Just now, in an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper, Michael Hayden, retired United States Air Force four-star general and former Director of the National Security Agency, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency., one of the 50 GOP intelligence experts who signed the warning letter about Trump, just stated that Trump is a clear and present danger to the United States and the world. He also specified that the group of 50 who signed the letter felt they needed to issue "a warning". He also said that Trump's comment about the 2nd amendment people stopping the problem with Hillary's judges, would have anyone else being questioned in the back of a van by the Secret Service.
That isn't true. There is a fairly long list of prominent Republican pundits and politicians and the like who have suggested "2nd Amendment solutions" in various language ("remedies") and pictorial evocations (cross hairs from a gun scope) to the problem of liberal politicians or inconvenient judges, without (apparently) coming under special scrutiny by the Secret Service. It's a familiar trope, in Republican Party political discourse. Some people have objected, of course - and we have a thread on one manner in which the objections have been handled, by the major media: the objections have been labeled "politically correct", and accordingly dismissed.
Okay, I'll believe you instead of him. But first, your credentials would be...? How many intelligence agencies have you run?
"STATEMENT BY FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS The undersigned individuals have all served in senior national security and/or foreign policy positions in Republican Administrations, from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush. We have worked directly on national security issues with these Republican Presidents and/or their principal advisers during wartime and other periods of crisis, through successes and failures. We know the personal qualities required of a President of the United States. None of us will vote for Donald Trump. From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief. Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being. Most fundamentally, Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President. He weakens U.S. moral authority as the leader of the free world. He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary. In addition, Mr. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding of America’s vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances, and the democratic values on which U.S. foreign policy must be based. At the same time, he persistently compliments our adversaries and threatens our allies and friends. Unlike previous Presidents who had limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself. He continues to display an alarming ignorance of basic facts of contemporary international politics. Despite his lack of knowledge, Mr. Trump claims that he understands foreign affairs and “knows more about ISIS than the generals do.” StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx Mr. Trump lacks the temperament to be President. In our experience, a President must be willing to listen to his advisers and department heads; must encourage consideration of conflicting views; and must acknowledge errors and learn from them. A President must be disciplined, control emotions, and act only after reflection and careful deliberation. A President must maintain cordial relationships with leaders of countries of different backgrounds and must have their respect and trust. In our judgment, Mr. Trump has none of these critical qualities. He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood. He does not encourage conflicting views. He lacks self-control and acts impetuously. He cannot tolerate personal criticism. He has alarmed our closest allies with his erratic behavior. All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commanderin- Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. We understand that many Americans are profoundly frustrated with the federal government and its inability to solve pressing domestic and international problems. We also know that many have doubts about Hillary Clinton, as do many of us. But Donald Trump is not the answer to America’s daunting challenges and to this crucial election. We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless President in American history. Donald B. Ayer Former Deputy Attorney General John B. Bellinger III Former Legal Adviser to the Department of State; former Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, The White House StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx Robert Blackwill Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning, The White House Michael Chertoff Former Secretary of Homeland Security; former Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Department of Justice Eliot A. Cohen Former Counselor of the Department of State Eric Edelman Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; former National Security Advisor to the Vice President, The White House Gary Edson Former Deputy National Security Advisor, The White House Richard Falkenrath Former Deputy Homeland Security Advisor, The White House Peter Feaver Former Senior Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council, The White House Richard Fontaine Former Associate Director for Near East Affairs, National Security Council, The White House Jendayi Frazer Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs; former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx Aaron Friedberg Former Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President, The White House David Gordon Former Director of Policy Planning, Department of State Michael Green Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia, National Security Council, The White House Brian Gunderson Former Chief of Staff, Department of State Paul Haenle Former Director for China and Taiwan, National Security Council, The White House Michael Hayden Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency; former Director, National Security Agency Carla A. Hills Former U.S. Trade Representative John Hillen Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs William Inboden Former Senior Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council, The White House StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx Reuben Jeffery III Former Under Secretary of State for Economic Energy and Agricultural Affairs; former Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, National Security Council, The White House James Jeffrey Former Deputy National Security Advisor, The White House Ted Kassinger Former Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Kramer Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor James Langdon Former Chairman, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, The White House Peter Lichtenbaum Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Mary Beth Long Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Clay Lowery Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs; former Director for International Finance, National Security Council, The White House Robert McCallum Former Associate Attorney General; former Ambassador to Australia StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx Richard Miles Former Director for North America, National Security Council, The White House Andrew Natsios Former Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development John Negroponte Former Director of National Intelligence; former Deputy Secretary of State; former Deputy National Security Advisor Meghan O’Sullivan Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan Dan Price Former Deputy National Security Advisor Tom Ridge Former Secretary of Homeland Security; former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, The White House; former Governor of Pennsylvania Nicholas Rostow Former Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, The White House Kori Schake Former Director for Defense Strategy, National Security Council, The White House Kristen Silverberg Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx Stephen Slick Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council, The White House Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and International Operations, National Security Council, The White House; former Ambassador and Senior Advisor for Women’s Empowerment, Department of State William H. Taft IV Former Deputy Secretary of Defense; former Ambassador to NATO Larry D. Thompson Former Deputy Attorney General William Tobey Former Deputy Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy; former Director for Counter- Proliferation Strategy, National Security Council, The White House John Veroneau Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Kenneth Wainstein Former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, The White House; former Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice Matthew Waxman Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense; former Director for Contingency Planning and International Justice, National Security Council, The White House StatementofFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.docx" https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3007589/Nationalsecurityletter.pdf
For some reason which I can probably explain, my mind is going over, and over, the song Dirty Creature by Split Enz. Yes folks, Donald J is that Dirty Creature--the song was written by the brothers Finn, and obviously it's about the bogeyman. Just to recap: Dirty Creature come my way, from the bottom of a big black lake Shuffles up to my window, making sure I'm awake 'S prob'ly gonna pick my brain, got me in a vice-like grip --He said, "One slip, you're dead, ha!" Dirty Creature of habit, little horror here to stay Anyone in his right mind, would tell it to go away! But the river of dread runs deep, full of unspeakable things The Creature don't mess around, I don't wanna mess with him I don't wanna sail, I don't wanna sail I don't wanna, I don't wanna sail tonight . . . Even as we speak the Dirty Creature springs a nasty surprise! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Sorry, Split Enz is sorta close to my heart, being from Hamilton which is just up the road (as we say) from Te Awamutu.
