Don't Pity Trump's Enablers
Poor national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, by nearly all accounts a man of integrity, putting his credibility on the line to defend President Donald Trump against a story in the Washington Post claiming Trump disclosed classified information to the Russians, only to have Mr. Trump jump on Twitter hours later and confirm the story. Poor Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who also stood up for his boss and denied the story, and also saw himself publicly humiliated when Trump defected from the White House line. Poor deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, trotted out in place of Sean Spicer to sell reporters a bill of goods about Trump’s firing of James Comey. The poor GOP leadership, their agenda hamstrung and each of their reputations on the line after having hitched their wagon to this erratic and volatile horse. Poor counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, who reportedly told Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that she was only working on Trump’s campaign for the money and needed a shower after defending him, now having her political future and fortunes tied to his presidency. Poor press secretary Sean Spicer, hiding in — excuse me, among — the bushes.
Poor none of them.
Trump hasn’t revealed a darker side of himself; it was there for anyone who wanted to see it. During the campaign, reporters, historians, and political analysts offered dire warnings: that Trump showed hints of authoritarianism, that he was unhinged and lied compulsively, that he had little interest in facts or the information necessary to run a country, that his massive ego and penchant for self-aggrandizement could render his presidency unstable enough to seriously threaten American interests. His own advisers nicknamed him the “leaker-in-chief” because he was so incapable of keeping his mouth shut, more interested in bizarre brags than the sanctity of the presidency — on the campaign trail he had “the best words” and now, reportedly, he boasted to his Russian guests that he had “great intel.” Then he proved it.
No one is forced to work for Trump or publicly defend him; any member of his administration may resign in protest, and any elected official may publicly question or criticize him. A shocking number of them choose instead to stand up for a disgraced president, putting loyalty to party ahead of loyalty to country.
For those of us who see the writing on the wall, it’s hard to understand the motivation of Trump loyalists — especially those men and women who had respected careers before Trump was president. Don’t they see that their actions now won’t be read by history as respectable fealty but reputation-ending cowardliness and political greed? It’s tempting to pity them a bit, hung out to dry and humiliated as they have been by the man for whom they have given up so much.
Don’t. The men and women going to bat for the president aren’t victims of Trump’s capriciousness and penchant for degradation. They’re enablers of his impulsive, thoughtless, and increasingly dangerous presidency. And they should be held accountable.
It’s only Tuesday, and this week has already been quite a spectacle. First, the Washington Post reported that Trump shared highly classified information with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador when they were in his office last week — that visit itself a story last week when it came out that the White House accidentally allowed a Russian photographer into the meeting (American media were barred from attending). The information Trump allegedly passed on came from Israel, and he may have given the Russians enough to learn even more, compromising the source and damaging American interests. According to the Post, the information was so sensitive that White House officials quickly called the CIA and National Security Agency to alert them of the breach. Now, some European leaders are reportedly considering curtailing the intelligence they share with the United States, unable to trust our blabby president.
Soon after the story broke, Trump’s enablers sprang into action. McMaster, who has written forcefully about the dangers that come from well-intentioned people who put self-interest ahead of duty to country, said he was in the room and that “at no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly.” Never mind that’s not what the Post article alleged — it was a carefully worded denial to give the impression of innocence without technically lying. Dina Powell, his deputy, backed him up, saying, “This story is false.”
The next morning, Trump effectively confirmed the Post story on Twitter. He didn’t deny giving valuable intelligence to the Russians; instead, he asserted he had the “absolute right” to do so and that he did it so Russia would “greatly step up their fight against ISIS and terrorism.”
This is not the first time we’ve seen this pattern: Trump makes a huge error, outrage ensues, his minions put out one message to defend them, and he undercuts them. Last week, after firing FBI director James Comey — a politically inconvenient move, given that Comey was leading the investigation into Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign — the Trump team quickly blamed the firing on Comey’s decision to speak about an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server during the election and pointed to a memo by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein assessing Comey’s flaws. Even Vice President Mike Pence pointed to Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the drivers behind the change. It was a transparent lie, but a necessary one, given that the president firing the FBI director to impede his investigation could be obstruction of justice. No matter: Trump soon went on record to say that he fired Comey in part because of the Russia investigation.
Still, Spicer hasn’t walked. Neither has Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the administration’s other mouthpiece. Rosenstein, who has denied reports that he threaten to resign if the Comey firing continued to be pinned on him, is still working at the Department of Justice. Kellyanne Conway came out of hiding to deny the claims she hates her boss, writing, “My beliefs, commitments and loyalties are plain to see.” McMaster and Tillerson remain in their posts.
Congressional Republicans, who have less to lose, are sadly not much better. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered the tepid critique that “we could do with a little less drama from the White House.” About the very serious allegations of feeding classified intelligence to a nation often hostile to U.S. interests, the best Sen. John McCain could muster was “If true, deeply disturbing.” Sen. Marco Rubio seemed very Zen about the White House problems, saying, “It is what it is." There are a few exceptions — Sen. Bob Corker rightly observed that the White House is in “a downward spiral” — but for the most part, Republicans and their media mouthpieces are meeting this major breach of intelligence norms with a collective shrug.
A president cannot pull off this kind of delinquency alone. He needs a propaganda apparatus to reframe his misdeeds and sell them back to a gullible public; he needs respected lawyers and military men and women apparently willing to spend their decades-earned credibility covering for him. There are some true believers in the White House, vastly underqualified sycophants who wouldn’t have high-level political jobs today were it not for their unquestioning loyalty to their leader — men like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. They’re going down with this ship because it’s the only vessel that will give them a lift. They started out as career propagandists and in that, they will continue.
That’s not true for people like McMaster or chief of staff Reince Priebus or Kellyanne Conway. And still, they’ve made a choice to stay. Power, it seems, is more appealing than integrity, honor, truthfulness, or even country. That tells us everything we need to know about them. And what they deserve isn’t our pity.
They got in bed with Trump, knowing he was a dirty dog of a businessman unfit for the presidency (and if they didn’t know, they’re inept at their own jobs). They stayed. Don’t cry for them getting fleas.
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