by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday in this space I expressed my disgust with the way Donald Trump had treated his former aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, who recently published a book detailing her insights regarding some of the inner-workings of the Trump White House. To increase sales of her book, "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House," Omarosa has been on a promotional tour, one in which she stirred interest in her work by occasionally releasing tapes of conversations that were held in the White House during the time she worked there. She had been secretly taping within the confines of the Executive Mansion while doing government business - the legality of which will certainly be hashed out in court at some point in the future.
But Donald Trump, an impetuous soul with a history of stiffing his own lawyers, does not possess the personal restraint necessary to sit back and wait for a legal ruling. Trump, the bully, reacts automatically - he strikes back - hard. Donald Trump began tweeting his venom full force. He called Omarosa "wacky" and "deranged," referred to her as a "lowlife," and hit his crescendo by calling her a "dog." Some saw Trump's bizarre remarks as being about his own ego, while others felt the level of vitriol in his tweets had more to do with the fact that he had been attacked by a woman, part of a group that Trump has traditionally maligned - and still others felt that the extreme level of his wrath had more to do with the fact that Omarosa is black than with anything else. And then there were those of us who suspected that his out-of-control wrath was due to a combination of all of those factors.
Whatever inspired Donald Trump to call out a soft-spoken, highly intelligent, black woman with a string of schoolyard taunts, it was not anything presidential. Trump's actions were those of a child. They were immature and they were petty. Sadly millions of good people - people who as parents would have been outraged and appalled if their own child had behaved in such a manner toward a child of lesser means at school - stood aside and did nothing. It was just Trump being Trump, and the nation has become desensitized to his vulgarity and pettiness.
Sadly, examples of Trump's pettiness abound. Here are a couple of more from just the past week.
Trump was in upstate New York at Ft. Drum, a U.S. Army installation, where he held a public appearance and signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, a spending bill named in honor of Arizona's Senator John McCain. McCain has occasionally expressed criticism of Trump, but has generally voted the Republican Party line on most major legislation. A bigger man would have overlooked McCain's occasional criticisms and would have praised the dying senator as he signed the legislation - but not Donald John Trump. Trump spoke for twenty-five minutes at the signing ceremony without ever once even mentioning McCain.
Petty, petty, petty.
And then yesterday The Donald was again all about getting even as he yanked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan for what appears to be Brennan's impudence at criticizing Trump. The leader of the free world, instead of ignoring criticism as bigger men would have done, reacted like a ten-year-old and began snatching up his toys.
It's bad enough that our country is being ruled by a child despot, but what truly makes the situation tragic is that so many otherwise intelligent adults are content to just stand by and watch it happen. Nothing good will come from a government that is fueled by tantrums and twisted tweets.
Donald Trump is a petty potentate and a menace to civilization. He needs to be put in a long, supervised time out.
Mr. Mueller, America is waiting!
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday in this space I expressed my disgust with the way Donald Trump had treated his former aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, who recently published a book detailing her insights regarding some of the inner-workings of the Trump White House. To increase sales of her book, "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House," Omarosa has been on a promotional tour, one in which she stirred interest in her work by occasionally releasing tapes of conversations that were held in the White House during the time she worked there. She had been secretly taping within the confines of the Executive Mansion while doing government business - the legality of which will certainly be hashed out in court at some point in the future.
But Donald Trump, an impetuous soul with a history of stiffing his own lawyers, does not possess the personal restraint necessary to sit back and wait for a legal ruling. Trump, the bully, reacts automatically - he strikes back - hard. Donald Trump began tweeting his venom full force. He called Omarosa "wacky" and "deranged," referred to her as a "lowlife," and hit his crescendo by calling her a "dog." Some saw Trump's bizarre remarks as being about his own ego, while others felt the level of vitriol in his tweets had more to do with the fact that he had been attacked by a woman, part of a group that Trump has traditionally maligned - and still others felt that the extreme level of his wrath had more to do with the fact that Omarosa is black than with anything else. And then there were those of us who suspected that his out-of-control wrath was due to a combination of all of those factors.
