Another Trump Administration National Security Specialist Denounces Him in Favor of Joe Biden

Elizabeth Neumann recently resigned her post as Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention in the Trump Administration. 

She is, first and foremost, she says, a follower of Jesus Christ. She says, "I voted for Trump in 2016, primarily because of the pro-life issue."

Her job at the Department of Homeland Security, involved monitoring threats to national security from domestic terrorism — increasingly, from 2017 on, the growing threat from White nationalists.

She says, plainly, the president’s rhetoric made her national security job harder. She says "The president's actions and his language are, in fact, racist. Things like, 'There are good people on both sides,' or 'Send them back where they came from' — those words gave permission to White supremacists to thing that what they were doing was permissible."

She says, "There were plans put in place for a pandemic for 15 years. When we started to see that a pandemic was on its way to our shores, in January, any number of experts told me we need to be executing on these plans. But from January until March 11th, what you saw instead was a number of good public servants attempting to do their jobs and the president telling them to stop, because he didn’t want the economy to tank and he didn’t want a distraction from his campaign."

"I’m sorry, Mr. President," she says, "You were hired to handle America’s worst day, and you’ve absolutely failed.

"I do not think," she says, "that we can afford four more years of President Trump. 

"We are less safe today because of his leadership. 

"We will continue to be less safe as long as he is in control. 

"And, this year," she concludes, "I’ll be voting for Joe Biden."

Nothing to see here post impeachment trial

In the two weeks following the impeachment trial, the President:

• Intervened in the sentencing of an accomplice convicted on multiple counts

• Called for a wholesale prosecution of his “enemies”

• Punished government employees who lawfully testified in or leading to impeachment hearings

• Fired the Director of National Intelligence for permitting a proper intelligence briefing to Congress

So … this is going well…. 

A question no one is asking: "What did he know and when did he know it?" 2-minutes-19-seconds

Why is no one asking, "What did he know and when did he know it?"

“There’s a reason no one has said, 'What did the President know and when did he know it?’ From  the  evidence you have  presented .... we know one thing, and one thing is clear: As it related to this scheme, the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, knew everything.”  —  Rep.   Eric Swalwell, December 9, 2019

Poor Donald | Rich, with an Asterisk

Poor Donald.... He's kind've rich but, you know, with an asterisk. The asterisk reminds us he's not that rich - not compared to other Americans whose names we all know (and a bunch whose names most of us don't know).

This is an inconvenient truth for Poor Donald because the only card he has to play is his money, such as it is. If he were working class, would he would get a half percent of the vote? I don't think so. If he were working class - correct me if I'm wrong, but - would he be anything other than a verbally abusive, sexist, racist, prick?

As far as I can see, his only vaguely political asset is money ... and he has a mouth on him - so there's that.

Of course we're not talking Bill Gates money. Poor Donald doesn't have Bill Gates or Warren Buffet money ... or Michael Bloomberg money ... or Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Koch brothers, or George Soros money.... In fact, Poor Donald doesn't have the kind money that's in the hands of fifty, maybe a hundred, Americans you probably never heard of. But for some reason Poor Donald doesn't mind talking - a lot - about the money he has, and maybe it's not as much as he claims, and maybe it is, but, in any event he's mostly talking about his money to people who have a lot less of it than him. 

So, to recap, there are really wealthy people on one end, and the rest of us on the other end, and then there's Poor Donald - way above the median, yes, but somewhere in the broad middle if you average it out (which we don't do, of course, because averaging would statistically ridiculous here ... but people do it all the time to make a point, so I'm going to as well because it's my right as an American with a blog). 

The bottom line for a guy like Poor Donald, who appears to really care about this sort of posturing is straightforward: Yes, he has a lot of money compared to the rest us of us, but really not that much if we set him side by side with really rich people. 

About that mouth.... People who have done very well - don't talk much about their wealth the way Poor Donald talks about his money. Other people talk about the money really rich folks have - or, more often, they talk about what really rich folks do with their money - how they spread it around,  their visionary investments in the future, in science, technology, human rights, education, health care, ending extreme poverty.... 

Maybe people who have a lot more money than Poor Donald are motivated to pursue different ends. Observers who follow such things seem unsurprised that the really rich don't spend a lot of time calling in to talk on radio and cable tv shows. Not that there's anything wrong with that ... it's just, you know, interesting.

I will say I'm a little surprised Poor Donald hasn't seen fit - as someone aspiring to lead the government of the United States of America - to invest some of what he has to acquire more sophisticated insights in domains beyond his specialties in deal-making, real estate development, brand licensing, entertainment, celebrity....  You know, there's a lot of good, fact-based, information out there in domains like statecraft, macroeconomics, constitutional law, cultural anthropology, political geography, war studies, demographics, religion, ethics.... I suppose Poor Donald has the best people advising him on these matters - and maybe this is just me ... God knows I'm no genius, but - that doesn't seem like quite enough to qualify a candidate for what I think of as world class leadership.

So, yes, Poor Donald is rich*; but he doesn't appear particularly thoughtful about what money means; what relationships mean; what trust, integrity, character, and justice mean; what empathy, collaboration, community, and e pluribus unum, really and truly mean. Perhaps these are insights that money - at least the kind of money Poor Donald has - simply can't buy.

American Writers on Donald Trump

Because, as writers, we are particularly aware of the many ways that language can be abused in the name of power; 

Because we believe that any democracy worthy of the name rests on pluralism, welcomes principled disagreement, and achieves consensus through reasoned debate; 

Because American history, despite periods of nativism and bigotry, has from the first been a grand experiment in bringing people of different backgrounds together, not pitting them against one another;

Because the history of dictatorship is the history of manipulation and division, demagoguery and lies;

Because the search for justice is predicated on a respect for the truth;

Because we believe that knowledge, experience, flexibility, and historical awareness are indispensable in a leader;

UBecause neither wealth nor celebrity qualifies anyone to speak for the United States, to lead its military, to maintain its alliances, or to represent its people;

Because the rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response;

For all these reasons, we, the undersigned, as a matter of conscience, oppose, unequivocally, the candidacy of Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States.

Add your name here, if you wish.