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FinancialTimes


Commentary FariborzS. Fatemi August16, 2017 FormerProfessional Staff Member HouseForeign Affairs Committee SenateForeign Relations Committee There he goes again, Trump,Putin’s “useful idiot.” Six months into his term, the investigation of hisRussian connection to help him in his campaign and the financial obligation ofhim, his family and those around him, to the Russians, to the Saudi’s and GulfStates continue menacingly. Six months into his term, andfact checkers have concluded that Trump has lied on an average of five times aday. Add to that the made up facts,figures and so-called accomplishments from him and his associates. Six months into his term, Trumphas shown himself a shameless, self-serving snake oil salesman with no moralcompass, demeaning his office, bereft of any of the values that for centurieshave made America the envy of the world. Trump has shown his values equate withalt-right supremacy, racism, misogyny and bigotry. Nothing about these sixmonths should be considered normal. And, Trump’s violation of the rule of law,rules of governance, the Constitution, and America’s democratic traditions,must not be allowed to become normal. It is not. As Paul Krugman, the NobelPrize winner for economics and columnist for the New York Times, wroterecently, “An anti-American cabal, hostile to everything we stand for,determined to undermine everything that truly makes this country, has seizedpower in Washington.” Six months into his term, andthe swamp Trump vowed to drain, roiled, gurgled and swallowed him. Trump whoknows nothing, does not know he knows nothing and does not care, did not knowthe swamp is the Republican Party he allied himself with. The same Republicans who thought they couldride him to power and then control him. The likes of McConnell and Ryan in theCongress and their Tea Party, Freedom Caucus and right-wing think tanks, mediaand the alt-right eco-chamber aided and abetted by Russian bots spreading fakenews. This is the Congress that foreight years of President Obama’s term opposed everything that President Obamatried to do to help the US move forward domestically and internationally. Despite that intense opposition, PresidentObama was able to succeed. And this, more than anything else, continues toenrage Trump. Now the Republicans in full control have no clue as to how topass legislation, as Trump has no clue as to how to govern. As his poll numbersdrop to the lowest in the history of polling and 60 per cent of the countrythinks he is dishonest, Trump tweets madly as a substitute for policy andgovernance. Further, Trump did not knowthat the swamp is the “deep state” that he and his acolytes rant about. That swamp is filled with dark money from thesuperrich like the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Robert Mercer and his daughter,to name a few, plus the assorted Saudi, Gulf States and Russians who havebankrolled him and his family and associates. And every day, it becomes more and more evident that he and hisassociates are beholden to them and subject to their blackmail. In the meantime, America facesa clear and present danger to its national security. Personnel charged withprotecting U.S. national security keep asking, were Flynn, Bannon, Gorka,Miller, and others vetted? How did they get security and White House clearanceswith such sordid backgrounds and what access have they been given. Pence was head of transition. Is he thatincompetent or just complicit in putting the aforementioned in the WhiteHouse. In the six months, what secretshave been given away? Six months into his term, Trumprages about Afghanistan. Remember he said he knew what to do? A country he would not be able to locatewithout the reported maps and charts he is presented, since he does not like toread. Trump knows nothing of Afghan history or how and why the US has beeninvolved since 1979. First to support the Mujahidin to defeat the Russianinvasion and then after 9/11 to defeat the Taliban. Yet the one country thatcould help the US, as it did after 9/11, Iran, Trump alienates. Instead, Trump cultivates Saudi Arabia, thesame country that is bankrolling elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan andLashkar’s in Pakistan, the source of most horrendous terrorism in the region.How very sad.