AP-NORC POLL: “Immigration among the top concerns in 2019.” People want to stop drugs and criminals at the Border. Want Border Security! Tell the Dems to do the inevitable now, rather than later. The wait is costly and dangerous!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2019
Any time you hear a trumpian use the phrase 'national security', that's a clue that they're handing you a load of BS. To them, national security is just another tool in their collection of partisan talking points.
For example, anyone with a pulse and a memory which extends longer than 2 years is aware that the trumpians want Hillary Clinton to be locked up due to her email practices, which supposedly put our national security at risk. But their hypocrisy is exposed when stories about multiple officials in the Trump White House doing the same thing disappear with barely a ripple, or when Trump himself is allowed to use an insecure iPhone for official business.
But it's not just engaging in poor security practices with official information --- which, for the record, was wrong when Hillary did it and it's wrong when the trumpians do it --- Trump is blatantly and repeatedly putting our national security at risk, and at worst a few Republicans have engaged in some quiet tut-tutting.
Take for example Trump's admission that he makes decisions based on his gut, rather than the consensus wisdom of the U.S. intelligence community. Intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance warns:
At some point, the reality gap between Donald Trump‘s personal psychosis that imagines all sorts of mythic threats that are generated from his ‘gut’ will constitute the true national security threat to the nation.
Of course, given Trump's narcissistic personality disorder, this reliance on his gut doesn't necessarily demonstrate a disdain for U.S. national security. But one thing that DOES indicate such disdain is the way Trump has politicized security clearances.
In February 2018, it was revealed that there were still dozens of White House staff working without appropriate security clearances more than a year in to Trump's term of office. This included Jared Kushner, who didn't receive a proper clearance until May, and even then there were problems. And finally in July, Trump used security clearances as a political weapon by revoking ex-CIA Director John Brennan's clearance for political purposes --- another act which put our national security at risk.
Of course, our national security really takes a beating when it goes up against Trump's personal business interests. Since the day he was sworn in, Trump has been trading on the presidency to personally enrich himself and his family, and nearly 200 members of Congress have filed suit in an effort to stop his violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitition.
It's self-evident that the president has a conflict between his personal financial interests and the nation's interests when he makes business deals with foreign powers, and there are at least two concrete deals which clearly run counter to the nation's security interest. First, there is Trump's decision to scrap the long-planned relocation of FBI headquarters.
More stirking (and shockingly underreported) is Trump's decision to end sanctions on Chinese telecom ZTE, despite bipartisan consensus that ZTE poses a serious national security threat:
And yet, the Republican party continues to pretend that they care about national security.
Finally, let's focus on border security specifically, since that's the theoretical rationale for Trump's stupid $25 billion wall.
For starters, one might expect that a president truly focused on border security might spend a lot of money on it, and one who is willing to shut down the government over border security would spend every penny on it that Congress allocates. In Trump's case, however, only 60% of the money available has even been allocated to contracts, and only 6% has been spent.
For another thing, a wall is one of the least effective ways to spend $25 billion on border security. And Trump's focus on the southern border is misguided at any rate, as the number of unauthorized immigrants from the southern border has been steadily declining for more than a decade.
So let's mock the trumpians' supposed concern about 'border security' for what it is: A naked attempt to politicize national security for the purpose of pleasing Trump's xenophobic base. And then let's change the conversation to focus on the national security disaster which is the Trump presidency.
In February 2018, it was revealed that there were still dozens of White House staff working without appropriate security clearances more than a year in to Trump's term of office. This included Jared Kushner, who didn't receive a proper clearance until May, and even then there were problems. And finally in July, Trump used security clearances as a political weapon by revoking ex-CIA Director John Brennan's clearance for political purposes --- another act which put our national security at risk.
Of course, our national security really takes a beating when it goes up against Trump's personal business interests. Since the day he was sworn in, Trump has been trading on the presidency to personally enrich himself and his family, and nearly 200 members of Congress have filed suit in an effort to stop his violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitition.
It's self-evident that the president has a conflict between his personal financial interests and the nation's interests when he makes business deals with foreign powers, and there are at least two concrete deals which clearly run counter to the nation's security interest. First, there is Trump's decision to scrap the long-planned relocation of FBI headquarters.
More stirking (and shockingly underreported) is Trump's decision to end sanctions on Chinese telecom ZTE, despite bipartisan consensus that ZTE poses a serious national security threat:
. . . it was congressional investigators who sounded the alarm about possible cyberespionage by ZTE and Huawei in 2012, after an 11-month probe by the House Intelligence Committee concluded that the companies were essentially arms of the Chinese government that could be used as conduits for spying on American citizens and companies. And Rubio along with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced a bill earlier this year that would bar the U.S. government from buying or leasing telecommunications equipment from the companies over those concerns.
In February, FBI Director Chris Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Americans shouldn’t use ZTE or Huawei products or services. He was joined by the heads of the CIA and National Security Agency, and the director of national intelligence, who also cautioned against the public using ZTE's products.This isn't a partisan issue; it's a Trump issue. Republicans, Democrats and the intelligence community ALL agree that ZTE is a national security threat, but Trump dropped sanctions on them in return for a $500 million loan from the Chinese government.
And yet, the Republican party continues to pretend that they care about national security.
Finally, let's focus on border security specifically, since that's the theoretical rationale for Trump's stupid $25 billion wall.
For starters, one might expect that a president truly focused on border security might spend a lot of money on it, and one who is willing to shut down the government over border security would spend every penny on it that Congress allocates. In Trump's case, however, only 60% of the money available has even been allocated to contracts, and only 6% has been spent.
For another thing, a wall is one of the least effective ways to spend $25 billion on border security. And Trump's focus on the southern border is misguided at any rate, as the number of unauthorized immigrants from the southern border has been steadily declining for more than a decade.
So let's mock the trumpians' supposed concern about 'border security' for what it is: A naked attempt to politicize national security for the purpose of pleasing Trump's xenophobic base. And then let's change the conversation to focus on the national security disaster which is the Trump presidency.
No comments:
Post a Comment