Yes, Max Boot is a conservative. But despite his Republican roots, he’s been one of Donald Trump’s fiercest and most consistent critics.
That makes him useful — at least for the time being.
And yesterday, he once again blew holes in the fragrant hunk of Swiss cheese that used to be long-held conservative principle.
It’s an old story that continually gets revived with every ham-fisted breach of national security undertaken by the oaf in office.
First, Boot recounts the litany of gaping security holes Trump has created after bumbling into the White House among a chorus of hosannas and “lock her up” chants.
- Right out of the gate, he reviewed classified documents pertaining to North Korea in a crowded dining area at Mar-a-Lago — as lights from unsecured cellphones illuminated the pages.
- He spilled top secret intelligence to the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador in the Oval Office.
- He reportedly discussed classified military secrets at a fundraiser in Manhattan.
- In October, he “revealed details about the raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that, as NBC News noted, ‘were either highly classified or tactically sensitive, and their disclosure by the president made intelligence and military officials cringe.’”
But all these security breaches pale by comparison with Trump’s promiscuous use of a cellphone to conduct top-secret conversations. My Post colleagues Paul Sonne, Josh Dawsey, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller report that “Trump has routinely communicated with his personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, and other individuals speaking on cellphones vulnerable to monitoring by Russian and other foreign intelligence services.”
This shocking security breach became clear from the cellphone records obtained by the House Intelligence Committee during its impeachment investigation. There are numerous calls between Giuliani and a blocked number listed as “-1” that is widely suspected to belong to Individual 1, i.e., the president of the United States. We also know, of course, that Ambassador Gordon Sondland talked with Trump on an unsecure cellphone from the middle of a restaurant in Kyiv.
Boot notes that Trump has finally been persuaded to use a more secure government cellphone (after three fucking years?), but he’s still talking to people who are using unsecured phones.
According to The Post, John Sipher, former deputy chief of Russia operations at the CIA, and other sources said “that it is so likely that Russia tracked the calls of Giuliani and others that the Kremlin probably knows more now about those conversations than impeachment investigators.”
Sure.
But we should lock Hillary up because she sent some emails that were retroactively classified after she sent them.
There’s no limit to GOP hypocrisy, of course. Or to Republican amnesia. (Remember when the deficit was a huge existential crisis? They must get a big laugh out of that one these days.)
But, as Boot notes, the hypocrisy has never been more noxious than it is with regard to this issue.
The only thing more appalling than Trump’s cavalier disregard for the basic requirements of handling classified information is the complete lack of concern by his followers who were once so exercised by Clinton’s far more innocuous security lapses. They are championship hypocrites too. I never want to hear about Hillary’s emails again as long as I live.
Me neither. But you will, dear friend. You will.
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