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The Boston GlobeCommentary March 25, 2017 Fariborz S. Fatemi
There he goes again Trump, “Putin’suseful idiot.” By his mindless, lying tweets, made up stories, and the worststaff in the history of the White House, he has enabled the celebration ofignorance and incompetence. That has become the gold standard of his governancedesecrating the presidency. Trump’s approval rating is now at 37 per cent, and 60 percent of the country thinks that he is not honest. Only 17 per cent approved hishealth plan. Is it any wonder that it failed to pass the Republican-controlledHouse of Representatives? Every president before has always done his best to put thenation’s welfare first, working hard and carefully to honor the office as asymbol of American unity. One can point to the Obama/Biden presidency thatrestored honesty, dignity, competence and decorum after the debacle of theBush/Cheney years. Not Trump. As an example, his lying tweet about beingwiretapped by President Obama. Despite all credible evidence saying that is alie, i.e., FBI, Justice Department and all intelligence agencies. Trumppersists by continuing to perpetuate that lie and in doing so, soils the officehe holds. This is not an isolated incident. It is like the many liesand made-up stories every day by Trump and his associates to divert attentionfrom the fact that America’s democracy faces a clear and present danger bybeing penetrated by Russian influence at the highest levels. Then there is Bannon, Trump’s brain, who thinks that Iranand China are the greatest threats to the United States. Iran, a threat? Howignorant. A nation without nuclear weapons surrounded by countries with nuclearweapons. Is it not strange, that as the greatest threat there is no mention ofRussia and the Arab terrorists causing mayhem around the world, supported bySaudi Arabia and the Gulf States? The FBI publicly stated that the Trump Administration isbeing investigated for its Russian connection. Included in that investigationare Trump’s former national security advisor, General Flynn, and other Trumpassociates. America needs to know, with Pence as the head of the Trumptransition, and Nunes, heading the House of Representative IntelligenceCommittee as part of that transition, how did Flynn get recommended as anational security advisor? Knowing his long-term contacts with Russia and on thepayroll of other countries, what did Pence know and what did Nunes know? Andwhat did Trump know and what does that tell us about their competence allowingsuch Russian penetration? Are they part of it? How many more moles are there? The irony is that Trump, during the campaign, claimed thatSecretary Clinton should be disqualified from running because she was beinginvestigated by the FBI and therefore, her election would create aconstitutional crisis. The reality then was, and it is today, that Trump andhis associates are being investigated by the FBI for their Russian connection.And the constitutional crisis will come as more and more revelations occur eachday. How very sad.
A version of this appears in the Financial Times