In Washington, where even the metaphors are militarised, the White House is said to be under "siege".
The word will not do. It implies outside hordes intent on entry. President Donald Trump can but wish for such a clamour. With his caretaker chief of staff, his under-manned legal team and his sheepish desertion by once-servile Republicans, the flight of people from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is more notable than any gathering at the gates. We would not describe Orson Welles at the end of Citizen Kane, burning through friends and rattling around a house that is altogether too large for him, as besieged.
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