One of the reasons we were told to vote for Donald Trump last year was that he wasn’t your typical politician; in fact, he wasn’t a politician at all. His political inexperience would give America a president that truly reflected the American people.
In the aftermath of a few recent actions taken by the non-politician, if Trump is a reflection of the American people, the American people are a bunch of clueless idiots–at least when it comes to national security.
During his recent travel ban issued by an Executive Order–remember how Executive Orders were a bad thing under Obama?–Prima Donald also reshuffled the National Security Council. Under the executive action, Trump made sure that the NSC was as amateurish as he is by removing the Director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from their roles on the council. And who did Trump replace them with? None other than the inexperienced political advisor to the president and former head honcho at Trump Pravda–a.k.a. Breitbart News–Steven Bannon.
This restructure is incredibly dangerous for America’s national security, and it’s obviously politically motivated. The people who work for the NSC must be composed of people who have worked with critical, sensitive information; and who have no political motivations. The primary reason the travel ban announcement went so poorly was due to a decision to shut out key agencies and members of Trump’s cabinet before issuing the ban. And even when the Department of Homeland Security expressed concern over the impact the ban would have on Green Card holders, Bannon put the pedal to the metal in the name of “get tough” politics.
In their coverage on Trump’s actions, HotAir.com noted that this situation came up during the Bush administration. Regarding the possibility of having Karl Rove serve on the NSC, G.W.B. determined that it would be inappropriate do to the risk of giving the perception of political interference in security decisions.
Some have also pointed to comments by Joshua Bolten, the former chief of staff to Bush, and how he recalled the former president specifically demanding that adviser Karl Rove not attend meetings where national security issues were discussed.
“It wasn’t because he didn’t respect Karl’s advice or didn’t value his input,” Bolten said at a national security forum last September. “But the president also knew that the signal he wanted to send to the rest of his administration, the signal he wanted to send to the public, and the signal he especially wanted to send to the military is that the decisions I’m making that involve life and death for the people in uniform will not be tainted by any political decisions.”
In addition to Bannon, current National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his Deputy K. T. McFarland, while having some government experience, have just as much experience working within the NSC system as Bannon . . . NONE!
During the election, we were also told that Trump would surround himself with qualified people (experts) to take care of the things he did know how to do. And regardless of your support or objection to the travel ban, this past weekend clearly proves that he has failed to do as he promised, or he lied about it.
Trump is turning the National Security Council into an unmitigated disaster. And the consequences could be devastating.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically incorrect and always “right.” His articles can also be found on RedState.com.
His daily radio commentary is nationally syndicated with Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.
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