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highplainsdem

(49,012 posts)
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 09:59 AM Aug 2018

NYT op-ed: Trump Is Not a King

This is by Tim Weiner, who has written histories of the CIA and FBI.


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/opinion/cia-brennan-trump-letters.html


It’s clear that Mr. Brennan’s fierce political and personal attacks rattled the china in the Oval Office. The president essentially has accused Mr. Brennan of lèse majesté — the crime of criticizing the monarch, tantamount to treason. Remarkably, this relic of the days when kings were deemed divine remains on the books in some European monarchies as well as nations like Saudi Arabia, where a critique of the crown is considered terrorism.

It’s not a crime in the United States. That’s why we fought a revolution against a mad king.

-snip-

You don’t need a secret decoder ring to see what’s happening here. John Brennan, who knows whereof he speaks, believes that the president is a threat to the security of the United States — a counterintelligence threat, no less, in thrall to President Vladimir Putin of Russia. The president attacks him, severing Mr. Brennan’s access to classified information. The deans of national security rise up to defend him — and, by implication, intelligence officers and federal investigators who are closing in on the White House.

They are sending a message to active-duty generals and admirals, soldiers and spies. Remember your oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Think twice before following this man’s orders in a crisis. You might first consider throwing down your stars.
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NYT op-ed: Trump Is Not a King (Original Post) highplainsdem Aug 2018 OP
Recommended. H2O Man Aug 2018 #1
traitortrump is not a king, but empedocles Aug 2018 #2
republicans are completely betraying America on this key point Achilleaze Aug 2018 #3
ABJECT BETRAYAL dchill Aug 2018 #25
"Think twice before following this man's orders in a crisis" dalton99a Aug 2018 #4
K @ R malaise Aug 2018 #5
+ a million joshdawg Aug 2018 #29
Brennan is correct to express his fears...... ProudMNDemocrat Aug 2018 #6
This is what I have seen and claimed for some time colorado_ufo Aug 2018 #14
Would the military resist? LiberalLovinLug Aug 2018 #24
The fight to protect our Democracy is going to have causalities. NoMoreRepugs Aug 2018 #7
I posted yesterday that lese majeste is the crime Trump wants Omarosa arrested for. nt tblue37 Aug 2018 #8
Except it's not a crime FakeNoose Aug 2018 #11
And he is not a king. But he THINKS he is king and that criticizing him tblue37 Aug 2018 #15
Trump also views NFL players kneeling as lese-majeste. His outrage isn't about the anthem. highplainsdem Aug 2018 #17
Someone needs to tell him that. greatauntoftriplets Aug 2018 #9
Brennan, as a public servant 2naSalit Aug 2018 #10
But he plays one on TV (and on Twitter and at rallies) and he believes he is entitled to his reign. Freethinker65 Aug 2018 #12
He's a deuce. Aces high. Mc Mike Aug 2018 #13
Does that mean Ivanka does not get to be a princess? kentuck Aug 2018 #16
When this is all over she won't even be an heiress FakeNoose Aug 2018 #18
"...against all enemies, foreign AND DOMESTIC." calimary Aug 2018 #19
No he's not.... paleotn Aug 2018 #20
he tells us what he is every day on Twitter. ginnyinWI Aug 2018 #22
Unfortunately, we have a representative democracy. The Republicans represent their constituents... Mr. Ected Aug 2018 #21
K&R JohnnyRingo Aug 2018 #23
His cult wants him to be. moondust Aug 2018 #26
Some retired Colonel wrote in an op ed this week YessirAtsaFact Aug 2018 #27
Fraud is the tragic joker. Cha Aug 2018 #28
How quaint this piece will seem in eight years, when Trump's still president. LastLiberal in PalmSprings Aug 2018 #30

Achilleaze

(15,543 posts)
3. republicans are completely betraying America on this key point
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:03 AM
Aug 2018

"...protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

This is the hour of the republican's ultimate cowardly unprincipled betrayal of American democracy. Shame on them.

joshdawg

(2,651 posts)
29. + a million
Sun Aug 19, 2018, 07:24 AM
Aug 2018

and the rest of his family and administration and all the cowardly republican congressvermin who have their thumbs up their asses and mouths who still support him. (they swap thumbs every so often)

ProudMNDemocrat

(16,786 posts)
6. Brennan is correct to express his fears......
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:06 AM
Aug 2018


That Trump is a danger and threat to our National Security. That Trump is capable of throwing the entire nation under the bus to allow us to be overtaken by a hostile country, like Russia, with Trump as the installed puppet.

