In true Trump fashion the major news story of the weekend was eclipsed by a secondary, but much more incendiary, story. To wit, Trump's elevating Steve Bannon to the National Security Council while simultaneously demoting the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was shoved off the front page by Trump's latest pyrotechnic display of misbehavior, the Muslim ban. Former Labor Secretary and political pundit Robert Reich RobertReich.org had this to say:
This is truly scary.
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice calls the move “stone cold crazy.” Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who also served under George W. Bush, says the demotions are a “big mistake.”
Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, told CBS News, “I am worried about the National Security Council. … The appointment of Mr. Bannon is a radical departure from any National Security Council in history.” McCain added that the “one person who is indispensable would be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in my view.”
Here’s the big worry. Trump is unhinged and ignorant. Bannon is nuts and malicious. If not supervised by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, their decisions could endanger the world.
In Trump’s and Bannon’s view, foreign relations is a zero-sum game. If another nation gains, we lose. As Trump declared at his inaugural: “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America First.”
Some of you are old enough to recall John F. Kennedy’s inaugural, when the young president pledged to support any friend and oppose any foe to assure the success of liberty.
But Trump makes no distinction between friend and foe, and no reference to liberty. As conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer observes, Trump’s view is that all other nations are out to use, exploit and surpass us.
This is the nation's Achilles heel right now. The United States does not live in a vacuum, as mis-characterized by Trump and Bannon. The family of nations is an inter-dependent world and has been since the re-organization of world alliances following WWII. The overly simplistic and brutally clumsy comments which both Trump and Bannon have made, whether by executive order or tweet are absurd and the net result of those actions is the United States losing credibility all over the world.
There is only one question that desperately needs to be answered at this time and that is, who is the responsible adult in the room going to be? Who will direct foreign affairs for the Trump administration? Because it clearly is not conspiracy theorist, Nazi journalist Steve Bannon and it most definitely is not trust fund baby narcissist Donald Trump. Their attitudes are clearly disrespectful and dismissive of other nations and peoples, friends and foes alike. So whom? Who handles foreign affairs? Mike Pence? John McCain? Whom? And when does the person start because time is a luxury that we don't have.