(Thread) This was an op-ed submission of mine to the Washington Post that didn't make it but I feel is worth sharing for people to read anyway

What George Kennan Can Teach Us About Trumpism

As I was recently reading Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy During the Cold Warby John Lewis Gaddis, I was especially focused on the chapter he dedicated to his analysis of George Kennan. He quoted Kennan directly when it came to ideology not being very helpful in anticipating Soviet behavior.

(Thread) In order to understand why the Trump-Russia scandal is the greatest threat right to our national security right now, we must change two fundamental ways that we look at organized crime

1. When people think of the mafia, many think of a bunch of Italians in Little Italy or The Godfather or the Sopranos. Some might expand their horizons slightly and think of Scarface and drug cartels. The mafia has evolved. It is no longer just the five families of cosa nostra cooking up schemes with teamsters. It is no longer the Irish in Boston or the “Westies”

If someone tells you the economy can be revived and a recession can be overcome or avoided altogether before the coronavirus gets under control, just dismiss and ignore them because they are putting your health and life at risk

As someone who teaches economics, I cannot stress enough that the economy cannot recover until this is under control and I also cannot stress enough how overvalued the stock market was to begin with, which means we were headed for an economic slowdown under Trump anyway

The same administration that told you not to worry about

Now again let’s ask the question of why has the Republican Party chosen such an irrational and stupid path to go down when it comes to Trump, which is something @gregolear has taught us time and time again.

Trump was a Democrat for most of his life having been a big Clinton

https://twitter.com/jeremylevine92/status/1207655460691689473

supporter and defender, having made most of his New York State political donations to Democrats, having chosen to support Harry Reid against Tea Party challenger Sharon Angle, having also made political contributions over the years to Democrats such as Charlie Rangel and

@blakesmustache As this brilliant twitter account that everyone should follow has pointed out, Mitch McConnell has been backed into a corner and is in a lose-lose situation

If he agrees to a fair trial and makes Trump produce documents and witnesses, Trump is screwed. And if someone tells you Trump was denied due process just dismiss and ignore that person. He had chance after chance to show the House why he was innocent and chose not to because he has nothing.

If he doesn’t agree to a fair trial, the House can keep the impeachment and add more