For starters, my original argument has been thoroughly debunked. In the New York Times op-ed, I suggested that the "Steady State" of top officials in the Administration could ameliorate Donald Trump's lapses in judgment. I was dead wrong. No one can thwart his attraction to wrongdoing. Americans cannot and should not rely on a group of unelected bureaucrats to maintain stability. Their confidence in the Executive Branch should be measured primarily by their faith in the President himself, not be the people around him, even if those people are able to dissuade him sometimes from making poor decisions.
That said, anyone should be able to see the chaos has worsened as the guardrails have come off. The President has little handle on the day-to-day operations of the federal government and is trying to run our Administration with a skeleton crew. He is hurtling between different controversies and ignoring important matters of state, abusing his power with some regularity, undercutting vital democratic institutions daily, and debasing the national dialogue tweet-by-tweet. We can expect this and much, much more if he is reelected. The last guardrails are coming off, and if reelected he will feel emboldened to follow those dangerous impulses to unknowable and alarming ends.
There is a great deal that was left out of the book, out of necessity. But there is more to come, in due course.
Thanks for the question and for taking the time tonight. My motive in writing this is not financial, and I'm not seeking to profit off of this warning. If there are royalties from the sale of this book, I've pledged to donate them substantially to nonprofit organizations focused on government accountability and on supporting those who stand up for the truth in repressive regimes around the world. Here at home, I hope one of the recipients will be the White House Correspondents' Association to help support a new generation of young reporters in a time when truth is under attack. I will have more to say on this in the near future.
There are more potential whistleblowers; they just haven't made the decision to come forward yet. I assure you many people have witnessed the President's corruption. They are hesitant to speak up because they see what he does to his critics. The anonymous intelligence community whistleblower, and the brave public servants testifying before Congress, will hopefully convince them to be on the right side of history.
Thank you everyone for the great questions. We might do this again soon. Have a happy Thanksgiving.
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