Our Nation’s Leader is it’s Biggest Threat
How our nation’s leader has affected our safety — foreign and domestic.
President Trump has a history of lacking a filter. Many voting Americans consider this to be part of his appeal — but it begs the question, does lack of a filter have a place in this country’s highest office? A variety of aides, intelligence officials and members of our military would make the argument that it does not. Trump’s lack of discretion has endangered this country, our foreign alliances, and our operatives in foreign governments.
Much of the criticism of the sitting president stems from information that he showed to Russian officials back in 2017. The information, reported in a 2017 article by Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe for The Washington Post, was not Trump’s for disclosing. Releasing it endangered not only relations with our allies, but operations against the Islamic State.
For any other average American, disclosure of such information would have been illegal. Executive privilege allows the president to declassify anything he/she wishes, but this does not exactly mean that he should. He allegedly disclosed information to a foreign power that the United States allied with before any of our closest allies in NATO even knew.
Because of the president’s actions, the CIA withdrew an operative who had been feeding the US Kremlin information for decades.
Much of this comes after the resident has been thoroughly criticized for Russian interactions. Recall that President Trump fired FBI director James Comey amid allegations of Russian connections to his presidential campaign. A senate committee confirmed that in 2016, Russia sought to aid the Trump campaign by releasing damaging information. On June 9th, 2016, the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., attempted to gain information directly from the Russian government to damage the Clinton campaign. The committee could not confirm whether Trump Jr. received such information.
Military and defense officials have blasted the president for endangering our national security. Officials like Gen. James Mattis, the former Secretary of Defense. The General has said President Trump was “Often trying to impose reason over impulse” and upon his resignation that ‘[declaring victory on Isis] Is beyond stupid to felony stupid, jeopardizing our place in the world.’ “
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has criticized the president as being a danger to national security. BBC reports that in Mr. Boltons book, The Room Where it Happened, he writes that the president has offered personal favors to dictators and has even approved of China’s concentration camps. Trump even implied that he intended to serve past two terms as America’s executive.
Perhaps one of the most ignored ways the president has threatened our national security is his refusal to condemn white nationalism — this is no surprise considering he has described himself as a nationalist while campaigning for the midterm re-election of Senator Ted Cruz, (Politico)
Recall that President Trump, in a debate against President-Elect Joe Biden, told the Proud Boys — a white nationalist hate group, to “Stand back and stand by.” In a twitter thread, the president told Democratic Congresswomen to “go fix their own countries, and then come back and show us how it’s done.” This language further intones the president’s racially provocative rhetoric — further empowering the White Nationalists.
Former cabinet members such as former national security advisor H.R. McMannus have condemned such actions. In an interview with The Atlantic, McMannus states: “No it’s not, [on whether Trump’s response to the proud boys was correct], no leader should encourage any group that aims to supersede our American identity.” and when asked if white supremacy groups pose a threat to national security, McMannus, of course, responded yes.
Again, former Secretary of Defense General James Mattis has slammed the president on this matter. Mattis states in The Atlantic, “Trump is the first president in my lifetime to divide the American people rather than to unite them.” The quote was made responding to the National Guard activation because of the protesting of the death of George Floyd. “Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath [to defend the constitution] would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” Mattis states in the article.
Whether Trump comes out and states that he supports White nationalism or not is irrelevant — the writing is on the wall here. Every single instance of human interaction is a manner of communication. President Trump’s actions communicate he doesn’t care about the American people — at least not those that disagree with him. General Mattis points out that he has not tried to unite the country, he used the National Guard to clear out protesters for a simple photo opportunity. He pays no mind to the destabilization of a country because of the actions of those that are supposed to serve and protect.
It’s hard to conclude that Trump is but a callous danger to our nation. He has perpetuated white nationalism by his refusal to denounce white supremacists and by clearing out peaceful protests. He has no discretion for classified information — dispensing it freely to our adversaries in Russia. Even former members of his cabinet condemn him and find it difficult to label him as fit to hold the presidency.
This leaves one wondering: How do we ever recover from this? Under the Biden administration, will we be able to recover our alliances with those fighting against the Islamic state with us in the middle east? Will he be able to rid our government and our internet of Russian interference? Will the president-elect be able to heal the deep wounds of systemic racism and begin to try to unite the American people?
I suppose only time will tell, and hopefully, the United States will avoid ever making the mistake of electing a Donald Trump-like figure to our executive office ever again.
