Military/Intelligence Officials Stand Up To Trump

This week, Donald Trump learned he had the power to revoke security clearances -- and as with all other powers he doesn't have to clear through Congress, he was quick to use it. Of course, being the narcissistic idiot that he is, he picked someone that had publicly been critical of him -- former CIA director John Brennan. This means current intelligence officials cannot now confer with Brennan (and get the benefit of his knowledge due to his decades of service), because they wouldn't be able to fully brief him. In other words, to stoke his own fragile ego, Trump has done damage to our intelligence services.

Here is what retired Navy Admiral William H. McRaven (commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014) had to say in response to Trump's ridiculous action:

Dear Mr. President:

Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.

Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.

Like most Americans, I had hoped that when you became president, you would rise to the occasion and become the leader this great nation needs.

A good leader tries to embody the best qualities of his or her organization. A good leader sets the example for others to follow. A good leader always puts the welfare of others before himself or herself.

Your leadership, however, has shown little of these qualities. Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.

If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be.

And from Axios, here is what other officials have done:

Dr. Robert Gates — who served eight presidents, including stints as CIA director, and later as Defense Secretary for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama — just added his name to a stunning list of former intelligence officials who signed a letter criticizing the Brennan slap as "ill-considered and unprecedented":

Trump Is Guilty Of A Nixon-Like Abuse Of Power

 (The picture of Postmaster General Megan Brennan is from a USPS website. The photos of Trump and Nixon are in the public domain.)

Richard Nixon tried to have an imperial presidency -- taking to himself more power than the Constitution gave him. He tried to obstruct justice by interfering with a government investigation, but went even further.

He abused the power of his presidency by creating an enemies list -- and then tried to use agencies of the federal government (IRS, FBI, Secret Service, Justice Dept., etc.) to damage those he considered to be enemies (Democrats, journalists, etc.). That abuse of power became one of the articles of impeachment lodged against him, and contributed to his being forced to resign.

Donald Trump doesn't learn from history -- either because he is ignorant of that history, or doesn't care about the Constitution or the law. Like Nixon, he is trying to establish an imperial presidency. He wants to have the kind of absolute power enjoyed only by monarchs or tyrants. He thinks he should be able to use the federal government to damage those he sees as an enemy -- and the biggest enemy in Trump's sights is The Washington Post.

The Washington Post has had the temerity to public the truth about Trump (including keeping track of the thousands of lies he tells the American people). He has tried endlessly, through tweets and public statements, to damage the reputation of that newspaper. But he has not succeeded. His loyal trumpista base believes his lies, but no one else does.

So he decided to play a dirtier game. Since Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos also owns Amazon, he decided to use a government agency to hurt Bezos by hurting Amazon. He called Postmaster General Megan Brennan into his office several times (each time in secret, leaving her visit off the official schedule), and asked her to raise the postal rates on Amazon. He had publicly claimed that the U.S. Postal Service was shipping Amazon packages at a loss, and now he asked Brennan to double the cost of Amazon shipping with the Post Office.

It was a lie. The Post Office has given Amazon a good contract to get their business, but the Post Office is NOT losing money on those shipments. That would violate federal law.

Brennan is a trumpista, but she is not stupid enough to break the law so Trump can get back at people he doesn't like. Each time, she explained that the USPS could not arbitrarily raise rates because they had a contract, and that must be reviewed by a regulatory commission. She would be breaking the law to do as Trump asked.

What Trump did is abuse the power of his office. It doesn't matter that Brennan refused to do it. Just asking her to do it was an abuse of power -- and that is an impeachable offense. It wasn't legal for Nixon to do it, and it is not legal for Trump to do it.

How can the Republican Party continue to support and cover for this criminal?