I was reminded today as I was listening to John McLaughlin, former director of the CIA, about the “goal” of the Trump administration, as put forth by White Nationalist Steve Bannon; to “deconstruct the administrative state.”  The Trump administration is busy trying to destroy virtually everything “we the people” have fought for since the days of the Great Depression.  The evidence of administration connections to ruthless dictators around the world is becoming irrefutable and the attacks on fundamental American institutions – which might block his efforts – like the media, the FBI, and the intelligence community in general – not to mention the other parts of the “administrative state” (State Department, EPA. Education, etc., etc.) – should get people’s attention – even many who voted for Trump but still actually believe in our “democracy.”  Remember, they’ve been brainwashed since the days of Reagan to believe “the government’s the enemy.”

I keep wondering how long this stuff will continue before the republicans in congress take notice and intervene for “we the people.”  Lately, I’ve been rereading “A Family of Secrets” by Russ Baker for about the fourth time.  It’s a reminder to me that presidents who get on the wrong side of the intelligence community don’t have their terms end well.  After reading this book again, I’m convinced JFK’s demise was the result of the CIA and the eastern oil alliance conspiring to bring Kennedy’s administration to a premature ending.  Deposed CIA head, Allen Dulles – fired after the boggled Bay of Pigs invasion – was one of the “investigators” on the Warren Commission along with others who had no interest in discovering what really happened to Kennedy.  It should surprise no one that Kennedy’s assassination has never received complete closure.

Then there was Richard Nixon.  The Watergate burglars were led by CIA agent (also of Bay of Pigs fame) E. Howard Hunt and a bunch of Cubans also involved in the bungled invasion.  Of course, Nixon was undermined by his own paranoia and the ensuing cover-up.  However, to me, and if you disagree I would suggest you read this book – it is well documented – Nixon was “outed” by the same force that got Kennedy.  The CIA along with the oil alliance which helped the CIA set up “secret” outposts around the globe following WW II, had several reasons to dislike Nixon.  One big one was Nixon’s lack of support for the “oil depletion allowance,” along with his overtures to China and Russia – both in opposition to the strong “anti-communist” nature of the CIA at that time.  Now, I have to say I was no supporter of Nixon back then – but, until much later I had no idea he was undermined by the CIA.  If you read Baker’s book it’s hard not to wonder how much power the intelligence community actually has.  Every time there’s a new president elected I have this picture in my mind of that person’s first order of business being the CIA instructing him/her on the job’s “expectations.”  I don’t think Nixon was paying attention.

Now, fast forward to Donald Trump.  He’s picked “fights” with several organizations that I don’t think he understands what he’s dealing with.  The so-called “liberal media” has definitely, to me, seemed much more “liberal” (if that is what you’d call standing up to Trump) since Trump began his relentless attacks on them – routinely calling anyone who reports what Trump is actually doing as “Fake news” – a term which actually originated during the election from the Russians’ strategy of finding ways to get ridiculous stories published via America media circles (or, them – the Russians – creating crude facsimiles of websites and “reporting” on them as if real – of course, people using the media to spread their propaganda is nothing new – to me, there’s a difference).  Several times in the campaign Trump mentioned that anyone in the media who was “nice” to him would be OK – however, anyone who says anything negative about him will get BLASTED as Trump will fight back without any respect to integrity or actual FACTS.

Trump seems to “shoot straight from the hip” in his response to circumstances virtually as they arise.  He’s the classic 6th grader I dealt with during my years in the classroom who was constantly getting in “trouble” due to issues caused by “blurting out” – where I would be constantly trying to teach students to “think before they would say something.”  Additionally, Trump has the classic signs of a bully – but, I believe he’s getting a taste of reality regarding what happens to bullies who are unable to get their way.  Attempting to bully the media and the intelligence community is beyond foolish – it’s STUPID!  As I’ve said before, Trump seems to be “in way over his head.”  He’s essentially encouraging the media to intensify their investigations of him and his surrogates by making one baseless charge after another against them and, in regards to his standing with the intelligence community, well, firing Jim Comey was really STUPID – especially, the way he went about it.  One thing that is blatantly clear from reading Baker’s book is that the intelligence community is a close knit brotherhood.

Had Trump fired Comey the day he took office the news of the firing probably would have received the response he expected – but, right after Comey publicly announced that the FBI was investigating his campaign, including possible criminal investigations, made it look REALLY bad.  Of course, making something look really bad isn’t good enough for Trump, so – the next day – he gave an interview with Lester Holt of NBC where he ADMITTED he fired Comey because of the “Russia Investigation.”  Then, he STUPIDLY topped that off by meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister and Russian Ambassador in the Oval Office (with ONLY Russian journalists present) where he confirmed to them he fired Comey (who he disparaged to the Russians – one of them the same guy involved in “scandal”) to take the pressure of the Russia investigation off of himself – STUPID – and, then to top it all off, he disclosed some of the most sensitive of Classified information to the Russians.  As someone said – “you can’t make this stuff up.”  It’s beyond STUPID! (if you ask him, Trump will tell you “I’m smart”)

