Donald Trump’s latest legal peril is absolutely justified. In defending him, his competitors for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination (not to mention more than half of House Republicans) whine about “weaponizing” the Justice Department (which Trump actually did, turning it into his personal lawyer), whataboutism (Hillary’s email server; Biden’s handful of classified documents post-VP), and depicting their criminal ex-president as the Eternal Victim.
What is missing from their frothy and ineffective defenses are three very important elements: (1) They don’t offer a substantive defense of Trump’s massive mishandling of national security materials because there isn’t any; (2) They ignore completely the enormous risks involved in Trump’s slapdash storage of America’s most hush-hush secrets; and (3) They don’t care how dangerous and deeply insulting Trump’s cavalier mishandling of the most sensitive documents in the American collection is to millions of patriotic Americans selflessly serving their country.
The indictment is one of the most damning such legal documents I have ever seen. If even half of it is proven true, then Trump, as Bill Barr, his former Attorney General and principal sycophant says, “is toast.” His opponents for the nomination know very well that he is guilty as Hell, but they dare not say it for fear of offending the MAGAverse, whose allegiance they fervently hope and pray will transfer to them if and when Trump is finally recognized by his followers as the despicable scoundrel and con man that he is to the core of his being.
More than 10,000 people visit Mar-a Lago every year. Security checks are virtually non-existent. Trump’s abode has been the target of every hostile national intelligence service in the world for seven years. Any casual wanderer around the premises would have had access to the many classified documents stored in the ballroom, bathroom and elsewhere. Apparently, both Trump and most of his competitors for the nomination think this is just fine.
It is inexcusable that this gaggle of pathetic Lilliputian candidates do not point out the danger in which Trump has placed our intelligence agents, military members and national security professionals. It reveals them to be completely unworthy of the high office they seek. It also shows contempt for these millions of professionals who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe, which should also disqualify them from consideration. That they deem nuclear secrets and defense war plans of no consequence, and that the people who craft them and put their lives on the line as expendable, is appalling.
I am personally offended. As a GI, I served in an Army nuclear weapons unit; and later, as a civilian, served as a Pentagon legal advisor on national security matters. Being a “loser and sucker” (Trump’s assessment of American troops), I and my colleagues and successors in these roles apparently do not deserve the protection or respect of our so-called leaders.
By his disregard for classified information, Trump long ago disqualified himself from being fit to be president. On his first full day in office, he shared Top Secret information with the Russian ambassador! During his four years of American carnage, he tore up classified documents, left them lying around on the floor and clogged the White House toilets with them. He entertained foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago openly and publicly discussing highly sensitive matters.
His Republican opponents, who are terrified to step up to the plate for their country, are little better. Facts and law have no place in their universe, We should not permit politicians to be held to a lower standard than ordinary citizens. Support of these timid nonentities or of the House Republicans who spout similar nonsense would be an endorsement of their perfidy.
Dick Hermann
June 16, 2023
What is missing from their frothy and ineffective defenses are three very important elements: (1) They don’t offer a substantive defense of Trump’s massive mishandling of national security materials because there isn’t any; (2) They ignore completely the enormous risks involved in Trump’s slapdash storage of America’s most hush-hush secrets; and (3) They don’t care how dangerous and deeply insulting Trump’s cavalier mishandling of the most sensitive documents in the American collection is to millions of patriotic Americans selflessly serving their country.
The indictment is one of the most damning such legal documents I have ever seen. If even half of it is proven true, then Trump, as Bill Barr, his former Attorney General and principal sycophant says, “is toast.” His opponents for the nomination know very well that he is guilty as Hell, but they dare not say it for fear of offending the MAGAverse, whose allegiance they fervently hope and pray will transfer to them if and when Trump is finally recognized by his followers as the despicable scoundrel and con man that he is to the core of his being.
More than 10,000 people visit Mar-a Lago every year. Security checks are virtually non-existent. Trump’s abode has been the target of every hostile national intelligence service in the world for seven years. Any casual wanderer around the premises would have had access to the many classified documents stored in the ballroom, bathroom and elsewhere. Apparently, both Trump and most of his competitors for the nomination think this is just fine.
It is inexcusable that this gaggle of pathetic Lilliputian candidates do not point out the danger in which Trump has placed our intelligence agents, military members and national security professionals. It reveals them to be completely unworthy of the high office they seek. It also shows contempt for these millions of professionals who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe, which should also disqualify them from consideration. That they deem nuclear secrets and defense war plans of no consequence, and that the people who craft them and put their lives on the line as expendable, is appalling.
I am personally offended. As a GI, I served in an Army nuclear weapons unit; and later, as a civilian, served as a Pentagon legal advisor on national security matters. Being a “loser and sucker” (Trump’s assessment of American troops), I and my colleagues and successors in these roles apparently do not deserve the protection or respect of our so-called leaders.
By his disregard for classified information, Trump long ago disqualified himself from being fit to be president. On his first full day in office, he shared Top Secret information with the Russian ambassador! During his four years of American carnage, he tore up classified documents, left them lying around on the floor and clogged the White House toilets with them. He entertained foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago openly and publicly discussing highly sensitive matters.
His Republican opponents, who are terrified to step up to the plate for their country, are little better. Facts and law have no place in their universe, We should not permit politicians to be held to a lower standard than ordinary citizens. Support of these timid nonentities or of the House Republicans who spout similar nonsense would be an endorsement of their perfidy.
Dick Hermann
June 16, 2023
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