Trump stokes fears of how he'd handle real crisis
(Politico)
A real war...A real showdown...what if there’s a real crisis?
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Kori Schake, a fellow at the Hoover Institute who served on the National Security Council and State Department under Bush, said she worries what might happen if, for example, Trump declared the need for a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.
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North Korea Launches a Missile, Its First Test After an Election in the South
(New York Times)
It’s going to be very hard for this president to line the country up in a crisis...
It’s scary to think about how they might react to a serious domestic or international crisis,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
“I’m already scared,” said Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), looking ahead.
“I actually think we’re spinning toward a crisis very fast,” Heck added. “I’m a pretty imaginative guy, I’ve written three books, I’ve won an Emmy for a documentary—I wake up every day in stunned disbelief to the length to which he goes.”
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Imagine, critics wonder, if there’s another shooting like the one in San Bernardino, when the information about connections to ISIS was hazy and for days incomplete. Imagine if there’s more than needling missile tests from North Korea, and a sudden threat that requires the president to call on America and its allies to join with him.
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...Trump’s behavior, chaotic management style and carefree careening... has people throughout politics and national security terrified.
..."you have to walk, chew gum, juggle, sit down and stand up all at the same time. And right now, there is a lot going on in the world and there’s a lot going on in the White House,” said Andy Card, who was George W. Bush’s chief of staff on Sept. 11...Is it more important to focus on the center ring of a three-ring circus than to pay attention to a ring slightly to the left or right?"
Trump Finds Respite at Liberty University as Aides Interview F.B.I. Candidates
(New York Times)
Four months in, Trump hasn’t named a director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Top positions throughout the Pentagon and State Department are empty, as is the case across the government.
After recalling all the Obama-era ambassadors, Trump has only one ambassador confirmed, and most not even nominated, including trying to send former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to Moscow. White House aides told reporters at the beginning of March Huntsman had accepted, though no paperwork has been filed with the Senate.
Terry Branstad, who was formally nominated as ambassador to China hours after Trump’s inauguration, hasn’t moved forward with his confirmation hearings. And he’s still sitting in Iowa as governor.
“When your entire national security policy is coming out of the White House, how do you walk and chew gum at the same time, if there’s an internal White House political scandal and an external national security crisis?” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House and occasional Trump whisperer, dismissed fears of a crisis as hyperventilating. Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea — they’ve all been handled just fine while people scream about what could happen, according to Gingrich.
“This is random behavior in a zone that Trump knows in the long run doesn’t matter. This is all noise,” he said.
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“He would be better off if he went slightly slower, held a huddle and everyone knew that what they were doing from day one,” Gingrich said.
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I hope Newt Gingrich is right. The fate of the Republic and the fate of the world depend on it.
