Ghitis: Trump's dangerous incompetence
Zakaria: Why is Trump so nice to Russia? 03:53
Story highlights
- A new Washington Post report alleges that Trump gave Russian officials classified information
- Frida Ghitis: If true, it's yet another example of the President's self-destructive behavior preventing the White House from functioning
Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.
(CNN)The Washington Post published yet another bombshell report about our President Monday. The story,
citing unnamed US officials, alleges that Donald Trump gave visiting
Russian officials details of intelligence on ISIS and a plot to blow up
planes using laptops -- information that had been given to the United
States by an ally.
Russia's
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and its ambassador to the United States,
Sergei Kislyak, were made privy to information so secret that the United
States had not shared with its own allies, according to the news
report -- but Trump bragged about it to officials from a hostile
government. CNN has not confirmed the Washington Post report or a New
York Times report that followed it.
But
if it is true, it would reflect an unspeakable lapse in judgment and
could have serious ramifications for US security and diplomacy. Trump,
who complains bitterly about how others treat him, has once again with
his own behavior -- his own apparent inability to control himself --
created yet another mess for himself and for the country.
In
the process, he is showing Americans -- once again -- that he is
utterly incompetent. Americans have been willing to tolerate from him
crassness, vulgarity, and a break with the country's norms and
traditions, which he has sold with cynical slogans -- he would "drain
the swamp" and "make America great again."
Washington Post reporter stands by story 00:47
But
constantly mounting evidence indicates that the claim of Trump and his
supporters -- that Trump brought one overarching strength to the office,
a businessman's competence -- is also a fraud.
The State Department is denying that Trump revealed secret information in that meeting, which was closed
to US reporters but included a Russian photographer. And H.R. McMaster,
Trump's national security adviser who participated in the meeting,
insisted to reporters, "At no time were intelligence sources or methods
discussed and the President did not disclose any military operations
that weren't already publicly known ... I was in the room. It didn't
happen."
But security experts say
this is a non-denial denial. The Post's sources say Trump did not
directly reveal methods, but gave the Russians enough detail that they
could "reverse engineer" the information to find its source and the
methods used to obtain it, such as the city where the information was
obtained, and other details. In addition, critics say that reports of
the White House rushing to inform
the CIA and the National Security Agency about the revelations to the
Russians confirm they realized the President committed a major mistake.
Of course, much remains unclear about what happened inside the Oval Office and how far-reaching its effects might be.
What is clear is that this incident fits neatly into an alarming, unrelentingly chaotic pattern from our President.
Trump has claimed repeatedly that he is treated unfairly by the media, by the intelligence community and by the courts,
but Donald Trump's worst enemy is Donald Trump. Nothing has hurt the
President, his governing agenda and his prospects for governing a full
term more than his own statements.
McMaster: Washington Post story is false 00:43
Indeed,
the Post report, which came Monday afternoon, followed the most recent
court hearing that morning over Trump's embattled, and so-far stalled,
effort to temporarily ban people from six Muslim-majority nations from
traveling to the United States. And his self-destructive behavior was
reaffirmed minutes later during the daily White House briefing, when
much of the questioning centered on the multiple crises spun by Trump's
own statements.
At the 9th Circuit
hearing, a three judge panel in Seattle listened as White House lawyers
defended an executive order they had valiantly tried to sanitize in an
effort to please the courts, which keep stopping it as unconstitutional.
But the lawyers' efforts could well be in vain, judging by the tone of
the questioning by the judges (whom Trump has also attacked). Again and
again, the lawyers' and judges' discussion went beyond Trump's executive
order to parse the President's own statements -- on the campaign trail,
on Twitter and in speeches as President.
Normally,
the courts give Presidents enormous latitude in crafting measures aimed
at securing the country. But in Trump's case, judges -- such as US
District Judge Derrick Watson, in Hawaii, who used Trump's own words in explaining why he issued a worldwide restraining order on the ban
-- do not sound convinced that the administration is telling the truth
when it claims the travel ban is about security. Instead, they suspect
it's about religion.
Where do they get such an idea? You guessed it: It was Trump himself who,
in December of 2015, dramatically called for a "total and complete
shutdown" of Muslims entering the United States. His many pronouncements
and actions since then have not eased their concerns.
As so many, including Vice President Mike Pence, noted at the time, targeting members of one religious group is a clear violation of the US constitution.
Judge
Michael Daly Hawkins asked Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall for an
update on the President's views. "Has the President ever disavowed his
campaign statements -- has he ever said, 'I said before I want to ban
all members of the Islamic faith .... I was wrong?'"
"Yes," Wall replied, "he has said several things approaching that."
Neal
Katyal, the lawyer for Hawaii, demurred. The government, he said,
cannot offer a single instance of the President disavowing his promise
to impose a "Muslim ban" -- because he hasn't.
Trump
is making statements that may keep some supporters happy, but he's also
fueling a growing determination to stop his most egregious moves among
those who see his presidency as an affront to democracy. For them, Trump
is providing the most powerful ammunition.
During
a press briefing after the 9th Circuit hearing, Spicer tried to bat
down questions about another Trump statement -- in the form of a tweet -- that implied Trump may have a recording system in the White House.
The
President personally put that on the national agenda when he tweeted
the veiled threat against former FBI Director James Comey, telling him
to be careful because he might release "tapes." Now the White House
refuses to answer any questions on the subject and Democrats are asking
to see any existing tapes -- and threatening to stall the appointment of
a new FBI director unless they do.
When
asked if anyone could be comfortable talking to the President in the
White House any more, Spicer said Trump has nothing more to say on the
subject.
Then there's the issue of
Comey's firing. There, Trump also created potentially presidency-ending
problems for himself. The firing itself, during an FBI investigation
into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, is deeply
controversial. But when Trump told NBC
that he was thinking about "this Russia thing" when he fired Comey, the
notion that the firing amounts to obstruction of justice -- one of the
charges on which Nixon was impeached -- immediately gained strength.
The preeminent constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe called it
a shocking admission that suggests an "obvious effort to interfere with
a probe involving national security matters vastly more serious than
... Watergate." It is one more reason why Trump should be impeached now,
he said, and not after the many investigations are complete.
Any
of these earlier stories from the day -- and from a long string of days
-- would have been enough to raise new alarm about the competency of
the leader of the free world. The Washington Post report, if true, ups
the ante in Trump's already risky game.
Which straw will break the back of this presidency? It's hard to tell, but the straws are getting heavy.
To
Trump, all the headwinds are the result of bad judges, biased
reporters, and Democrats bent on undermining his presidency. But it's
clear that Trump's biggest problem is none other than Donald Trump.
Unfortunately
for the United States, his apparently willful sowing of confusion and
outright blunders, both of which hold potentially dire consequences, are
a threat to the country's security and to its most important alliances.
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