A Danger to the World
It's Time to Get Rid of Donald Trump
Donald Trump has transformed the
United States into a laughing stock and he is a danger to the world. He must be
removed from the White House before things get even worse.
© DER SPIEGEL A DER SPIEGEL Editorial by Klaus Brinkbäumer
May 19, 2017 06:18 PM
Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United
States. He does not possess the requisite intellect and does not understand the
significance of the office he holds nor the tasks associated with it. He
doesn't read. He doesn't bother to peruse important files and intelligence
reports and knows little about the issues that he has identified as his
priorities. His decisions are capricious and they are delivered in the form of
tyrannical decrees.
He is a man free of morals. As has been demonstrated
hundreds of times, he is a liar, a racist and a cheat. I feel ashamed to use
these words, as sharp and loud as they are. But if they apply to anyone, they
apply to Trump. And one of the media's tasks is to continue telling things as
they are: Trump has to be removed from the White House. Quickly. He is a danger
to the world.
Trump is a miserable politician. He fired the FBI director
simply because he could. James Comey had gotten under his skin with his
investigation into Trump's confidants. Comey had also refused to swear loyalty
and fealty to Trump and to abandon the investigation. He had to go.
Witnessing an American Tragedy
Trump is also a miserable boss. His people invent excuses
for him and lie on his behalf because they have to, but then Trump wakes up and
posts tweets that contradict what they have said. He doesn't care that his
spokesman, his secretary of state and his national security adviser had just
denied that the president had handed Russia (of all countries) sensitive
intelligence gleaned from Israel (of all countries). Trump tweeted: Yes, yes, I
did, because I can. I'm president after all.
Nothing is as it should be in this White House. Everyone
working there has been compromised multiple times and now they all despise each
other - and everyone except for Trump despises Trump. Because of all that,
after just 120 days of the Trump administration, we are witness to an American
tragedy for which there are five theoretical solutions.
The first is Trump's resignation, which won't happen. The
second is that Republicans in the House and Senate support impeachment, which
would be justified by the president's proven obstruction of justice, but won't
happen because of the Republicans' thirst for power, which they won't willingly
give it up. The third possible solution is the invocation of the 25th
Amendment, which would require the cabinet to declare Trump unfit to discharge
the powers of the presidency. That isn't particularly likely either. Fourth:
The Democrats get ready to fight and win back majorities in the House and
Senate in midterm elections, which are 18 months away, before they then pursue
option two, impeachment. Fifth: the international community wakes up and finds
a way to circumvent the White House and free itself of its dependence on the
U.S. Unlike the preceding four options, the fifth doesn't directly solve the
Trump problem, but it is nevertheless necessary - and possible.
No Goals and No Strategy
Not quite two weeks ago, a number of experts and politicians
focused on foreign policy met in Washington at the invitation of the Munich
Security Conference. It wasn't difficult to sense the atmosphere of chaos and
agony that has descended upon the city.
The U.S. elected a laughing stock to the presidency and has
now made itself dependent on a joke of a man. The country is, as David Brooks
wrote recently in the New York Times, dependent on a child. The Trump
administration has no foreign policy because Trump has consistently promised
American withdrawal while invoking America's strength. He has promised both no
wars and more wars. He makes decisions according to his mood, with no strategic
coherence or tactical logic. Moscow and Beijing are laughing at America.
Elsewhere, people are worried.
In the Pacific, warships - American and Chinese - circle
each other in close proximity. The conflict with North Korea is escalating. Who
can be certain that Donald Trump won't risk nuclear war simply to save his own
skin? Efforts to stop climate change are in trouble and many expect the U.S. to
withdraw from the Paris Agreement because Trump is wary of legally binding
measures. Crises, including those in Syria and Libya, are escalating, but no
longer being discussed. And who should they be discussed with? Phone calls and
emails to the U.S. State Department go unanswered. Nothing is regulated,
nothing is stable and the trans-Atlantic relationship hardly exists anymore.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee
Chair Norbert Röttgen fly back and forth, but Germany and the U.S. no longer
understand each other. Hardly any real communication takes place, there are no
joint foreign policy goals and there is no strategy.
In "Game of Thrones," the Mad King was murdered
(and the child that later took his place was no better). In real life, an
immature boy sits on the throne of the most important country in the world. He
could, at any time, issue a catastrophic order that would immediately be
carried out. That is why the parents cannot afford to take their eyes off him
even for a second. They cannot succumb to exhaustion because he is so taxing.
