Here at Far East Cynic HQ, we have made no secret of the fact that we loathe Donald Trump with the heat of supernova and wish him nothing but ill will. I’ve been writing about how dangerous he is since the day he and the mail order bride wife came down the escalator from hell Trump Tower in 2015.
The events of the past few weeks go far beyond that however and I would implore any American, regardless of political persuasion to ask themselves honestly, “Are tax cuts really worth this?” And then ask yourself, if [fill in the name of any other President] had done what Trump has done, would he not already be under impeachment?
Furthermore, when you turn a blind eye to things like this, make no mistake about it, it will come back to haunt the country in the future:
The Founding Fathers intended there to be a system of checks and balances regardless of who was in power. They never intended for one party to simply roll over on their responsibility to provide those checks and balances the way Moscow Mitch and company have done these past 2.5 years. They knew that people would not always like the exercise of checks and balances, but they also understood that they were a necessary part of a Constitutional Republic.
“But Obama did [fill in a fact-free statement here]”
Shove it. Even Nixon was never this blatantly defiant of the rule of law, and it has been firmly established by history that he was a crook. And if it was any other politician doing what Pompeo is doing, the howl would huge.
It is not supposed to work this way. And it’s creating casualties:
When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused House Democrats of trying to “intimidate, bully, and treat improperly” State Department employees in their impeachment inquiry, his words rang hollow to more than a few staffers in Foggy Bottom.
If anything, critics inside and outside the department say, Pompeo has done little to protect U.S. diplomats from a virtual war waged on them by President Donald Trump’s administration. His abrupt withdrawal earlier this year of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine – whom Trump disparaged in a call at the heart of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry – also has raised questions about Pompeo’s willingness to stand up for staffers facing political attacks.
That ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch , is due to to be deposed later this month by House staffers, according to a committee aide. Her case, meanwhile, has already rattled career government staffers. Many of them believe Yovanovitch, a veteran diplomat, is one of the most prominent victims of what they say is the contempt and paranoia with which Trump and his aides view the Foreign and Civil Service.
“What the administration appears to want are political operatives who are loyal not to the United States but to the president in furthering his personal, political and financial goals,” said Philip Gordon, a former senior official in the Obama administration who co-authored a recent op-ed defending Yovanovitch. “That’s where it’s demoralizing for the career diplomats.”
A current State Department staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect his job, described the Pompeo letter as “the height of irony.”
Pompeo’s letter also drew derisive comments from people who remember his time as a congressman, when he loudly pressured the Clinton-led State Department to release information about the 2012 attack that killed four Americans, including an ambassador, in Benghazi, Libya.
“It is a bit rich,” said Gordon, who reported to Clinton during her time in Foggy Bottom.
Some veteran government employees fear the revelations from the impeachment inquiry will further demoralize the Foreign Service and others who work for the State Department.
One sign of that? Since the memo detailing Trump’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart was released, dozens of Foreign Service officers have joined a private Facebook group for those considering quitting their jobs, a member of the group told POLITICO.
And if, at this point, you say “Deep State”, Mr. Jackson wants a word with you:
I can’t stress this enough. I don’t care what your politics are or how many shitty judges you want to see appointed, this is not how you run a government.
Some Americans still support President Trump, but far, far more are exhausted and disgusted by him. And that is why his latest outrage is so dangerous to him. He knows that we know that many Republicans know that he committed an impeachable offense.
Responsible national security decision-making is dying by a thousand cuts. And don’t kid yourself, there is a reason for these protocols that Trump seems to be pissing on daily. Real people can get killed.
So, I beg you. Put down the red hat and demand more from your country. This is not normal and if it is not stopped, you [and I] will pay the price.
More proof that one sees what one wants to see.
Is this a self descriptive comment? I see the facts as they are…and Trump as the incompetent charlatan he is.