking up hurricanes headed to the U.S. and others said nuclear weapons, with one claimed quote citing the word 'nuke' which is common slang which means 'destroy.' Trump only denied the claim about nuclear weapons.

It may well have been that Trump was speaking off the cuff in a private conversation and didn't expect that his question was going to get broadcast as Exhibit X with zero context, all to "prove" how crazy he was. He probably did say something.

The problem with the story was that it was portrayed negatively, with priggish insiders reportedly tut-tutting the idea (which doesn't speak well for them) and outsiders, meaning, the press and its audience, exulting in something new to claim Trump is guilty of in order to get him impeached.

It's stupid. President Trump was probably thinking outside the box and asking a legitimate question, motivated solely by a desire to protect the United States and perhaps achieve something no other country has achieved.

That's admirable. That's not crazy. That's thinking outside the box, something every TED talk, college graduation speaker, and rubber-chicken conference circuit in the vaunted hipster tech sector encourages. Hey, be a disruptor. Think outside the box.

This is what a disruptor looks like.

It may make lefties scornful and establishmentarians uncomfortable. But thank goodness we have such a person in the White House. This ain't no empty suit or company man, this is someone who thinks of things no one else is thinking of, and at a time of huge disruptive change, amounts to exactly what's right for our time and country. Trump's world is not only wildly devoted to leading America to greatness, Trump himself has a pioneer's mindset, which is exactly what it takes to get to greatness. He lives in a world of constant possibilities, and big dreams borne of the imagination which is exactly what the conformists of the comfortable establishment despise. Trump's Greenland idea was laughed at too but it was a very good one. Now his hurricane question is being condemned as some sort of ridiculous thing, too, as if spitballing and throwing out ideas, good and bad, around, isn't the actual way good business leaders -- and national leaders -- come up with truly creative ones.

You can bet America's adversaries are reading these stories and adjusting their calculations, deciding that Trump is a wild card they won't be able to manipulate or predict based on these kinds of thoughts. That serves U.S. interests.

Frankly, Trump should be praised for thinking outside the box. Great leaders do this. I hope he keeps doing it. 

Image credit: Twitter screen shot