Of course, trying to minimize the effect of the media and the intelligence community would be the work of someone who has authoritarian tendencies.  Along with those “tendencies” you also have the attacks against the judiciary and complaints about the constitution.  There, to me, is ample evidence suggesting Trump and his surrogates feel comfortable in disregarding the “laws of the land.”  Combining all this with his “bromance” with Vladimir Putin and his comfort with other dictators around the world, even republicans in congress should be seeing MAJOR red flags!  World leaders are beginning to flee from America and, despite Trump’s “base” supposedly being very loyal, republicans in Congress who took an oath to support our Constitution and the “laws of the land” need to be “stepping up.”  Whether they like it or not, the solution to the Trump problem lies in the hands of the republicans – they’ve got control of Congress.

Today is the day Trump is suspected to be going to pull America out of the so-called “Paris Climate Accords.”  (He actually did it!) From what I understand, the “Accords” are voluntary and possibly more symbolic than anything else – but, in reality, the only two countries in the world who are not signatories to the agreement are Syria and Nicaragua.  I’ve questioned many times on this site as to how much DAMAGE Trump will be allowed to cause before republicans in Congress do the inevitable and IMPEACH him – well, the Climate Accords might be significant along those lines – although, Trump may actually decide not to pull out – he promised his “White Nationalist” base he would pull out during the election – you know – anything President Obama was for, they are against – but, from what I can tell, NUMEROUS CEO’s around the country are counseling Trump to keep America involved.  The end result of America pulling out could conceivably, from my perspective, help catapult China further into the “lead” in the fight against “Climate Change” along with speeding up their goal to be the world’s leading economic power.

From what I’ve heard and read, China is focused on pushing the “green” energy agenda.  Renewable power sources, for instance, obviously are the “future” – but, in America, the republican party and people like Trump are still stuck in their commitments to oil and coal.  The sooner “we the people” get beyond that “reality,” in my mind, the better – especially for our children and grandchildren.  I’m bringing this one aspect of “what’s going on” up as an example of the actual and potential damage of continuing with Trump in the “White House.”  Everyone in Washington DC understands there are already multiple reasons Trump could legitimately be impeached – not the least of which would be his violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.  Republicans are waiting for the political winds to shift to the point where their own jobs are in jeopardy – which, I believe is ALREADY the case for many of them – before they take up the reality that Trump has “got to go.”  If nothing else, I’m sure his overall incompetence is wearing thin on republican leaders in Congress.

So, Trump is not only attempting to “deconstruct the administrative state,” he’s undermining America’s standing in the world.  I listened to as much of his speech yesterday as I could stomach, while he was announcing withdrawing America from the Climate Accords, and one thing he said really caught my attention.  “When are people around the world going to be laughing at the United States?”  Well, I don’t believe that time is here – I think they are shaking their collective heads and wondering what the hell has happened to America – but, there are many who seem to be trying to find ways to tolerate what is going on who are LAUGHING at Trump as a way to mitigate their concerns and/or anger.  He has evolved to a somewhat pathetic person, who clearly doesn’t understand what’s happening to him – and, as the investigations get closer and closer to him, in my mind, he becomes even more dangerous.  2 out of every 3 Americans believe we (America) should be leading the fight against “Climate Change” – not, handing that role to China.  Only 20% of Americans support Trump’s “health care” (tax cut for the rich) bill, and most want him to honor his pledge to support Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

If Trump succeeds in “deconstructing the administrative state” the American people will suffer extreme damage for years to come.  I’m not the only person in this nation waiting to see which republican (if any) will have the courage to step up and lead the charge to stop the DAMAGE Trump is inflicting on the rest of us – sooner rather than later.  Remember, what he calls an “overwhelming victory” in last year’s election was actually the largest LOSS in America’s history of any president who managed to win the office despite LOSING the popular vote – in Trump’s case by 3 MILLION votes!

He has NO MANDATE, and he continues to push the divisive agenda promoted by the likes of Steve Bannon and Steven Miller – both “White Nationalists.”  Every day we’re a bit closer to November 2018 – I can’t imagine there’s many republicans who want to go to the polls defending the “deconstruction of the administrative state” to people who don’t understand that includes Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, unemployment INSURANCE, Meals on wheels, early childhood education, children’s healthcare legislation, the ACA (which should – and could – be improved), and the list goes on.

Final Thought:  Speaking of “history,” the history books are going to give Trump a spot that I can’t imagine anyone would want – and, I’m saying that without any consideration to the investigations which are ongoing.  His general incompetency and his narcissistic behavior is likely to put him at the bottom of the list of presidents.  (George Bush is smiling)  Should the “evidence” lead to Trump’s financial dealings with the likes of the Russian Oligarchs – we could be talking about legal issues worse than Nixon – with, at this point, still the possibility of espionage involving – certainly – some of his surrogates, and very possibly Trump himself (I, for example, don’t believe Michael Flynn and/or Jared Kushner were operating as “rogue” diplomats in their covert meetings with various Russians connected to Vladimir Putin)