They ultimately have to send him to his room - and return power to the
grownups.
A Vortex of Scandal, Chaos and
Absurdity
The White House is becoming more
chaotic by the day. Now, a special counsel has been brought in to investigate
possible connections between President Donald Trump's team and Russia. But the
most important question is now whether Trump is mentally stable enough to be
president.
© By Mathieu von Rohr
May 19, 2017 07:21 PM
Print
On Wednesday, a few hours before the special counsel was set
loose on him, Donald trump was standing before the graduates of the Coast Guard
Academy. He was supposed to hold an inspiring talk, to spread a positive
message, as one does at graduation speeches. Instead, he once again spoke about
himself. "Over the course of your life, you will find that things are not
always fair," he said to the graduating students. "Look at the way
I've been treated, especially by the media," Trump said. "No
politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse
or more unfairly."
No politician in history. Not Nelson Mandela. Not Mahatma
Gandhi, not John F. Kennedy. Him. There stood a billionaire, inhabiting the
most powerful office in the world, complaining about how unfair the world was.
Because there seems to be one rule with Donald Trump: He is never to blame,
even though almost everything currently happening to him is his fault.
Donald Trump's presidency has been somewhat unreal since the
beginning, it has had an element of reality TV since he started his campaign.
But this past week, it began to feel like a screenwriter on drugs had taken
command. Since May 9, when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, almost every
day in Washington has ended with a bombshell revelation by the New York Times
or the Washington Post.
On Monday, it turned out that Trump was so proud to have the
"best intelligence" that he apparently revealed some to prove it, to
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of all people. That wasn't illegal, but
it was certainly not smart.
On Tuesday came the explosive report that FBI Director Comey
had maintained a written record of his conversations with Trump, excerpts of
which were published. They indicated that Trump had asked Comey to call off the
investigation into fired National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. This came to
light only days after a report about Trump's alleged Mafia-style request of
loyalty from Comey. Comey rejected both requests, and was later fired by Trump
as a result. The Comey memos will now become a focus of the Russia
investigations by the Senate and House committees. Trump now stands accused of
obstruction of justice.
The Brink of a Nervous Breakdown
On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein surprised
the White House by independently naming a special counsel to investigate the
connections between Trump and his team to Russia. Since the attorney general
had recused himself from this investigation, Rosenstein had the power to do so
and took everybody by surprise.
By then, only the first half of the week had passed.
The special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, is
formally under the supervision of the Justice Department, but is well-liked by
all sides and known for his independence. He now has the task of finding the
facts, and maybe also revive the country's faith that something like a
trustworthy, independent authority still exists.
It is hard to believe, but Trump has only been in office for
120 days. Politically, he has accomplished little, but he has managed to drive
the United States to the brink of a nervous breakdown. It is hard to imagine
how the country can handle another 120 days similar to the last four months,
let alone another three years and eight months.
Trump's presidency is sinking into a vortex of scandals,
chaos and lunacy, circling around the president's neuroses. Trump is a man who
sometimes seems to view his position as vehicle for personal gratification and
who seems willing to weaken state institutions just to protect his allies. As
of this week, not only Democrats but also a few Republicans are raising the
possibility of Trump's impeachment.
If it's true that Trump sought to impede the FBI
investigation, that would, theoretically at least, be grounds for removal from
office. Obstruction of justice was the first charge in the articles of
impeachment against Richard Nixon in 1974, before he decided to resign on his
own.
Because He Likes to Brag
Even if historical comparisons are never quite perfect, the
Watergate Scandal is the only one that currently applies. Back then, the
constitutional state was also faced with defending itself against a president
whose actions were possibly illegal, someone who had a disregard for the
institutions. As was the case then, it's not the act itself, but the cover-up
that proved dangerous to the president.
In other ways, Donald Trump is the exact opposite of Richard
Nixon, the cold, calculating man who memorized his answers ahead of press
conferences. New York Times columnist David Brooks compared Trump to a child
who can't sit still, cannot concentrate, constantly needs affirmation, brags
with exaggerated claims and cannot control himself.
The current crisis isn't just about whether the president
broke the law, but also his entire psychological state - and whether it
prevents him from properly fulfilling his role. Whether he, the impulsive
narcissist, might not even realize that his actions are wrong.
Why did he fire FBI Director Comey? Because he was annoyed.
Why did he reveal confidential information to the Russians? Because he likes to
brag.
Conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote
that he doesn't think that the president is capable of sinister conspiracies -
because he simply doesn't understand fully enough the post that he occupies.
