,
8 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
1/ This very important piece by @AshaRangappa_ explains well something @juliettekayyem, @jacklgoldsmith and I have been stressing: Because the POTUS controls foreign diplomacy, counterintelligence and classification (and the sharing of info on such matters w/Congress), ...
2/ ... our constitutional system isn't really equipped to deal with a POTUS who is himself a national security threat--as Trump has demonstrated he is at least as far back as his Oval Office meeting w/Kislyak in early 2017, his refusal to allow *anyone* to be privy ...
3/ ... to his conversations w/Putin, and on and on. Apart from the 25th Amendment (which isn't realistic), that threat can only be squelched if at least two things happen: (i) one or more Executive branch officials violate the terms of their employment by leaking to Congress;
4/ ... and (ii) the leaders of the Senate from the POTUS's own party care enough about the threat to the nation to take steps to remove the POTUS from office or to effectively disempower him. The first is a solemn act that ought to be reserved for truly extraordinary cases ...
5/ ... involving profound threats to the nation. The second, by contrast, ought to be a no-brainer. Yet not a single member of the GOP Senate caucus cares at all--let alone the Majority Leader plus 16, which is what it would take--and that obvious fact makes it more unlikely ...
6/... that many, if any, officials, will breach their confidentiality obligations and sound the alarms. (Mattis, Kelly, et al., for instance, know that nothing would happen in the Senate if they were to publicly acknowledge what they know & fear about Trump--so they don't do so.)
7/ There's no obvious solution to this dysfunction as long as the GOP is in thrall to--absolutely dependent upon--the 35-42% of the electorate that hates the Democratic Party more than they care about the nation's security and standing in the world.
@just_security
@just_security
