A Battle of Historic Proportions: A U.S. President vs. the U.S. Government

I wrote this blog in August 2018, only a year and a half since tRUmp took power. My historian's instincts were kicking into high gear. Many of us saw red flags coming from the White House, the Cabinet, Congress.  I couldn't believe the outright lies. I saw dereliction of duty, from the top down. I saw a clear and present danger to our National Security, highlighted in tRUmp's relationship with Putin, from before the 2016 election. Last week, Ari Melber, on his MSNBC news program, alluded to Greek mythology about the dire consequences of "defying the god's." He was putting Trump's indictments in some perspective. I recalled some of my old blogs expressing concern about what was happening to our country. I'm not clairvoyant but I discerned danger and even seditious or treasonous behavior against Rule of Law. I foresaw a Constitutional crisis in the making. Sadly, it's come to pass. Fran 

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August 8, 2018

What does it mean when a president of the U.S. has facts and evidence from all our Intelligence agencies about Russia interfering in the 2016 election--early, specific and detailed evidence--and ignores it, disputes, and denies it?

It means he doesn't care about America's national security interests or doing anything about Russia's ongoing cyber warfare. He thinks the attacks on our democracy are just a PR problem, as the Washington Post put it, not an urgent issue that requires immediate attention to protect the American people and the sanctity of our elections.

I am an historian. I study and have taught American history. Essentially, fundamentally, this is a conflict we have never seen before in our history from the beginning to the present. It is an unprecedented battle between a President of the United States vs. the U.S. government.

What kind of battle is this? What kind of president opposes the government he leads? What kind of president believes America's intel agencies are lying to him? What kind of Congress enables, aids and abets a foreign enemy?

This president, after being thoroughly and regularly briefed, knowing the facts, stands there in Helsinki, next to Putin, and denies the truth. He believes Putin over the intelligence he has received from his own government. Trump vs. the U.S. government in plain view. The nature, extent and depth of such sedition are unprecedented. 

I can't imagine the reactions of our national security, military, and intelligence officials.  What could they be thinking? They are in the dark about that private conversation with Putin.  But then, how can they believe whatever the President might tell them? Our Liar in Chief?  The U.S. government, unbelievable as it seems, doesn't know what the U.S. President did.

The cognitive dissonance is overwhelming. We have a U.S. president in opposition to the U.S. government.

We saw it again last week. A few hours after the leaders of US intel agencies gathered in the White House to warn the American people about the ongoing Russian meddling in our upcoming elections, tRump denied it.  He called it a "hoax" at his Nazi-styled rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  He told the hysterical crowd he "had a great meeting with Putin" and launched into a tyrannical tirade about "fake news." 

Think about it. Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, had just warned the American people about "a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States....It is real. It is continuing." 

And then, incredibly, the president of the US turns around and blatantly ignores it, denies it. He intentionally, purposefully, dismissed everything that was said in all honesty and good faith to the American people. Trump vs. the US government.

It's the same way he treated that meeting at the White House with the earnest New York Times editors, who begged him to stop calling the media "the enemy of the people."  He relished going out in public and totally rewriting the story. He spit in their faces. He relished the hysteria of the raucous crowd, cheered on the attacks on the media in general and CNN's Jim Acosta in particular. He relished ranting and raging against "fake news" and the "witch hunt" he called the Mueller investigation.

Obstruction of justice in plain view. Treason to Rule of Law and his Oath of Office in plain view.  When did it become okay for a President to lie deliberately, daily to the American people?  We've lived with it for almost two years.  It's still shocking beyond measure, the abuse of power, the inciting to violence, the deliberate dividing of America, goals shared with Putin. 

One day, the answers will bring the Trump Titanic down. It's a Constitutional crisis in the making. It will be a massive explosion of treason, criminality, and obstruction the likes of which we have never seen. It's a matter of time.


Some Sources:

tRUmp lies constantly: Opinion | President Trump’s Lies, the Definitive List - The New York Times (nytimes.com, 2017)

Interesting article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hubris-what-donald-trump-the-real-housewives-and_us_580993b2e4b099c4343193d9

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/08/03/trump-sees-russias-attacks-on-our-democracy-as-a-public-relations-problem/?utm_term=.5302275fcce3

Washington Post, Sunday August 5, 2018, "Trump in a Precarious time in his Presidency":
"The frequency of the president’s mistruths has picked up, as well. The Washington Post Fact Checker found last week that Trump has now made 4,229 false or misleading claims so far in his presidency — an average of nearly 7.6 such claims per day, and an increase of 978 in just two months." 

What a major story: Trump sides with Russia against FBI at Helsinki summit - BBC News