"A child cannot be president. I love my children; they cannot have the
nuclear codes."
Douthat recommends not pursuing the Russia investigation and
eschewing the formal impeachment process in favor of removing the president
using the 25th Amendment of the Constitution. For this to happen, the vice
president and a majority of the cabinet would need to inform Congress that the
president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his
office"
This, however, is unlikely to happen. Even from a
constitutional perspective, the suggestion is dubious. But it shows that even
in conservative circles, many people are worried about his psychological
health.
A Cry for Help
The administration is in constant crisis mode these days,
and if there is a clear sign of how bad the atmosphere inside the White House
is, it's the constant leaks to the media. Every inside detail makes its way
out. In some reports, American media cite up to one- or two-dozen anonymous
sources - which sounds not unlike a collective cry for help.
The anecdotes are revealing. The employees at the National
Security Council, who brief the president about military and intelligence
issues, have reporedly begun to put the word "Trump" into as many
paragraphs as possible in their briefings because he keeps reading when his
name appears. Trump is 70 years old, his attention span is famously short. And
he continues to use cable news rather than dry intelligence briefings as his
main source of information.
Many White House aids and Republicans are concerned about
the degree to which the president still obsesses about the past, including
about his election victory, instead of concentrating on his legislative agenda.
Trump is so enchanted with his win that he has had an oversized map hung in the
West Wing, according to the New York Times, dark red, showing electoral results
not by state, but by electoral district. He gives visitors copies of the map,
he has a whole pile. And he likes to brag about it not only in public, but in
meetings with other heads of state.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the only goal of
Trump's candidacy was the victory itself - demonstrating that he could win -
rather than living up to his promises to his voters regarding health care
reform or job creation. This is why Trump is obsessed with the critics he sees
as trying to diminish his victory by reminding him that he didn't win a
majority of the votes. This is why the investigation of Russian influence in
the election makes Trump so angry. He sees it as an attempt to undermine the
legitimacy of his triumph, something for which he believes he is not being
praised enough.
In public, Trump's senior aids are desperately trying to
defend him. When it emerged that he had apparently told the Russian foreign
minister sensitive information about Islamic State (IS), that was reportedly so
secret that the United States hadn't even shared it with close allies, National
Security Advisor Herbert Raymond McMaster took an interesting line of defense:
The president couldn't have known that the information was secret, he hadn't
been briefed. But is it reassuring to argue that the president didn't know what
he was doing?
Considering a Shake-Up
The information Trump accidentally shared came either from
the Israeli or the Jordanian intelligence service, according to reports -
apparently they had an agent in the inner-most circle of IS. This source had
informed the U.S. that the terror group is able to create a laptop bomb that
can't be detected by security measures. The valuable source could now be in
mortal danger.
While administration staff tries to cover for the president,
Trump is mercilessly wearing them down. He forces them to lie for him in public
and then regularly disavows their measured statements the next morning when he
tweets admissions to accusations they had denied the previous evening.
As such, the fact that no member of the administration has
wanted to personally deny the revelations of the Comey memo speaks volumes.
Meanwhile, Trump spoke personally about the revelations during a press
conference together with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Asked whether
he had requested Comey to lay off the Flynn investigation, he said: "No,
no. Next question."
Trump is angry at his team and is apparently considering a
significant shake-up, according to media reports. From Chief of Staff Reince
Priebus to Press Secretary Sean Spicer to his chief ideologue Stephen Bannon,
all are thought to be in danger. But hopes that the wayward nature of Trump's
presidency might be resolved by such a shake-up are in vain. His team isn't to
blame, it's him.
On top of this, Trump can't stand people who aren't yes-men.
Trump is reportedly irritated by McMaster, a highly decorated military officer
who is known for speaking his mind, because he too often contradicts him.
European monarchies had the figure of the crazy king, such
as French Charles VI and England's Henry VIII. Even back then, their closest
allies had to decide whether they would cover for the crazy ruler or topple
him. In a democracy, there is the option of impeachment.
It has only been used twice in American history: against
Bill Clinton in 1999 and against Andrew Johnson in 1868. But no president has
ever been removed from office in this manner - because it requires the support
of two thirds of the Senate. Both Clinton and Johnson's impeachments ultimately
failed to surmount this obstacle.
