1/ Also a good lesson for 2019, let's talk about General McChrystal's firing. What makes America great is that we have stable, independent institutions, rather than rule by a despot. That includes an independent press, courts, ... and a military.
2/ General McChrystal was critical of President Obama's policies in a piece in Rolling Stone. This was an attack on the institution of our military. Generals take their orders from the Commander In Chief, they don't publicly criticize their commanders. Therefore, he had to go.
3/ It's because we believe in "institutions" that McChrystal had to go. This is why Trump is uniquely bad among recent Presidents. It's not that he's left or right wing, it's that he's attacking all the institutions that make America great.
4/ As a Libertarian, I of course disagreed with most of Obama's policies. But Obama vigorously defended America's institutions. Obama was a great president, even if I didn't like him. Trump is a horrible president who weakens America, even if I like some of his policies.
5/ So anyway. the drama that unfolded was not because McChrystal had disagreements with Obama, but because a General publicly disagreed with his Commander In Chief. It's a distinction lost in the Trump presidency where personal loyalty has become the only thing.
6/ This is a valid point, but let's explore it. There is a difference between "working to improve" institutions and "delegitimizing" institutions. I point this out for our own industry and "election machine security".
7/ Our community is working hard to fix obvious, almost childlishly stupid, flaws in voting machines, such as with the Voting Machine Village at DEFCON. This is good. On the other hand, we sometimes go to far and delegitimize voting machines, which is bad.
8/ Trust in elections is an important institution. When Obama beat McCain, despite some voting irregularities, McCain stressed in his concession speech that Obama won convincingly and fairly. It's because McCain was defending this institution.
9/ Contrast this to Trump, who calls into question the fairness of elections even in victory. The man craps all over every institution, even when he doesn't need to.
10/ So as we work to improve voting machines, we need to still defend the fact that despite all these problems that our elections really are fair, that there is no evidence Russian hackers created election fraud.
11/ Of course, if Russian hackers really did swing the election, we should point that out -- but only when the evidence substantiates this, rather than the current situation where there is no evidence of election fraud.
