Trump's Destruction Of American Institutions Begins
While we are all transfixed by the awfulness of Trump’s nominees, Trump’s unwillingness and inability to actually eliminate his conflicts of interest, and the unsubstantiated allegations about Trump’s Russian connections, Trump is well on his way to destroying a smooth transition of government.
Last week, Trump ordered all ambassadors to resign on January 20th and leave their official positions on that date. Ambassadors serve at the will of the President so it is perfectly legal for Trump do demand this. But if you are looking to express the continuity of American interests, it is helpful to actually have an ambassador representing the US in each country. Traditionally, Presidents have made sure they allowed existing ambassadors to remain in place until they have a replacement ready, especially in countries that are critical to American foreign policy. Because any ambassadorial appointment needs Senate approval, sometimes that replacement may not be available for months. Republicans blocked Cassandra Butts from becoming the ambassador to the Bahamas for over 5 years. In addition, time has usually been granted to allow those ambassadors to take care of any personal matters, such as staying in country until their child’s school term ends. As the former ambassador to Finland put it, “It feels like there’s an element just of spite and payback in it. I don’t see a higher policy motive.”
Over at the Energy Department, the Trump transition has also forced out the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and his deputy, effective January 20th. The NNSA is responsible for maintain the safety of America’s nuclear arsenal. No replacements for these positions have been announced and both positions will again require Senate approval. In addition, there are dozens of other political appointees within the agency that do not require Senate approval. They are also expected to leave their posts on January 20th. As one unnamed source put it, “It’s a shocking disregard for process and continuity of government…I’m more and more coming around to the idea that we’re so very very fucked.” It should also be noted that Trump has appointed Rick Perry to head the Energy Department, an agency he has proposed to eliminate. The recklessness of leaving the department assigned to protect out nuclear arsenal basically leaderless speaks for itself. If a Democratic President had pulled a stunt like this, Republicans would be screaming treason.
Today, Trump ramped up his criticism of our intelligence community, virtually accusing them of leaking the allegations about the Trump campaign’s contacts and coordination with Russia and the fact that Russia had compromising material on Trump himself from his visits to Russia. In addition, Trump and his team ripped Buzzfeed and CNN for reporting the details of these allegations in a morning tweetstorm and in his press conference. In his tweetstorm, Trump said, “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?”. And in his press conference today he said, “…but I do have to say that — and I must say that I want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies? Who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they in fact did that.”
It’s probably never a good idea to start off your administration with a feud with your intelligence agencies. It sends a powerful signal to allies and enemies about disarray at the highest levels of government. And it can be potentially damaging to the President as the intelligence community has enormous power, as J. Edgar Hoover so amply demonstrated for decades. For people who believe the Buzzfeed allegations, their worst fears about Trump will have been confirmed. For people who believe in Trump, it is another example of the establishment and intelligence agencies working to undermine and delegitimize him. For Putin and the rest of the world, it shows an America divided and a government in internal conflict.
Welcome to Trump’s America, stripped of its diplomatic representation and expertise, its nuclear safety agency leaderless, and its intelligence community under attack from their own President. Our enemies must be rejoicing and our allies shaking in their boots.