Today Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget and currently the White House chief of staff threw down a gauntlet to all Americans, not just the journalists to whom he addressed his words. He flat out stated that Trump had stopped congressionally approved aid to Ukraine because Trump wanted investigations into not only the Bidens but the totally spurious and nonsensical conspiracy theory that some DNC computer server that, according to the theory, is in Ukraine(https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/10/crowdstrike-ukraine-investigation-trump). Trump apparently believes every single conspiracy theory that flows down the sewage pipes of online and electronic data and he also apparently believes that this "server" will prove that Obama, the Fed, the FBI, the CIA, and others conspired to prevent him from winning the election. This despite the fact that he did win the election through the archaic Electoral College. When is enough not enough?
What makes Mulavaney's statements more appalling is that in essence he said, "So what?" So Trump stopped congressionally approved funds for Ukraine? The founders made ours a tripartite government because of their fear of investing power in only one branch. When any one branch exceeds what we ordinarily assume to be the boundaries we begin to mistrust our institutions. Trump is counting on this because his "So what?" is a direct slap in the face of the intelligence community (FBI and CIA), a direct slap in the face of the dedicated public servants in the Foreign Service, and even a direct slap in the face of the US armed services who are sworn to uphold and protect.
If there isn't trust in the institutions what is left to uphold and protect? Congress is equal to the White House by the Constitution. Trump says, no, I am the giver of all good things and I am great and powerful. Please notice that I did not put that in quotes although it mimics Trump's speech.
In the meantime, Trump is proclaiming that his actions in Syria have led to a tremendous breakthrough in a dramatic ceasefire by the Turkish mob. But Erdogan, who lost the confidence of his own people to the point that even after two votes in his home province around Istanbul where he served as mayor years ago, he still lost political control, flatly stated that it wasn't a ceasefire. He said that anyone who wanted to live had 120 hours to get out of his way and after that there would be no survivors. Our own senate has been dithering over language to condemn Turkey's actions while Erdogan shells everything in sight and we destroy our own arms depot to prevent the weaponry from entering the Turkish government's onslaught.
Go on, you Trumpettes, tell me that all this is good or rational or in anyway praiseworthy.
As usual, well said. I couldn't believe Mulvaney's press conference yesterday ! It's so surreal. The damage this administration is doing will take years to correct.
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