Whatever inspired Donald Trump to call out a soft-spoken, highly intelligent, black woman with a string of schoolyard taunts, it was not anything presidential. Trump's actions were those of a child. They were immature and they were petty. Sadly millions of good people - people who as parents would have been outraged and appalled if their own child had behaved in such a manner toward a child of lesser means at school - stood aside and did nothing. It was just Trump being Trump, and the nation has become desensitized to his vulgarity and pettiness.
Sadly, examples of Trump's pettiness abound. Here are a couple of more from just the past week.
Trump was in upstate New York at Ft. Drum, a U.S. Army installation, where he held a public appearance and signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act, a spending bill named in honor of Arizona's Senator John McCain. McCain has occasionally expressed criticism of Trump, but has generally voted the Republican Party line on most major legislation. A bigger man would have overlooked McCain's occasional criticisms and would have praised the dying senator as he signed the legislation - but not Donald John Trump. Trump spoke for twenty-five minutes at the signing ceremony without ever once even mentioning McCain.
Petty, petty, petty.
And then yesterday The Donald was again all about getting even as he yanked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan for what appears to be Brennan's impudence at criticizing Trump. The leader of the free world, instead of ignoring criticism as bigger men would have done, reacted like a ten-year-old and began snatching up his toys.
It's bad enough that our country is being ruled by a child despot, but what truly makes the situation tragic is that so many otherwise intelligent adults are content to just stand by and watch it happen. Nothing good will come from a government that is fueled by tantrums and twisted tweets.
Donald Trump is a petty potentate and a menace to civilization. He needs to be put in a long, supervised time out.
Mr. Mueller, America is waiting!
2 comments:
Donald Trump is confused. He is not a well read person and certainly could benefit from a copy of "Dummies for Presidenting" no doubt being penned by an ambitious assistant professor of Political Science at a school like Missouri State University.
A disturbing aspect of Trump's "Presidenting" is his knack for engaging in arbitrary and capricious behavior. The Ninth Circuit has a convenient resource page online which discusses this and other topics, http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/uploads/guides/stand_of_review/I_Definitions.html#_Toc199130797. On point it says:
"Review of agency determinations is limited to whether the agency’s action was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with law, or if it was taken without observance of procedure required by law. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); see also Barnes v. U.S. Dep’t of Transp., 655 F.3d 1124, 1132 (9th Cir. 2011) (“Review under the arbitrary and capricious standard is narrow, and we do not substitute our judgment for that of the agency.”);"
So, was Trump's action arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not otherwise in accordance with the law? That's a good question. Is there a statute?
Why yes, there is a statute, 50 U.S. Code § 3341 - Security clearances is the law regarding security clearances. There is a pertinent subsection on point, "(j) Retaliatory revocation of security clearances and access determinations" This makes clear that Trump is operating outside the scope of Presidential authority:
(1) In general Agency personnel with authority over personnel security clearance or access determinations shall not take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take, any action with respect to any employee’s security clearance or access determination in retaliation for—
(A) any lawful disclosure of information to the Director of National Intelligence (or an employee designated by the Director of National Intelligence for such purpose) or the head of the employing agency (or employee designated by the head of that agency for such purpose) by an employee that the employee reasonably believes evidences—
(i) a violation of any Federal law, rule, or regulation; or
(ii) gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety;"
Violation of this statute is not, by itself, grounds for impeachment. Congress never imagined a person so unhinged as Donald J. Trump would be the President. This adds to the weight of the case against Trump for obstruction of justice. This also opens Trump up to civil action in tort by those aggrieved.
A new Constitutional crisis is looming. Senator Warner (D-Va) suggests that Trump may try to revoke the security clearances for Special Prosecutor Mueller and his team. I respectfully suggest that Mueller, one sharp attorney that he is, will go to a federal court in the District of Columbia and ask for a restraining order against Trump prohibiting egregious violations of 50 U.S. Code § 3341 (j). Such a case would test the limits of Presidential power.
"Presidenting" ain't "Emperoring" nor "Kinging"; this is America and we are a land of laws not of madmen rum amok in positions of power.
Well said! But Trump seems perpetually able to ignore almost everything the law has to say --- even the statutes you mention.
What happened to the emolument requirements? And although not required by law, where are the tax returns that have traditionally served as a way to analyze the fitness of a president to serve?
Don
Post a Comment