Messrs. Kristol,
McCain, and Graham have gone off the Deep State End.
Among sober conservatives,
there’s concern about Democrats (hello Ben Rhodes) and the media, and now,
the “Deep State” (a newly popular term to
describe the intelligence community and entrenched bureaucracy) colluding
to “politically assassinate” NSC Advisor Mike Flynn.
There’s less talk about establishment Republicans being in league with
the aforementioned ne’er-do-wells.
Bill Kristol is Exhibit
“A.” Here’s what he wrote today:
Obviously strongly prefer normal democratic and constitutional politics.
But if it comes to it, prefer the deep state to the Trump state.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 14, 2017
So this established
Republican voice would rather that unelected bureaucrats have the power
over our nation than the voters who expressed their will by electing Donald
Trump.
Kristol is not
alone. Two Republican senators would like to dig deeper into
this Russian nefariousness.
Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) — the
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee — joined calls by
incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Armed
Services ranking Democrat Jack Reed (R.I.) for a thorough, bipartisan
investigation of Russian influence in the U.S. elections. Their statement came
two days after The Washington Post reported the CIA’s private
conclusion that Russia’s activities were intended to tip the scales to
help Trump. [emphasis added]
Both McCain and Graham know
that the Russians did not create a fraudulent election. They’re willing,
though, to extend this story, if it weakens the Republican President, who does
not share their personal national security goals.
What might those goals be?
Well, these Republicans were some of many who seemed a whole lot more inclined
to favor a Democrat like Hillary Clinton, the woman who mismanaged the State
Department. They issued nary a peep throughout the misguided Obama adventurism throughout
the Middle East. No commissions on Russian influence were put forth
during Barack Obama’s secret Iran negotiating.
While Obama was aiding
and abetting a coup in Egypt, lighting a conflagration in Libya, and
ignoring red lines in Syria — Kristol, McCain, and Graham were silent.
The actions of Comey’s FBI
were deeply suspect yet not enough to motivate leading Republicans to oust him.
It would be better for the Republic if he were tossed out on his ear. That
may be true of much of our intelligence establishment. Things aren’t going
so great.
Intelligence officers have
interviewed multiple home-grown terrorists for months before
letting them go… to terrorize. They ignored warnings from other countries (hello Tsarnaevs) about
terrorists.
There’s no question that
they have a difficult job. It’s easy to second guess these folks. Nearly every
important decision is a complicated judgment call. For these reasons, there
have not been lengthy public diatribes by journalists covering these
institutions generally and agents in particular. It’s tough work. Citizens get
it, too.
However.
Important data has been missed. Terrorists
who should have been stopped, weren’t. Warning signs were ignored. There seems
to be a lot of work to be done internally to correct some of these errors in
judgment.
Overseas, the judgments are
even more suspect. Repeatedly, the Obama administration, including the State
Department and CIA, has been involved in questionable foreign activities
meddling where things were better left alone. Who, for example, in their right
minds sides with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? Who thinks that’s a good idea?
Who is complicit with the assassination of a U.S. asset like Qaddafi? Who
would rather have a Muslim Brotherhood stooge over Hosni Mubarak?
Who does all that while
staying mute when the people of Iran try to assert themselves for freedom? Who
does all that while refusing to buck the President and suggest leaving American
forces in Iraq to maintain peace?
I remember the foreign policy
geniuses tweeting idealistically about the “Arab Spring” and how Democracy would save these
countries. At the time, it seemed absurdly naive. When I expressed doubt, I was
accused of siding with dictators.
None of these silly-heads
acknowledge their part in supporting the destabilization and destruction. None
of them were chastened by their soft-headedness and have blundered on —
suggesting that the United States support this or that group in Syria.
Never mind that the United States is put in the absurd position of arming terrorists.
Never mind that the spillover from the conflict destabilizes formerly stable
countries. Never mind causing the deaths of thousands and creating a
refugee crisis.
These same people want to
maintain the status quo. The status quo is a schizophrenic mish-mash of
conflicting aims that puts the United States on a collision course with nearly
everyone. Meanwhile, Russia, Iran, and China have moved into the
vacuum that President Obama’s administration caused.
Republicans like Kristol,
McCain, and Graham stayed silent.
Donald Trump is rightly thinking
that some changes need to be made to this farce of a foreign policy. Whether
Mike Flynn was the man to implement these changes best can’t be known. No
matter, now he’s gone.
It’s the change and the
threat of lost power within the State Department, FBI, CIA, and National
Security Council that have lifetime bureaucrats, old-time Senators, the
courts, and even some aides in the West Wing going for the kill shot. If they
can wound the Trump presidency, they can control their pre-ordained and favored
course.
They do this without even
considering how they’re yanking the threads, handfuls at a time, out of the
fabric of our constitutional Republic.
America is not Europe.
She’s never been a country governed by the few, the disdainful, the elite.
America has been a country governed by and for the people. This
system brings its own troubles, and yes, its own Obamas, but the country
is resilient and the pendulum swings.
The American people gave
the pendulum a massive shove in the other direction and guys like John McCain
and Bill Kristol and the judges of the 9th Circuit believe they’re saving the
Republic by undermining the institutions they claim to uphold.
They’re wrong. They’re part
of the problem.
Western Civilization is
flabby and diseased. The American experiment is not as robust as it once
was. The Establishment believes they’re saving the Republic corpus by
excising Trump tumor. As usual, though, their carelessness is causing further
hemorrhaging.
What if they succeed in
destroying Trump, leaving the Deep State to rule all? Well, it will be
like the old surgeon’s adage and J.M. Murdock quote, “The operation was a
success, but the patient died.”
The Republican
establishment has always been good at cutting their nose off to spite their
face. In this case, they’re likely to come out of this scalpel wielding
with something worse than a scarred face — if they, if we, survive
it at all.