The Looming Midterms
The probability that Trump will be removed from office via
impeachment is extremely small. In Washington, politics are more polarized than
ever. The majority of Republicans who do not come from swing counties don't
feel much pressure from their voters. Although the president has an approval
rate of 40 percent, a record low, with Republican voters he is still above 70
percent, though he is sinking there too.
And there is one thing that makes Trump a very useful
president for the Republican leadership despite his scandals: his ideological
flexibility, or, one could also say, disinterest in the details of politics. He
isn't bothered when the Republicans decide on a health care reform bill that
contradicts most of his campaign promises on the issue and that would affect
his core voters the most. He leaves the details to the speaker of the House.
This, too, helps explain why Republicans are so unwilling to distance
themselves from Trump: He allows them to implement their agenda unhindered. In
the end, Trump will sign their laws and is satisfied with being celebrated as
the victor.
But the further the president's favorability ratings drop
and the longer the drama lasts, the more Republicans are worrying about the
fall 2018 midterm elections. In midterm elections, the president's party has
historically lost seats - and the Democrats are up to 10 points ahead
nationally in the polls. In the worst-case scenario, the Republicans could lose
their majority in both chambers. Three upcoming by-elections in Republican
districts in Georgia, South Carolina and Montana will be an important test. The
Democrats are hopeful: If they win, the Republicans may become even more
nervous.
But for now, Washington can expect a long, hot summer full
of investigations by the special counsel and Congress. The White House is
crippled, Trump's and the Republicans' legislative plans - building the wall,
the entry ban, tax decreases - weren't moving before either, and the situation
will apparently stay that way.
And in just a few days, we could see a noteworthy
development: The Senate Intelligence Committee, among others, has called for
Comey to testify both in public and behind closed doors. It has also asked for
all of Comey's notes as well as all documents from the White house, including
possible tapes of the conversations between Trump and Comey, which Trump mysteriously
tweeted about.
And soon the special counsel will begin his work: Former FBI
Director Robert Mueller has the power to pursue the investigation as he sees
fit. He can investigate the Trump team's Russia connections as well as the
circumstances surrounding Comey's firing. Mueller will likely take an
especially close look at Mike Flynn, who Trump named national security advisor
even though his team, and possibly he himself, had long known that the FBI was
investigating him. Flynn was only national security advisor for 24 days before
Trump was forced to fire him, but the revelations about him have been
unsettling. The special counsel will ask uncomfortable questions, for example
about the fact that Flynn wanted to end cooperation with the Kurds in Syria - a
longtime hope of the Turks, which is sensitive because Flynn was paid by Ankara
as an advisor.
A Dire Situation
According to Reuters, Flynn and other campaign employees
were in contact with the Russian ambassador and Moscow representatives at least
18 times in the final seven months of the election campaign - apparently, a
direct line of communication had been planned between Trump and Putin. Thus
far, however, there is no evidence for any kind of collusion between Trump's
campaign and Russia to manipulate the election.
Mueller's investigation could take months, maybe even years.
Similar investigations, such as the one into Bill Clinton, went far beyond what
originally caused them. The special investigation is likely to overshadow
Trump's presidency from now on - and constantly bring new developments to
light.
When the president received the surprising news that a
special counsel had been brought in on Wednesday, he initially reacted with a
surprisingly muted communique. But the next morning he angrily tweeted:
"This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American
history!"
Now his situation is dire. His only hope is that Mueller
really cannot prove any involvement between Russia and his team - and
officially acquits him of all accusations. Then, even the fact that he tried to
interfere with the investigation might be overshadowed by a clear acquittal.
But if Trump and his people are guilty of anything, then
they now need to be worried.
Many members of the White House staff will need to find
legal counsel for the special counsel's questioning - and they will have to pay
for it themselves. That will not improve the atmosphere in an already
demoralized White House.
Trump is now leaving Washington for the first time for a
major foreign trip. Starting on Friday, he will spend more than a week away
from his familiar surroundings on a trip that, according to media reports, he
is approaching with trepidation due to its length. The trip will head to Saudi
Arabia and Israel, to the Vatican, to the NATO summit in Brussels and
ultimately to the G7 Summit in Sicily.
It could prove to be a bad time for him to be away from
Washington. New revelations could come out at any time in the next few days,
especially given that Comey could testify soon. On the other hand, there are
also plenty of opportunities during the trip for him to bring attention to
himself - and thus to distract from the scandals at home.
Trump will meet kings, princes, heads of state and the pope:
There is a lot of room for faux-pas and new anecdotes. In Riyadh, he wants to
give a speech about Islam. That, certainly, will be a topic of discussion.
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