Cowards

17 July 2018

 

Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

No Resignations over Trump's Helsinki Debacle

 

Once upon a time, it was not uncommon for political leaders to resign from office in protest over policies and actions with which they did not agree. The honorable resignation remains, although it is much rarer than it once was. U.S. ambassador to Estonia, James D. Melville Jr., resigned last month after the president raged against America's allies. The Trump disaster in Helsinki yesterday, where the American president sided with Chekists rather than his own intelligence services, should have sparked a similar reaction if anyone in the administration had any self-respect, sense of patriotism or simple human decency. By their silence, the members of the administration have proven themselves moral weaklings surpassed in their shame only by the president they so shamefully serve.

That there was division between the president and his foreign policy staff is beyond dispute. During the press conference that followed the meeting yesteryday, the president said, "My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others. They said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia."

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats almost immediately issued a statement that read in part, "The role of the Intelligence Community is to provide the best information and fact-based assessments possible for the President and policymakers. We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security."

One of his predecessors, James Clapper, "I'm still trying to get my head around what I witnessed, which is just unbelievable. I cannot get over it. In that single session, what the president did to diminish the stature and standing of the United States."

Mr. Clapper added, "There times when I considered that when I was serving as DNI? And what you have to balance is am I doing more good by leaving and re-enforcing a principle? Or do I do more harm if I leave? And so I'm sure that Dan Coats -- I would be very surprised if he is not going through that calculus himself right now . . . That is a personal decision up to him. If it were me . . . I would resign in a heartbeat, particularly after being publicly thrown under the bus internationally, thrown under the bus by the president."

National Security Adviser John Bolton, a neo-con and Russia hawk before joining the administration, has said nothing to dispute the Trump-Putin party line. Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, was supposed to be a stabilizing force, but he has said nothing either. Chief of Staff John Kelly was a four-star Marine general, but he is collaborating still with a president who surrendered to Russia without a shot being fired.

The former CIA Director John Brennan stated, "I cannot understand how the national security team can continue to abide by this and how Pompeo and Bolton and Kelly can continue in their jobs."

There is an argument that some make to the effect that if these "grown-ups" leave the administration, they will be replaced by people even worse and thus national security is undermined even further. This is sophistry at best. It presumes that they are having any influence at all over the president, and clearly, they are not. Any replacement will merely be another voice in the echo chamber that is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that Mr. Trump is held in check by wise council is a disproved hypothesis.

Someday rather soon, the Mueller probe will report, and this journal believes that the criminal financial activities of the Trump Organization gave the Kremlin leverage over Mr. Trump. Those who stand with Mr. Trump now can stand with him in the dock at trial as well. Those who stand on principle can still save themselves, but time is running out.

© Copyright 2018 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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