Not Normal Times
One unprincipled person in power is enough
With the choices Trump is making for his key posts, it might seem that he’s hell bent on destroying our system of government. He is. These are brash, wildly unvetted (is that possible? ) nominations—because they are so, however, the Senate GOP may find a backbone and reject them. The choices are so out there, I hope the system will work to prevent unprincipled (and unhinged) people from positions of power. One is enough.
I’ve been reading about some recent nominations: Kash Patel for FBI Director is the scariest one. Trump would have to fire the current director, Christopher Wray, whom he appointed years ago in his first term. Trump had wanted to fire FBI Director at the time James Comey to end the investigations into his ties to Russia. His own people arugued he can’t admit his true intentions, so the cover was that Comey was to be fired for mishandling Hillary Clinton investigation. He hired Wray, a politically independant figure. He’s been in the roll since. Now Trump wants to blatently do it again and hire a henchman. The Atlantic reports:
Yesterday, Trump announced on Truth Social that he intended to fire Wray to replace him with Kash Patel, a person notorious for his cringing deference to Trump’s wishes. How bad a choice is Patel? My colleague Elaina Plott Calabro reported that when President Trump “entertained naming Patel deputy director of the FBI, Attorney General Bill Barr confronted the White House chief of staff and said, ‘Over my dead body.’”
On a podcast last year, Patel said, “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said. “We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly—we’ll figure that out.”
The FBI yields enormous power, and there has been an understanding that the director stays for ten years, regardless. But Trump wants to throw that out the window because he wants to go after his enemies. He wants to use the agency as his own tool for wielding power. Perhaps Patel will fail and Trump will fire Wray and put someone else in, someone less of a yes-man. According to the FBI’s own website, there is “regular, vigorous Congressional oversight of all aspects of FBI operations by eight primary committees of the U.S. Congress from The House/Senate Judiciary Committees, The House/Senate Intelligence Committees.” That’s some consolation as long as Trump and his new director can’t change that.
Trump is also intending to appoint family members to posts, such as son-in-law Kushner (served time in prison) as Ambassador to France, and he will appoint his daughter Tiffany’s father-in-law, Lebanese-born billionaire Massad Boulos, as White House senior adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs. This is what autocrats do, they appoint family and yes-men.
President Biden pardoned his son Hunter yesterday. Many in the press, and some Democrats, are criticizing him for this, sighting that he said he would never ever pardon Hunter and that this sets a bad precident. But the incoming administration will be viscious, and as a parent, I think I understand the President’s decision. These are not normal times.
Here is Biden’s statement: “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son—and that is wrong.... [A]nd there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough…. I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice…. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
These few live drawings from when I was London during Trump’s first term illustrate how disliked he was and will continue to be. I stumbled on this protest and it was fascinating. I hope the protests are stronger and louder around the world during his second term. We need all the help we can get—even though I know we did this to ourselves.
Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow.
Let us not "throw in the towel".
Remember Churchill? "The darkest hour is just before the dawn".
A powerfil backlash has just started to build.
Hunker down, and keep your powder dry.
Trump has a long history of bankruptcy due to his incompetent management, will the US be his biggest? I doubt his team can accomplish his goals. Infighting, clashing and unclear goals, lack of knowledge depth, will start more forest fires than any amount of leaf raking could contain. How long it will take the public and the world to say enough, I don't know.