Don Lemon, CNN anchor, just got into a yelling match with a Trump supporter, a former secret service agent, over the interpretation of Trumps comments in regard to the 2nd A people. Lemon was calling him a liar. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Lemon's basic point was that we're not stupid. Trump clearly said what he said no matter how you try to spin it. David Gergen who is a highly respected former advisor to 4 Presidents, a Republican, calls this a dog whistle for people who want to overthrow the government. He isn't mincing words. In fact, the Secret Service has noted his comments and publically said so. That was a clear warning. Trump is friendly with Putin, has advisors with interests in Russia, and plays games with notions of killing a US President?
Why not just check the relevant facts? Then you don't have to "believe" anybody. Such as Sara Palin - Republican candidate for President one step removed from an old guy with medical issues - publishing a compendium of photographs of various significant candidates for office overlaid with the crosshairs of a rifle scope, centered. All you have to do is search the net for "2nd amendment solutions remedies responses" or something - this has been a fairly common Republican trope. The Donald is not saying anything that mainstream, ordinary, respected, upper echelon Republican pundits and politicians haven't been saying for decades now. He's just plain and vulgar, none of this pussyfooting around.
We hold presidential candidates to a higher standard than talk radio pundits. Secret service personel have already emphasized this. You don't send out dog whistles to anti-tyranny gun nuts in campaign speeches about taking out the opposing candidate. It isn't done. It's verboten. A no no..What else needs to be said?
The Republican base does not. As the popularity of Sara "cross hairs" Palin, George W Bush, and Ronald Reagan, demonstrated long ago. That it hasn't been "verboten" for a long time. Not for Republicans, or their media operations. It's been tolerated, in steadily more flagrant and blatant forms, for decades now. By whom? For what?
Go ahead and supply us with those quotes then. I'd be interested in how such candidates' calls for assassination slipped under the radar of the media and the secret service and the FBI...
Was it claimed that they were dog whistled? I must've missed that part..Here's the part I didn't miss: "It's been tolerated, in steadily more flagrant and blatant forms, for decades now."
They also looked into the many, many past instances of that kind of threat - like this from 1994: http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/23/us/helms-takes-new-swipe-at-clinton-then-calls-it-mistake.html . We have no evidence that anyone - even one time, one person - in the decades of increasingly flagrant deployment of such threats by major Republican politicians and pundits, has ever spent any time being " questioned in the back of a van, by the Secret Service". We have no evidence that any of those Republican politicians and pundits suffered any serious bad consequences whatsoever, personal or professional. In fact many seem to have benefitted, and continued their public careers in good standing with their Party, the press, and white men 35-65. That actually justifies a bit stronger term than the moderate, conservative, wishy-washy term "tolerated" - approval and benefit is supported by the facts. They "had conversations" with one of Trump's flunkies? Good for them. Maybe the Donald will tone it down a bit. Or maybe not - the Tribe has a hero now, and it's hard to resist the temptation to play the hero.
Why isn't it a surprise that, when asked to comment about the latest (or any) Trump dump, "many people are saying" it was a joke? These many people who are saying that, have said it before, so how do they know? Do they know because, they know all his jokes already? Wait, wait, I think I'm starting to get it. Everything he says or does is a joke, right? Am I right? A bad joke, a really bad joke, believe me.
Know your sources: Michael Hayden is employed by the chertoff group which is part of the mic. Hillary hawk is a war monger, Trump might break their rice bowls, so, of course they will try to use scare tactics to insure that they continue to get rich off of war, death, and destruction. He said: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's proposed military cuts... entail a great deal of risk," says Gen. Michael Hayden, the former head of both the National Security Agency and the CIA. "The first instinct I had was, well, I'm glad I'm not in government anymore..." This is the same nsa that spied on americans in america. I'm glad that he isn't in government anymore too. Now if he would just stfu...