Call the Fire Department<\/p>\n
There was a joke in the old Soviet Union under Premier Nikita Khrushchev:<\/p>\n
\u201cA man was running down the corridor of the Kremlin, shouting \u2018Khrushchev is a fool, Khrushchev is a fool!!\u2019\u00a0 He was captured tried and sentenced to six months for insulting the Premier; and ten years for revealing a state secret.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>On the evening of September 5th<\/sup>, Trump Tweeted:<\/p>\n Does the so-called \u201cSenior Administration Official\u201d really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?\u00a0 If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him\/her over to government at once.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>It’s not particularly funny.\u00a0An unnamed senior member of the White House Staff feels the President himself is a threat to the nation, and responded by publishing an anonymous article in the New York Times.\u00a0 The article outlined a White House where the staff is trying to protect the nation from the President\u2019s erratic and dangerous behavior.\u00a0 They are doing so by ignoring the President\u2019s directives, and re-directing his actions.\u00a0In part the article states:<\/p>\n \u201c(But) we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.\u00a0 That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump\u2019s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n It all sounds noble; standing in the line against an amoral man, with responsibilities far over his head, with impulses that are anti-trade and anti-democratic.\u00a0 But these individuals have already made a decision that is detrimental to our nation.\u00a0 They have abandoned all of the Constitutional means of controlling an \u201cout of control\u201d President, and instead determined that THEY are the only ones to save the nation:\u00a0the very definition of hubris.<\/p>\n Michael Steele, former Chairman of the Republican Party, said something that made a lot of sense yesterday:\u00a0 \u201c\u2026if your house is on fire, call the fire department.\u201d\u00a0These anonymous \u201cresistors\u201d are trying to control the fire themselves, and it clearly isn\u2019t working.\u00a0 Maybe this anonymous plea is a cry for help, but like calling the fire department and not telling them where the fire is; it\u2019s not very useful.<\/p>\n There has been an ongoing debate in the government since the day Trump was elected.\u00a0 Do you stay on with the government, and try to \u201cprotect\u201d the nation, or do you quit.\u00a0 This debate has been titled \u201cthe adults in the room,\u201d and we have taken some solace in the fact that Secretary Mattis, General Kelly and Director Coats are there.\u00a0Maybe one of them wrote this piece, though I highly doubt it.\u00a0 But if it is one of these leaders, they need to do more than just make an anonymous call for help.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not particularly interested in \u201couting\u201d the source, but I am deeply interested in those in the White House who truly feel this way.\u00a0 They need to do more to precipitate action.\u00a0 If our nation is at risk, as they clearly think, and all of the circumstantial evidence supports, then it is up to the \u201cadults in the room\u201d to take the ultimate risk and speak out, publicly, for our nation.<\/p>\n Bob Woodward\u2019s new book will provide even more evidence of the \u201cchaos Presidency.\u201d\u00a0 Woodward\u2019s impeccable research style, backing most quotes with actual tapes of the conversations, provides a foundation for the New York Times article claims.\u00a0 So what is the next step, who is the \u201cfire department?\u201d<\/p>\n There has been a great deal of conversation about the 25th\u00a0<\/sup>Amendment, that provides that a President \u201cunable\u201d to perform his duties, can be temporarily replaced by the Vice President.\u00a0 It takes the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet to replace him, but this would only provide a thirty-day respite.<\/p>\n The Constitution provides for several layers of agreement for government action.\u00a0 The lowest is a majority of both Houses of Congress, the standard for passing a law.\u00a0 The highest is for a change in the Constitution itself, with two-thirds of both Houses plus three-fourths of the states needing to be in agreement.<\/p>\n