We are no longer amazed when, after months and months of outrageous conduct, Donald J Trump sinks to a new low.
But it never occured to me that in a “fit” of anger he would have the audacity, really the supidity to move to revoke or threaten to revoke the security clearances of some of our Country’s most fervent patriots who have guarded us and our secrets so ably because they have openly criticized him and his policies.
This isn’t just another example of his “thin skin.” Or his stupidity. It is taking an action that hurts our Country and its standards of fairness, one that says citizens do not have a 1st amendment right to critcize him free from punishment.
Plato said Justice is giving each man his due. John Brennan’s “due” was not to have his security clearance revoked in a moment of narcisstic “fit,” but to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his service as CIA Director and in other important government posts.
Retired Admiral William McRaven, the officer who oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has written a letter to Trump which was also posted in the Washington Post.
He told Trump what he thought of Brennan and made a fierce, personal request:
“He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.
Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.”
Here is the link to Admiral McRaven’s full article.
https://wapo.st/2OG8gCS?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.af27662d4a0
Of course, there are some who disagree with Admiral McRaven. One is Senator John Kennedy, Republican from Louisiana, not to be confused with the president who bore the same name.
This Kennedy, upon learning of Trump’s “fit,” called Brennan a “butthead” who doesn’t need the clearance.
I invite you to google Senator John N. Kennedy and upon reading of his latest antic in attempting to derail prison reform decide who it is that deserves the noble slam of “butthead.”
So, let me join Admiral McRaven and ask that my security clearances be revoked. There was a minor one when I was an officer on active duty in the U S Army for two and a half years in the mid-fifties. And there was another minor one when I held a White House press pass in the seventies, eighties and nineties.
I’m sure my clearances were revoked routinely long ago but if not, kindly add my name to the list of those who would join McRaven in his protest over Brennan’s loss.
Lord knows I’ve criticzed and will continue to criticize Donald J Trump enough to qualify for his wrath.
When I contemplate what has been done to Brennan in this instance and to so many others through cruel and hateful actions and policies and by whom, a line from the movie Quo Vadis comes to mind (you know how I love old movies).
The scene takes place in the time of the Emperor Nero – an insane ruler who not only burned Rome but murdered his mother. A Roman Senator who opposes Nero is about to take his own life in order to deprive Nero of the pleasure of killing him.
The senator dictates a letter to Nero letting him know how he feels about him as tbe “physician” cuts a vein in his arm.
And the line I like best is this one: “To be born in your reign is a miscalculation; but to die in it is a joy.”