BREAKING NEWS: I had written this column on the firing of DNI Maguire and was near done when breaking news came out concerning the topic of the briefing. The bombshell is that intelligence officials reported to Congress that Russia is ALREADY HELPING DONALD TRUMP in the 2020 election.

Because that briefing was given to Congress, including the Democrats, Trump hit the fcking roof and fired Jim Maguire, former Navy Seal, and highly respected. Maguire was fired because he gave real information, damaging to Trump, that Trump wanted to keep from Congress. Maguire gave critical information NEEDED to keep our nation safe, and Trump doesn’t care about keeping that part safe.

Now the part of my column involving the replacement that had been near publication:

Message for everyone in the @realDonaldTrump administration:

YOU WORK FOR A CRACKPOT. https://t.co/HRA5MohFFe

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) February 20, 2020

I am not nearly a good enough writer to convey the lack of qualifications held by the replacement Trump named as the next “Acting” DNI. Believe me, this DNI is “acting” because there is not one chance in hell this person would be approved by even the Republicans in the senate, by being an “acting” director they can skip Senate approval for now.

Here is my best shot at describing the lack of qualifications: I am more qualified to be DNI than the person that Trump appointed.

Meet Richard Grenell, the man whose appointment conservative Max Boot describes as

“quite possibly the craziest and scariest thing Trump has done.”

The only thing debatable about that statement is that it is impossible to compare, but it gives you an idea.

This guy will be in charge of handing our top intelligence from the CIA, NSA, NRO, and military, and whether to do anything about Russia interfering in helping Trump:

Appointing a political loyalist means Trump will have greater control on intelligence information. It will now be under the control of what one person called a “rude Twitter troll.” But Grenell has zero experience in the world of national intelligence.

Zero experience, Trump loyalist, known to be a rude twitter troll. Overseeing the CIA and NSA and intel on our election security:

“He spent the George W. Bush administration as the spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, where he developed a terrible reputation among reporters. The veteran Reuters correspondent Irwin Arieff told HuffPost that Grenell was ‘the most dishonest and deceptive press person I ever worked with. He often lied.’ That is a big problem, given that the job of the DNI is to tell the truth — including uncomfortable truths that the president would rather not hear.”

A Trump loyalist who lies like he breathes. The concern now is that he will lie about what the CIA concluded or NSA intercepted.

Once out of the Bush administration, Grenell became a Fox talking head and Twitter troll, perfect for such an important job.

“By appointing a partisan propagandist to a post that requires strict nonpartisanship, Trump is ensuring that the acting DNI in this election year will place his interests above those of the country,” wrote Boot. “Given that Trump has consistently said he would accept foreign election help — indeed, he tried to blackmail Ukraine into helping him — that is a terrifying prospect for the future of our democracy. There are, mercifully, institutional checks to limit a DNI’s ability to weaponize the intelligence community on behalf of the president’s personal interests. With Grenell at the helm, we are likely to see those safeguards tested as never before.

Boot wrote that column BEFORE he knew that Trump fired Maguire because he let Schiff and Democrats know that Russia was already assisting Trump.

At what fcking point is this country going to wake up?? Are Republicans SO deep into party over country that this is okay? Trump is actively now trying to cover-up the fact that our intel agencies already know that Russia is helping Trump? Doesn’t that necessarily mean that Trump is allowing it to happen? Doesn’t it mean that Trump wants to clear the way for it to happen and cover it up?

Doesn’t Trump’s appointment of someone he can control, someone who doesn’t have a clue, someone outside the reach of senate confirmation, mean that Trump wants Russia helping him out in 2020?

YES, it does. We knew that to be the case all along. It is just that now we can PROVE it.

STUNNING.

Not a day goes by that I don’t hear something just head-spinning regarding how Trump is destroying this nation.

****
Peace, y’all

Jason

[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom