The spectacle unfolds like cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin. It’s a genuine three-ring circus in Washington, and President Trump is, real or fake, a ringmaster of P.T. Barnum caliber.

In Ring One, A Republican split threatens President Trump’s pledge to repeal and replace ObamaCare. It’s a defining moment for the hard-right Freedom Caucus, whose 30-some members had no chance of changing anything under the Obama administration; now, facing Trump’s first legislative initiative, they must decide whether to go along with a repeal-and-replace health care plan they don’t like, or reject it and continue the pattern of Capitol Hill gridlock.

In Ring Two, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch tells Sen. Dianne Feinstein, “No one is looking to return us to horse and buggy days.” Gorsuch is responding to the California Democrat’s questioning about abortion rights, but the underlying insinuation is evident: Gorsuch is 49 years old, nearly half the age of Feinstein, who is 83.

And in the Center Ring, for your amazement and pleasure, a Kabuki theater rendition of the spy thriller, “From Russia, With Love,” starring FBI Director James Comey’s testifying before the House Intelligence Committee about allegations of ties between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

Send in the clowns. Don’t bother, they’re here.

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity,” wrote the Chinese warrior-philosopher Sun Tzu in the sixth century BC.

The current political climate puts a twist on this notion. Today it’s more appropriate to observe that opportunity presents itself to those who stir up the confusion.

And few are stirring more vigorously than President Donald Trump. To be more precise, it’s presidential adviser Steve Bannon who reportedly has the lifelong fascination with Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” and the ancient Chinese general’s precepts for leadership.

But is it a tacit adherence to Sun Tzu’s teachings that have turned Washington on its head? That seems implied in recent noteworthy allegations — of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia; and Trump’s recent claim that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped Trump’s campaign offices in New York.

The allegations call to mind another overriding principle of Sun Tzu: “All warfare is based on deception.”

Could it be Bannon and Trump’s plan all along to sow confusion, to mask their true intentions and actions?

And if so, is that a fair way to govern the people who just elected him?

Time will give us answers to both these questions, plus a third question, which is this:

Sun Tzu offers a third major principle, “Pretend to be weak, that (your opponent) may grow arrogant.” Which of Trump’s adversaries does not appear arrogant in their constant, stinging criticisms over the administration’s displays of incompetence?

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow comes to mind. Last week, Maddow went to Twitter and triumphantly hyped, “We’ve got Trump tax returns.” Later that evening on her TV show, she revealed she didn’t. There was one IRS form 1040 from 2005, and it revealed the president paid $36 million in tax on $153 million income that year. So much for scandal.

There is a method to the billionaire’s madness. The method got him elected to the presidency while wrecking the Democratic Party — with the Clintons gone and the likes of Feinstein in Congress, who’s left? — and his own Republican Party nearly as bloodied and tattered.

Still, madness is as madness does. It’s difficult to draw comfort from a White House whose moves make little sense. Besides, it’s still very early in the season for cherry blossoms.

Meantime, maybe the application of Sun Tzu’s teachings can help us sort out Trump’s quixotic tilting at windmills.