Since there are so many crucial foreign and domestic issues which concern an American President, we forget how much could go wrong if an unqualified sociopath is at the helm, but Tom Coburn was here to remind us, if inadvertently.
Former Oklahoma Republican Senator, Tom Coburn was asked to comment on the recent revelations that Trump seems far too enamored with the hegemony and tyranny of Russia and is seemingly at odds with our allies in NATO. He wasn't in total agreement with Trump, but he couldn't appear at odds with him either. Republicans always fall in line. Poppy Harlow did a fairly decent job trying to get him to make sense.
HARLOW: Let's talk about some of the major issues because Donald Trump did give this interview to "The Times of London" and to "Bild," the German newspaper, calling NATO obsolete among other things, even saying that he would consider possibly banning some Europeans from coming to the United States. Europe is responding. The German foreign minister saying they are, quote, "astonished and agitated," this as he put Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin on the same ground in terms of who he would trust more. Does this concern you that our biggest ally in Europe is astonished and agitated?
COBURN: I don't really know how to answer that. Again, the question is how do you control the effect? What's the purpose of saying that? Is there a secondary goal that's not obvious to me or to you in terms of accomplishment? As somebody that served in Congress for 16 years, I would tell you that NATO needs to pony up a whole lot larger portion of the cost of maintaining NATO, and that would be all the European countries that are members of it, so that, in fact, it's not a burden on the American taxpayers, that it's a shared burden. And I think he's right in that regard. I can't comment on his other insinuations.
HARLOW: At this point given his comments, though, it does appear he's getting along better with Russia and Vladimir Putin than he is with Angela Merkel and Germany.
COBURN: I'm not sure you can say that. I'm not sure you can say that.
HARLOW: Why not?
COBURN: He may be playing a game of chess towards Putin and may have already sent a private signal to Merkel. We don't know that. All we know is what is coming out, which I think is an unfortunate way to lead the country.
HARLOW: Let's say perhaps that's the case. Should foreign policy be a game like that?
COBURN: I don't think so. But again, I said it was unfortunate. But we don't know and we can't know what else is going on. So our assumption is only what we see rather than thinking about, is there an ulterior purpose, is there another method, is there something else going on that we're not aware of?
Why is it okay for Trump to be evasive and furtive? How are we supposed to trust him without knowing his foreign policy objectives, for that particular moment, as they are never consistent? Can you imagine if President Obama had ever acted against the well-being of Europe and failed to inform them of his intentions? This is the worst scenario possible. No one is more dangerous than a man who is backed into a corner with EVERYTHING to lose, especially when that person is devoid of normal human empathy. But Republicans will remain loyal even if it means the country goes to hell in a handbasket. That's for certain.
COBURN: The one thing I know and I learned is that Donald Trump is not stupid. And he is pretty savvy when it comes to controlling you all and other people in terms of controlling the message. So he may have messages out there just what he wants to have so he can come back in and heal things with Angela Merkel and he can get tougher with Russia. We don't know that.
HARLOW: All we have to base it on, though, are the words that he says and the words he tweets.
This is truly the most unpatriotic act of betrayal imaginable: America is undoubtedly under the direction of our old Cold War foe, Russia. There's never a harsh critique of Vladimir Putin from Trump. Putin has likely amassed so much dirt on both Trump and the entire GOP, they are certainly puppets of Moscow. Some in his administration will attempt to obfuscate their mandatory allegiance to the Kremlin and pretend they are interested in our country's well-being, but they will likely do as Putin commands and then, somehow try to blame the Democrats. Yes, they claim to be the Patriots who love the saying, "In God We Trust." They trust in the almighty dollar or should we say, ruble?
Since 2008, Putin, the former head of the KGB (now the GSB) has invaded neighboring countries, starting with Georgia, in much the same fashion as Hitler did in the late 1930's. Our next leader wasn't even aware that Russia had annexed Crimea from Ukraine. How would he even know what Putin is up to when he knows absolutely nothing about history or world geography?
Honestly, Trump knows essentially nothing unless he's defaced that land with a garish, gold-leaf tower built cheaply by not paying contractors, because he's a great 'businessman.' Great businessmen are fond of multiple bankruptcies.
With President Obama as our Commander in Chief, the relative peace of the last three-fourths of a century in the West was something we took for granted. We established NATO and the UN to prevent that type of massive conflict again, and to prevent another megalomaniac from ever ascending to power.
However, we never suspected at the end of the Second World War, that our own Republican Party would become the very same paranoid, anti-intellectual, and fascist regime that the Greatest Generation fought to eradicate. Who knew they'd be so desperate to regain power that they would use the same methods of propaganda that are so against our own Constitution and the intentions of our Founding Fathers. Who could possibly know that?
We get that Republicans are furious that their pristine, white-male-controlled country was governed rather well by a Black man. That is why they will punish the American people by destroying the government, the environment, and anything that was made better by the Democrats who preceded this illegal coup d'état.
November 2016's election was not democratic, not free, nor was it remotely fair. Neither was 2011 in Russia. Since we are now controlled by that hostile entity, expect more of the same. Remember, it's not just Trump that Putin has by the short hairs. It's the same party who now controls ALL THREE BRANCHES OF OUR GOVERNMENT!
Perhaps we should study the Dark Ages of feudal Europe to provide guidance about what's coming?
