Past Time For a Change

 In the New York Times Magazine on 8 August, there is a long but important article about Donald Trump and his relationship with the intelligence community. It is worth the time it takes to read (or, if you prefer, there is an audio version in the link). The primary responsibility a President has is to keep our country safe. From well before he was even a candidate for the office, Trump was negative and dismissive of American intelligence services and their professionals. While it is true that there have been many times where our intelligence services have failed, there have been many more times where they have succeeded in delivering the information needed for ensuring our safety. There are times when our elected officials blunder despite intelligence assessments. Sometimes both the intelligence community and the Executive Branch err badly. 

The Times article shows a radically different animal in Trump. The author, Robert Draper, spoke with more than 40 sources in the administration, Congress, and the intelligence communities. All demanded anonymity (in Trump’s Washington, just as in 1930s Berlin, keeping one’s head down is prudent). The stories all corroborate what has been in plain sight for years: Trump was elected in large measure because of interference in the 2016 elections and Trump refuses to even hear that fact in any guise. This has led to incompetent political hacks being installed at the highest levels of our intelligence community and overt reluctance to deliver the straight truth to Trump out of fear. Instead, he gets what Kellyanne Conway calls “alternative facts.” I do not know about you, but I don’t feel safe when the inhabitant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is fed bullshit just so he won’t throw a tantrum.

Now the election of 2020 will turn on the ability for people to vote safely in a pandemic. We saw the Postmaster-General, Louis DeJoy, likely perjure himself yesterday in front of a Senate committee. He is due in front of a House committee early this week. It will be most interesting to hear what differences there are in questioning this man, a political hack who is a longtime Trump and GOP ally and contributor. Of course, we also have Donald Trump saying he will deploy armed law enforcement to “watch” the polls (aka voter suppression) and moves of his GOP cabal, such as the Republicans in Tennessee passing a law to make felons of protestors so they cannot vote (also aka voter suppression). Given that Tennessee’s law blatantly violates the First Amendment, one hopes it is swiftly invalidated.

And there remains the coronavirus pandemic, with the Johns Hopkins website today totaling 5,656,500 cases in the United States along with 176,050 deaths. Trump is again hawking hydroxychloroquine (!) and oleandrin, pushed by the pillow guy. My wife told me that in Hawaii, where oleander is common, kids are told never to ingest it -- period. Operation Warp Speed for a COVID-19 vaccine continues and there is speculation that Trump could pull an October surprise out by releasing a vaccine before needed studies are done. Think he wouldn’t dare do that? Think again. 

There are literally thousands of reasons that Trump should not be in office. Several hundred of them are in Congress. On November 3rd, we have a chance to vote this giant clown show out and restore sanity to the government. And begin the hard job of digging out from the corruption and criminality that have been in place since 20 January 2017.