Is It Panic Time?
Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis wrote a carefully constructed letter of resignationlast week. In it, he elegantly put forward the reasons he couldn’t continue to work for a President who seemed intent on “deconstructing” (Bannon’s word, not Mattis’s) the alliance systems that have stabilized the globe since World War II. In it Mattis said,
My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues.
“Four decades of immersion” for the General, to be contrasted with the President’s transitory interest in American foreign policy. A “clear-eyed” view of malign actors, contrasted with the President closeness to Putin, Kim, Erdogan, and Duterte. “Treating allies with respect” versus following a whim on a phone call and abandoning the Kurds to the Turks.
Mattis was done. He fulfilled his duty as Secretary of Defense until he could no longer see a way forward. And in leaving the office, he shared with the nation his reasoning, and ultimately his fears. It took the interpretation of the media for President Trump to realize what Mattis really said, and in true Trumpian fashion, the President responded by tweeting that Mattis would be replaced as of January 1st. It is the old saw: “you can’t quit, you’re fired.”
With the departure of Mattis, the “three generals” who were supposed to guide Trump are all gone: Mattis, Kelly and McMasters. And with their departure a lot of the stability those men brought to the table is gone as well. What they all three found was that no matter how much “immersion” in the events of the world they had with experience they literally earned in battle: if the President wouldn’t listen to them, it made no difference.
So “the generals” are leaving. The President struggled to find anyone to serve as his Chief of Staff; Mick Mulvaney of the Freedom Caucus, the Office of Management and Budget and the Consumer Protection Bureau was the last on the list and is now “temporarily” on the job. And Mr. Trump has now been pushed into an ill advised government shutdown, not by the Republicans in Congress but by the shrill voices of the far-right as heard through Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Fox and Friends. Their advice is what seems to count.
We don’t currently know how much effect the pressure of the scandals of the administration is having on the President. He surely realizes that the Democratic Congress will soon be digging into every aspect of his election and his Presidency. And the long shadow of the Mueller investigation looms; the next round of indictments will cut close to his friends and family.
Mr. Trump can’t go to Mar-A-Lago for Christmas. It’s not just the shutdown; how is he supposed to face his “friends at the club” with the disarray that surrounds him. They’ve lost millions in the market this month. His “kitchen cabinet” there will tell him things he doesn’t want to hear, it’s better to surround himself with…Stephen Miller and Trump’s constantly used twitter account?
What is clear is that the President has sold out to maintain his “base.” Politically, the one area where President Trump has shown brilliance, he knows he cannot survive, much less run for re-election, without their support. So whatever “wall” really is: concrete, or brick, or steel slats; he’s got to fight for it, whether it actually happens or not. It’s about votes in the Senate in the impeachment trial, not defending the border.
The United States is much like a great ocean liner. No matter what commands are given at the helm, the momentum of its direction is so great that it takes miles and miles to accelerate, or turn, or stop. For the past two years of the Trump Presidency, America has continued on the momentum of the past decade; economically improving and serving as the world’s ultimate authority. But even this ship must be guided, and should a real crisis occur; should an iceberg appear on the horizon; who will guide it to safety?
It certainly doesn’t feel like this President will, and the number of “steady hands” within earshot are fewer and fewer. It might be “panic time,” if only panic would provide some alternative to the present. But it doesn’t – so we will have to live through whatever challenge the horizon brings. Let’s hope we can avoid sinking.