THAT would be Treason in the clearest definition of the word. Our Militany would resist. There would be death and destruction, and our allies that Trump has Pissed off, would not come to our aid. Why should they?

Congressional Republicans will have allowed this to happen. They are complicit.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,175 posts)
24. Would the military resist?
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 01:36 PM
Aug 2018

There sure seem to be a lot of the Christian right all through the military, top and bottom. And it's still the case that many, even most, vote Republican, despite things like VA cuts. Rush Limpballs and Fox on exclusively on Army bases doesn't help either.

I could see the armed forces even splitting over this. The True Believers, that think God put Trump in the WH and will defend Trump against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Then include all the self styled well armed militias. We'd have to just hope that enough of the armed forces are on our side.

NoMoreRepugs

(9,441 posts)
7. The fight to protect our Democracy is going to have causalities.
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:12 AM
Aug 2018

All of the deplorables and all of their guns would seem to make that inevitable IMO.

FakeNoose

(32,671 posts)
11. Except it's not a crime
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:32 AM
Aug 2018

... it's not even a law in our country. It was considered a crime in 1776 in Britain but that's irrelevant now, even the British have moved past that.

tblue37

(65,456 posts)
15. And he is not a king. But he THINKS he is king and that criticizing him
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:41 AM
Aug 2018

is the crime of lese majesté.

highplainsdem

(49,012 posts)
17. Trump also views NFL players kneeling as lese-majeste. His outrage isn't about the anthem.
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:45 AM
Aug 2018

Trump doesn't really care about the anthem, doesn't even know the words. But he wants people to have to show respect for the anthem and flag as symbols of his presidency, not of the country.

2naSalit

(86,680 posts)
10. Brennan, as a public servant
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:27 AM
Aug 2018

is correct that his oath obligates him to speak out about a corrupt government and let the public know that we are being attacked from within the WH.

Freethinker65

(10,027 posts)
12. But he plays one on TV (and on Twitter and at rallies) and he believes he is entitled to his reign.
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:33 AM
Aug 2018

It is past time to rein Trump in.

paleotn

(17,931 posts)
20. No he's not....
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 11:18 AM
Aug 2018

I don't even think he's human. To use his own words, he's vermin. He and all his spawn. Everyone knows what should be done with vermin.

ginnyinWI

(17,276 posts)
22. he tells us what he is every day on Twitter.
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 11:23 AM
Aug 2018

Day after day, he calls people out for what he is, himself. It's uncanny--it's like subconsciously, he is trying desperately to come clean--or to cry out for help.

Mr. Ected

(9,670 posts)
21. Unfortunately, we have a representative democracy. The Republicans represent their constituents...
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 11:23 AM
Aug 2018

...who empower them to look the other way when the accuser is a Democrat, or perceived to be an existential threat to their power. The problem isn't simply a rotten Congress. The problem is an uninformed, lazy, brainwashed electorate that sees Hillary Clinton as a greater threat to our democracy than Vladimir Putin. The more Trump lashes out at his detractors in a juvenile fashion, the giddier they become.

They may not account for a majority - not even close - but there's enough of them, and will always be enough of them, to stymie the democratic process and place all of us in harm's way for time immemorial...or until we become the US of R.

moondust

(19,998 posts)
26. His cult wants him to be.
Sat Aug 18, 2018, 10:32 PM
Aug 2018

And HE wants to be and is doing all he can to become just that.

Of course the transition to a third-world autocracy is gonna take some time...

YessirAtsaFact

(2,064 posts)
27. Some retired Colonel wrote in an op ed this week
Sun Aug 19, 2018, 12:17 AM
Aug 2018

That Trump’s supporters were couch potato anarchists, quite happy to watch him destroy the government

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