It is extremely ironic and tragic that today, on a day when we should be celebrating the life and teachings of Martin Luther King, the nation’s capital resembles the heavily fortified area of Baghdad known as the Green Zone, to protect it against armed insurrectionists and white supremacists in preparation for the upcoming inauguration of Joe Biden. We can only hope that the Biden administration will once again breathe life into King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ vision. It will be one of the many challenges facing the new administration after four years of carnage left in the wake of Trump.
There are only two and a half days left of the Trump administration. Two and a half days – how much damage can he do? The last time I asked that rhetorical question in one of these posts my answer was, “a lot.” My answer is the same today. Trump has demonstrated that he is no less than a vindictive, egomaniacal, wrecking ball who has no regard for anyone, let alone American institutions like the Constitution.
His first three years in office were turbulent but this past year has been a disaster of epic proportions. There is the botched handling of the COVID pandemic, the death toll for which is now close to 400,000 people. That’s an average of more than 1,000 deaths per day for the past year. That’s like having one 9/11 attack every three days for a year. After the 9/11 attack in 2001, the entire Federal government was mobilized to fight the terrorist threat and to ensure it didn’t happen again. There was nothing even remotely close to that kind of Federal response to this COVID ‘war.’
Yes, Operation Warp Speed did get a vaccine developed in record time. However, the failure of the Trump administration to coordinate an aggressive Federal response led to a far higher death toll than was necessary. Even now, the lack of a robust distribution plan is resulting in major delays in getting people vaccinated. This is no way to fight a war and the responsibility lies directly at Trump’s feet. He politicized public health advice and refused to implement policies based upon facts, data, and expert opinions. It was a failed effort by almost any measure.
What concerns me more than how much damage Trump can do in his last two and half days in office, are the festering wounds and damage that he leaves behind. The country is obviously deeply divided and right-wing domestic terrorist groups are emboldened and dangerous. It’s absolutely insane that there are now 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington D.C. and around the country to protect government buildings during the inauguration. In every previous election in my lifetime, inauguration day has been a time of pomp and circumstance to mark the beginning of a new chapter in America – even if your preferred candidate didn’t win the election. The question is,” Will we ever have an uncontested election and peaceful transition of power again, or has Trump destroyed that forever?”
The relationships with our strategic allies around the world have been significantly damaged. Even as competent as Biden’s foreign policy team is, it will take years to rebuild those alliances to the point they once were.1 On the flip side, after witnessing the turmoil during this post-election period, our adversaries will likely be emboldened and even more eager to do everything in their power to further fan the flames of discontent and division throughout the country. Right now, Vladimir Putin is a very happy man.
It should be of great concern to every American that the country is probably more divided now than at any time since the Civil War, that our global alliances have been damaged, the economy is teetering on the brink, and that the country is being ravaged in a war against COVID. However, there is something else that, in some respects, is even more concerning and will have lasting effects even after Trump leaves office. And that is all of the actions that he has taken to install Trump loyalists in positions that are critical to our national security.
Not all of these positions are Senate-confirmed positions which would make it easy for Biden to fire these people and replace them with his own people. The latest example of this is the forced installation of the new General Counsel for the National Security Agency (NSA) as of today. Yes, three days before the transition is to take place, the Acting Defense Secretary, Christopher Miller (a Trump loyalist), demanded that, Michael Ellis, a Trump loyalist, be installed as General Counsel for the country’s largest intelligence agency. This is significant because the position is a civil service position rather than a Senate-confirmed position which mean it will be harder for Biden to fire him. It’s also worth noting that Michael Ellis previously worked for Rep. Devin Nunes, one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Congress.
I have stated for a long time that I believe Trump to be the largest national security risk in the country today. It concerns me a great deal that he has purged the intelligence agencies of career professionals and replaced them with Trump loyalists. Past presidents, as a courtesy, have allowed their predecessors to maintain their access to intelligence information, at some level. However, since Trump has shown absolutely no regard for American institutions, abiding by laws, respecting other co-equal branches of government, has demonstrated a disregard for protecting classified information, seems to have an affinity for some of our adversaries and has recently fomented an insurrection at our nation’s capital, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to hope that the Biden administration will see fit to cut Trump off completely from ever obtaining an intelligence information whatsoever. I also hope that he will do everything in his power to purge the intelligence agencies (and the other government agencies) of Trump loyalists. This really is a matter of National Security.
It is extremely ironic that Trump has always complained about the ‘deep state’ and, all the while, he has been creating his own. One thing that has been absolutely consistent with Trump throughout his administration (and throughout his life) is the fact that if he is accusing others of lying – he is lying. If he is accusing others of cheating – he is cheating. If he is accusing others of profiting illegally – he is profiting illegally. As I saw somewhere recently, “Those who are busy accusin’ others of doin’, are usually the ones who are busy doin’ the doin’.”
For every great person, like Martin Luther King, our country produces an evil one. One thing Trump is very good at is being a conman who is able to totally convince half the nation not only to believe in his BS but to worship him. He’ll go down in history as one of the most notorious cult leaders ahead of Jim Jones. All I can say to his staffers in Trump’s last days is stay away from the cool aid.