Bryan Dean Wright:
Over the past few months, America has lurched from partisan warfare to the cliffs of an existential crisis.
Multiple reports show that my former colleagues in the intelligence community have decided that they must leak or withhold classified information due to unsettling connections between President Trump and the Russian Government.
Said an intelligence officer: “I know what’s best for foreign policy and national security… And I’m going to act on that.”
Some of us might applaud this man, including a few of my fellow Democrats. In their minds, this is a case of Mr. Smith Goes to Langley to do battle against a corrupt President Trump.
One small problem. The intelligence officer quoted above was actually Aldrich Ames, a CIA traitor whose crime of treason in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in the compromise of more than 100 assets. Many were tortured and executed as a result.
Ames’ flawed logic is eerily similar to that of his present-day colleagues who are engaged in a shadow war with their commander in chief. They, too, have decided that their superior judgment is more important than following the law.
For the sake of argument, however, let’s assume that these officials are somehow different than Ames. Let’s suppose that they have compelling pieces of information that indeed suggest Trump or his staff have committed treason.
When you’re trained as a spy, you’re taught how to handle these kinds of situations. Upon learning the information, it gets tightly compartmented (restricted) and sent to the Department of Justice or Congress for investigation. If the evidence is found to be credible, the constitution makes clear what happens next: impeachment.
That’s how American democracy should work.
And that’s precisely how it has been working. According to former Vice President Biden, there’s been an on-going investigation into the alleged connections between Trump and Russia. All of us should take heart in knowing that the system is functioning exactly as designed.
However, some of America’s spies are deciding that that’s not enough. For reasons of misguided righteousness or partisan hatred, they’ve taken it upon themselves to be judge, jury, and executioner. They have prosecuted their case in the court of public opinion, with likeminded media outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and the Washington Post serving as court stenographers.
Elected by no one, responsible only to each other, these spies have determined that Trump is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Days ago, they delivered their verdict. According to one intelligence official, the president “will die in jail.”
I understand how this might feel appealing to deeply partisan Democrats. After all, I didn’t want Trump to win either. But the solution to fighting this subpar president cannot be encouraging a network of spies to tip the scales back in our political favor. We must instead let the system continue to work, as it has, and make our case to the American people during future elections.
If you’re not convinced, imagine the consequences of letting spies decide not just Trump’s fate but other political winners and losers too. Imagine how they might treat our candidates next.
Flash-forward to November 4, 2020, where Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have defeated Donald Trump and Mike Pence for the White House. Democrats will celebrate in the streets. The liberal spies will smile.
Mission accomplished.
Conservative spies, however, will take a darker view. To them, their liberal colleagues will have gotten away with political murder. They’ll be looking for revenge.
Welcome to the new America. It’s now their turn to burn democracy down. And they’ve got the tools and motivation to do it.
The leftists and the Useless Nations only want someone in office who will two the line and do all they command like Clinton(Bill and Hillary),Bush(Senior & Junior) and Obama did
There are a number of undeniable indications of a foreign power meddling with the internal workings of our nation’s election process. There are also more warnings of potential conflicts of interest than you can shake a stick at. This should have been investigated and resolved before the election, but it wasn’t. Now that investigation has become imperative. What Wright is characterizing as “tipping the scales” is actually an effort to see that this happens. Were it not for that, Trump would use the powers of his office to simply make the questions go away.
Trump’s efforts to preemptively discredit our own intelligence and investigative agencies and to discredit the media are only the latest in a series of clear warning flags. I’m distrustful of anyone who argues that such warnings should be ignored. A true patriot would insist that any such indications of potential danger to the nation be closely examined and ruled out.
Congress should should be willing to give this matter at least a fraction of the same time and attention they gave to investigating Obama and Clinton. If they don’t, they’ll have no credibility whatsoever.
@Greg:
And what, exactly, was the means by which Putin manipulated people to vote for Trump?
Because we all just know that Trump couldn’t have defeated Clinton fairly, right?
And if it is so terrible for a foreign nation to try to influence elections in another country, why was it just peachy for Obama and the left to spend US taxpayer dollars and send campaign “advisors” to Israel to influence Israeli voters against Netanyahu?
Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer: Obama Laid “Tripwires” in Intel Community to Sabotage Trump
The same thing I’ve been saying for months.
Insiders: Obama Holdover ‘Shadow Government’ Plotting to Undermine Trump
Former Obama Officials, Loyalists Waged Secret Campaign to Oust Flynn
Let’s not bandy words here. These leaks of classified information (as well as passing off false information, intended to cause damage,) are criminal. What’s more, the establishment of an infrastructure of un-elected shadow operatives within the bureaucracy (placed by the previous administration,) in order to undermine and sabotage the properly elected Trump presidential administration, is treason.
Thankfully, some of Trump’s cabinet are already tasking action to remove highly placed Obama operatives
It Has Begun, Tillerson Fires Most of the 7th Floor
BREAKING: Bloodbath at The State Department
I would strongly suggest that the Trump White House also try to obtain the list of Clinton appointed officers given George Bush, as it is very possible that many of them are still there as well.
More on the “deep state” shadow government:
Virgil: The Deep State Bumps Off General Flynn. Who’s the Next Target?
Virgil: Minutes of the Deep State Executive Committee on the Permanent Campaign Against Trump, Part 2