Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe is set to take over the helm as Director of National Intelligence from Dan Coats in mid-August. Harvard lecturer and national security expert Juliette Kayyem said that Ratcliffe is “unqualified in every aspect” for the post save one: He whitewashes Russian election interference and that’s exactly what Trump wants in the position, apparently. RawStory:
“He embraces these conspiracy theories we saw in the hearing with [special counsel Robert] Mueller last week,” she continued. “The one qualification he [Trump] does want is someone skeptical about Russian influence. If you put this nomination together with what [Sen. Mitch] McConnell is doing in the Senate — which is stopping any laws that would protect our elections — these appointments are really about 2020, they are not about running an agency.”
“They are essentially ensuring that the United States is ill-prepared or unprepared to deal with the Russian influence in 2020,” she added. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that just a week or two ago Coats had announced a Russian task force, Russian election task force for 2020. Ratcliffe I have no doubt will end that if confirmed.
This does not bode well for our 2020 election, nor for any subsequent elections. Take a listen to this three minute clip to see what security expert Phil Mudd has to say about how Trump won’t want to hear the truth about North Korea or Saudi Arabia. Trump made it clear in Helsinki that even before that, that he doesn’t respect his own intelligence operatives. Putting Ratcliffe in charge is a move intended to undermine the intelligence community and surround Trump with yes men.
I don’t doubt that this is Trump’s plan, in addition to not being told inconvenient facts that he wants to edit out of his worldview (which Coats did repeatedly). The doubt lies in it working according to that plan.
I have a very bad feeling about Trump’s nominees encroaching on the intelligence community. I hope Ratcliffe doesn’t get confirmed, but with a Republican Senate and McConnell pursuing the same agenda, I don’t know how that’s possible. The GOP is selling us out to Russia. That’s about as simple as it gets. Never thought I’d live to see this day.
The time to have made that play on the intelligence community was well before now. As it stands, this is a last minute substitution that he hopes will work in his favor. And Ratcliffe being a Republican means the possibility of nomination sinking scandal is in play. In that event, we’ll wind up with another “acting” placeholder who will accomplish nothing.
Bottom line remains the same…any success he has has had nothing to do with him.
Burr isn’t going to run again in 2022, and while I have little use for him he’s at times at least made some of the kind of effort he should be making as Chair of the Senate Intel Committee. And the report they put out last week noting that Russia was mucking around in the election systems of all 50 states in 2016 surely made Trump blow another gasket. It was probably one of the things that led to the latest “weapon of (racial this time) mass distraction” bomb he unleashed over the weekend. After all the media (so-called liberal media) was doing a pretty fair job of running down Mueller and any possible effects of the damning (for Trump) testimony in the hearings.
As for our apparatus to prevent similar actions by Russia (or China, NK or even the Saudis & the Israelis – who says they can’t work together? – for that matter) people have in fact been working to do what they can. The problem as I see it is that there is no national leadership in the form of an overarching call/mandate from the top (if not the President who should be doing it then at least from the head of DHS) to give the states a swift kick in the ass to by god accept the resources of the federal govt. to safeguard/strengthen their election infrastructure. In fact, the opposite is taking place.
The effects I think will be that blue states and maybe even some purple ones will take the initiative and seek out those federal resources and the feds will provide it lest it become a scandal from which those officials careers won’t recover. It just won’t be public. The problem is purple and red states that wouldn’t want federal help/intervention even if it was offered. That I fear means that states like TX, AZ and even ones like NC where I live (we have a Democratic Gov. and the GOP supermajority was broken but our state govt. is still way overfilled with Republicans when compared to the percentages of Party registration) the “wink wink, nod nod” invitation to hostile foreign powers to come on in and screw around and even change vote totals if that’s what it takes IS coming from the very top. This election will be much closer than it should be or otherwise will be.
The GOP hasn’t been able to win outside of ruby red states for a long time without cheating. Vicious and increasingly sophisticated gerrymandering and voter suppression isn’t enough anymore and they know it. Hence the refusal by the federal agencies (at Trump’s direction) to step up the way they can, and the active measures on other’s part (starting with McConnell) to prevent any election security measures being mandated by Congress. It’s easy for many in the GOP to say they’d support some of the bills that would help when they know McConnell will never allow a vote in the Senate. I wonder how many would suddenly start quibbling (in the House too) if all of a sudden they did actually have to cast a vote to secure our elections that would lead to a bill reaching Trump’s desk? My bet is that it would wind up being well short of a number that could provide a veto proof majority. IOW the supposed bi-partisan support is nothing more than the show the GOP made about repealing the ACA all those years – easy to cast the votes to please their base when they knew damn well nothing would come of it.
What I’m sure of is that between so many state races going badly for the GOP prior to last November and then the overwhelming vote against the GOP all over the country is that they are running scared. If it takes Russian (or other) help then the GOP will take it. Russia knows we know what they did and how they did it last time and they probably weren’t ready last November. Or perhaps they were but wanted to put the fear of god into the GOP to make sure THIS time around they’ve got the whole goddamned GOP on board (and on the hook for blackmail) instead of a few key figures.
The most simplistic way to look at this is that the GOP is aiding and abetting Russia in a bloodless coup so that they can stay in power. Maybe it is as simple as that.
WTF, is there no end to all this horrible situation? Our supposed pres has attacked the CIA in the most horrid way from in front of their memorial wall for fallen agents in service to their country, with 1st grade language skills and zero respect to the agency and the agent’s gift of their own lives …
Total disrespect at every turn, using and supporting people like Flynn vilifying everyone that calls his attention to details in the security reports … him don’t need any them silly reports … he gets all he needs from FOX NEWS … he’s expected to READ, something he does not know how to do, I’ve heard they tried colorful charts and hand holding through reports to no avail ….
He is a worthless, bumbling no-account that needs a few years of relaxation way out in the desert, in a highly secure concrete rest home, all meals provided, even nice colorful orange jump suits and orange rubber booties ….
He can listen to NPR on the radio or a laugh track from the Red Skeleton show, that has been used as the standard for many years for modern shows, Red and Milton Berle were from the old school like George Burns, they lost their job if they went 5 minutes without a laugh … a standard brought to radio from the old prat-fall days on stage …
Having read Spy vs Spy in Mad magazine as a kid makes me more qualified for the position than Ratcliffe.
having played hide’n’seek, freeze-tag, and redlight-greenlight as a kid will also do that for you. (you learn how to be very very sneaky.)
Trump began with denigrating everyone who could expose him. FBI, CIA, Courts, and especially the media and any other law enforcement he could. He knew he had to make people believe they were a corrupt “deep state” who hated him and that was their motivation for “Fake News” he cries discrediting them all in the eyes of his base so he could tell them anything and they would “know” why anyone said he was lying. “They were angry at losing the election” Trump is 25 lbs. of shit in a 10 lbs. bag.
I think it’s way past time for the Anonymous hackers to start hacking into ALL of Trump’s business affairs and expose ALL the dirty little secrets. (Well–okay. No one really wants any more of the information that Stormy Daniels has already put into the record/rumorsphere.)
And, considering the recent story about someone hacking into Jessica Alba’s Twitter account and posting numerous racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments (over the course of several hours), maybe it’s time someone hack into the Presinfant’s Twitter account. Let he who lives by the Twitter (metaphorically) die by the Twitter. It’s only fitting.
However much I agree with you, Joseph, I’m not holding my breath.