This is a diary that has been brewing for a little while apparently. I have tried very hard to save my powder for the fight to come and hold some of my outrage in reserve for January. But I had a strong reaction to something I read on the FP this morning.
Our Dear Leader in Waiting gave Chris Wallace an exclusive interview today. Surprise, he’s so much smarter than Obama who needs the daily security briefing six days a week. Trump only needs it occasionally because it really never changes.
Now, in the meantime, my generals are great. Are being briefed. And Mike Pence is being briefed, who is by the way one of my very good decisions. He’s doing terrific. And they’re being briefed and I’m being briefed also.
But if they’re gonna come and tell me the exact same thing that they told me, you know it doesn’t change necessarily, but there are times where it might change, I mean they’ll be some very fluid situations.
I’ll be there, not every day, but more than that. But I don’t need to be told, Chris, the same thing every day, every morning, same words, nothing has changed, let’s go over it again. I don’t need that.
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It is the casual dismissal of intellectual curiosity that disturbs me most about our next President and his administration. Intellectual curiosity is the backbone of my life. I strive every day to learn multiple things and use them to hone my worldview against the realities of the world around me. It is a difficult process, one that I have been taught over the years by incredible academics, artists, thinkers, theologians, and street prophets.
I have what I consider a minimum amount of intellectual effort which I require from anyone I employ and a minimum amount of rigor that I hold professionals to. The higher you climb in an organization or government, the higher my bar for you rises. Sorry, the world is an ugly place. No participation trophies for weak effort here. Lack of effort is inexcusable.
I have had more presidents fail to meet my bar than I have had presidents who raised the bar for themselves. I lived through Reagan and two Bushes with only brief flashes from Clinton and the intellectual salve that has been the Obama administration. Carter exists, somehow, just beyond the edge of my political memory. I had to learn my ABCs before I could engage him. I will say that he has been a beacon of inspiration as a former president.
I’m not even going to speak to the issue of a Commander in Chief who delegates international affairs to his VP and leaves the onus on the top military brass to decide what constitutes “new” information. The principle of civilian command of the nation’s military is my bedrock use it or lose it Constitutional right. Everything else flows from this one thing in my mind. The people, not the military, are supposed to be in charge around here. It is our only safeguard against Fascism and military rule.
I want a President that sets their clock by that briefing. I want a President who understands the importance of the rest of the world and our role in it. I want a President that sees the whole board for themselves and doesn’t need to be told which move to make next. I want a President struggling to keep us all stitched together.
I know that I will not always be proud of my President. Even Mr Obama has disappointed me on occasion. Yet Obama has never once made me feel like he wasn’t grasping for the full understanding of an issue. I doubt he ever read a Cliff’s Notes version of the novel metaphorically speaking. I trust President Obama to engage with the briefer and keep them on their toes. I trust him to be able to weigh the daily changes against the larger trends.
I don’t trust Trump at all. At least I could trust that W cared what the history books would say about him. That’s why the Republicans are so focused on school boards. History is the most radical thing you can teach a young mind. So, spend the Trump years educating yourselves and the next generation. We’re going to need a lot of help cleaning up after the Orange One.
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