An American Court of Fools
It seems only fitting that on this the Day of Fools, that we highlight our very own American fools: the Cabinet of Donald Trump. Much like the court jesters of the European royalty of centuries past, Mr. Trump’s cabinet is full of prattling clowns who mock the very institutions that they are supposed to run. Unlike those storied jokers who relied on their wits to provide guidance to the head that wore the crown, these are mere buffoons who preach no wisdom, but instead parrot tired phrases that keep them in the good graces of the would be king.
Unlike during his first administration, the members of Mr. Trump’s current Cabinet lack any sort of qualification. Instead, they obtained their high offices through their pledge of undying fealty not the Constitution but to Donald Trump himself. The dangers should have been clear when he first announced his nominations of drunks and philanders, vaccine skeptics and animal abusers, reality TV stars and Fox News hosts, lobbyists and hedge fund managers, wrestling executives and bullies, intellectual lightweights, and those who vowed to go after the president’s enemies.
Despite these numerous warning signs, did the Senate fulfill its Constitutionally mandated duty? Did they truly scrutinize these nominees for some of the highest offices in the land? Regrettably our duly elected Senators failed this nation, by confirming the least qualified Cabinet in the history of this nation. These bootlickers and sycophants couldn’t run a lemonade stand and instead they are running our nation into the ground and endangering lives in the process.
Nowhere is this more evident than the revelations last week that those tagged with our national security utilized the unsecured and exploitable Signal app to communicate classified sensitive information about airstrikes conducted against Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
What makes this incident particularly egregious is that of the many members on this unsecured chat, four previously served or currently serve in the United States military and it is engrained in the military to maintain what is known as operational security. On that chat were included the Vice President (a former Marine who left as a non-commissioned officer), the Secretary of Defense (a former Army infantry officer), the National Security Advisor (a retired Army Special Forces colonel), and the Director of National Intelligence (an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel). Above all they knew better than to give out operational details over an unsecured chat.
Even those who were not members of the military, including the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and other members of the National Security apparatus, knew full well what they were supposed to do. Rather than holding these conversations via secured government approved teleconference or in a secure location, they instead chose to use a known exploitable messaging app. When pressed by the Senate, they lied and dissembled, changing their stories as often as their lord and master: number 47 himself. When that didn’t seem to work, they deflected and somehow blamed the previous administration or Mr. Golberg of the Atlantic Magazine for worming his way into the chat somehow (he was invited by the National Security Advisor).
This incident should shock and frighten every single American and we daresay the world writ large. The fact that the President’s Cabinet charged with giving him sound advice and guidance, cannot even be trusted to discuss classified information in secure locations, tells us even further that our nation is sinking into the depths of an abyss from which we may never escape. What is even more concerning is that under any normal administration, they would have immediately resigned or barring that the President would have demanded their immediate resignations. However, Mr. Trump is doubling down on his support for them.
Why might we ask? Wouldn’t the President want to remove these incompetents from office? Perhaps we are the actual fools if we believe that. No, he would rather have those who carry out his orders even if those orders should prove to be unlawful, immoral, and unethical. Far better for a tyrant to have a fool for a soldier, than men and women of conscience. Gone are the days where men and women of honor, virtue, and conscience would defy power mad rulers and speak out. Since Mr. Trump’s advisors will not tell him what he should do, it falls upon us the people to do so.
While these fools caper about madly without a care in the world, we shall speak up and speak out even if it costs a few of us our freedoms or even our lives. Perhaps then we can restore life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to this our land.
Signed,
Thomas More
