It has become self-evident that Donald Trump and human intelligence are parallel forces of nature. The obvious reason for this is that Trump’s need to feed his ego — even in the face of brazen hypocrisy or imminent danger — knows no bounds. Hence, any truth that does not make him look good is suspect — no matter how hypocritical or dangerous his refusal to accept it.
This brings me to the hearing the Senate Armed Services Committee held yesterday on intelligence findings that Russia interfered in last year’s presidential election. It featured Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., Adm. Mike Rogers, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, and Defense Undersecretary for Intelligence Marcel J. Lettre II. The bottom line of their testimony is that there’s agreement across all U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia tried, in a variety of unprecedented and foreboding ways, to influence the outcome of that election.
These intelligence leaders did not ascribe motives, but one could reasonably infer that Russia was attempting, among other things, to
- undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral process, if not in Western democracy itself;
- sow Sunni vs. Shia-like discord between Republicans and Democrats;
- exact revenge on Hillary and the Democrats for raising questions about the fairness of Russia’s 2012 presidential election – notwithstanding the legitimacy of those questions;
- deflect from its own domestic and international troubles, which include that damning WADA report on its state-sponsored doping program. This report led to practically every Russian Track and Field athlete being banned from the Rio Olympics, and every Russian athlete (in every sport) being banned from the Rio Paralympics.
No doubt to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s dismay, Republican and Democratic senators on the committee holding this hearing demonstrated rare bipartisanship, expressing unanimous support for the intelligence agencies and the testimony of these select leaders. In fact, they are getting similar support from nearly all politicians and pundits alike.
Yet, despite all this, President-elect Donald Trump is still venting doubts – even disparaging the intelligence findings as part of a political witch hunt orchestrated by the Democrats.
Trump has now made clear he intends to keep fighting the intelligence community’s findings.
(Washington Post, January 6, 2017)
Frankly, only two things explain Trump’s willful suspension of belief:
- Russia has compromising information on him.
- His narcissism makes him congenitally incapable of accepting that Russia’s interference hurt Hillary and helped him.
But don’t get me started on
the irony and hypocrisy inherent in him whining about the intelligence community conspiring with Democrats to de-legitimize his election.
After all, he’s the conspiracy nut who spent the past eight years trying to de-legitimize Obama’s presidency — variously insinuating that Obama was not born in the USA (aka the ‘birther’ madness) and that his Harvard degree is a fraud. Now he’s adding insult to that offense by making pronouncements, engaging foreign leaders, and strong-arming corporations as if he’s already the president of the United States.
(“The Issue Is Not Whether Russia Affected the Outcome…,” The iPINIONS Journal, December 10, 2016)
The point is that, if you are still expressing shock and venting outrage over all of the ignorant, narcissistic, dishonest, puerile, thin-skinned, hypocritical, and dangerous things Trump says and does, the joke’s on you.
To be fair, though, Trump never missed an opportunity throughout his presidential campaign to warn voters that it’s more important to him to preserve his ego than to “preserve the Union.” Moreover, that he would defend his ego at the expense of the Union even against the most asinine or inconsequential slight.
God help America.
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