Thomas L. Friedman: Trump, Zuckerberg & pals are breaking America
By: Thomas L. Friedman
Seeder's opinion: Perhaps Thomas Friedman didn't fear for our country during the Cold War, Vietnam, or Watergate because Mr. Friedman is a technocrat. The Cold War broke America. The game of geopolitical nuclear chess required expertise that the average citizen could not possibly possess. The Cold War required elected officials to defer to technocrats who possessed specific, intricate knowledge. But that expertise was really about how to use devastating force to coerce a civilian population. Not surprisingly the technocracy of the intelligence agencies, diplomatic corps, and military gradually began manipulating the political process in Washington. That unelected and increasingly political technocracy is the Deep State; a shadow government unaccountable to voters and, apparently, uncontrollable by political Washington.
Mr. Friedman cites Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman whose credentials are the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. What does expertise on Ukraine mean? And why do we need an expert on Ukraine? We are expected to simply accept that Ukraine plays a pivotal role for the national security of the United States because we have an unelected technocrat serving in the role of expert.
Mr. Friedman discounts that elected officials serving in the White House and Congress possess the same type of expertise on their constituencies as does Lt. Col. Vindman does on Ukraine. Elected officials are directly accountable to their constituencies while technocrats like Vindman are, apparently, only accountable to the technocracy. And Mr. Friedman seems overly concerned about the technocracy being scrutinized and held accountable by political Washington. How dare a politician question the veracity of an unelected (and unaccountable) technocrat engaged in political manipulation? Mr. Friedman's question should be posed to himself: “Are you really doing that? Do you all go home at night to some offshore island where the long-term damage you’re doing to America doesn’t matter?”
The increasingly political technocracy that has become the shadow government of the Deep State has broken America and its political government. Democracy won't be protected by carefully selected experts making unaccountable decisions in the shadows. Democracy depends upon participation by voters, constituents, and ordinary people on the street. Mr. Friedman's defense of technocrats while maligning the political process is damaging democracy.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(Excerpts from an opinion article written by Thomas Friedman. Click the seed link to read the full article.)
If America’s worst enemies had spent years designing a plan to erode our greatest strengths, they could not have done better than what some of our fellow citizens are doing to the country every day for short-term financial or political gain.
Prominent figures in government, politics and commerce are behaving in ways that are so destructive of the core institutions and norms that underpin our democracy, one can only assume that they take the country’s stability as a given — that they can abuse and stress it all they want and it won’t break.
They are wrong. We can break America, and right now we’re on our way there. Not in the Cold War, not during Vietnam, not during Watergate did I ever fear more for my country.
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What am I talking about? I’m talking about a president willing to sink to banana republic governing norms, including withholding aid to Ukraine to compel its leadership to investigate his political rival.
I’m talking about Republican lawmakers who know that the president’s Ukraine machinations are indefensible and impeachable, particularly after Tuesday’s disclosures by Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, that he personally heard President Donald Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden.
Republicans now have a clear choice: let the constitutional impeachment process proceed or attack the process, i.e., our legislative-judicial order. Alas, a majority seem to be opting for the latter.
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In attacking all the diplomats, intelligence officers and civil servants who have stepped forward, at great professional risk, to bear witness against Trump, they are attacking the people who uphold the regulations — and provide the independent research and facts — that make our government legitimate and the envy of people all over the world, where many people have to bribe government workers for service.
And, finally, there are the internet barons who for too long ignored the weaponization of social media, which is turning our free press into a house of mirrors, where citizens can no longer cognitively discern fact from fiction and make informed judgments essential for democracy.
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Taylor’s testimony also indicated that Trump withheld vital military and economic aid from Ukraine to pressure its president to conduct an investigation that could sully the man he may run against in the next election — Biden.
“President Trump has done nothing wrong,” said Grisham’s Orwellian statement. “This is a coordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution.”
And who is Stephanie Grisham to render that judgment? She is someone, The New York Times reported, who ascended to her job after a career in which she “mixed toughness and loyalty to her bosses with professional scrapes, ethical blunders and years spent alternately wooing and pounding the press on behalf of scandal-prone Arizona Republicans.”
And who is Bill Taylor? Someone who has devoted his entire adult life to public service — someone who has served honorably in both Democratic and Republican administrations, as a West Point grad, an infantry officer in Vietnam, a diplomat at NATO, a civil servant in numerous Cabinet agencies and a U.S. ambassador. Oh, and this “radical unelected bureaucrat” was chosen for his current position by Mike Pompeo, Trump’s secretary of state, who has not uttered a word in his defense.
And who is Sen. Lindsey Graham? He’s the senator who’s always willing to ask American soldiers to make the ultimate sacrifice in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq — to protect our precious democracy — and he’s the senator who’s always unwilling to make even the smallest political sacrifice to protect democracy when it’s threatened at home by this president.
Graham was all for impeaching Bill Clinton for lying over sex with an intern, and he won’t lift a finger to judge Trump for using taxpayer money to coerce a foreign leader to intervene in our election on Trump’s behalf. Graham — and all the rest of them — will live in infamy.
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President Trump is being accused of breaking campaign finance laws which does appear to be the case. But the real threat posed by Trump is that he makes policy without the experts. The technocracy has become accustomed to exerting political control over elected Washington while avoiding accountability to the voters or elected officials.
And what do you suppose Trump is expert in? Cheating? Bribing? Extortion? Lying?
To suggest that Trump brings 'expertise' to the table of running this country is absurd. Trumpism is absurd.
didn't you seed this yesterday?
I did. It didnt get any takers. This one probably wont either.
It already has three times the responses yours did. I guess it's all in the delivery and the reason the author thought it relevant.
Trump's private sector expertise is working around the government technocracy. The private sector has become quite adept at circumventing regulations imposed by government technocrats; particularly regulations concerning interactions with foreign countries.
Accusations of cheating, bribing, extortion, and lying are disingenuous coming from political organizations whose business model is that the ends justify the means.
I forgot fraud. Trump is a known business fraud. On what possible basis do you recommend such a person belongs heading our government? It is insanity.
Why not the blanket accusation of 'corruption' used by technocrats? The technocracy provides the means for any political end.
I tend to be a little more skeptical about "experts" than you apparently. Especially knowing that industries tend to pressure their "experts" to say what benefits them. If an "expert" tries to step out of line lets say on subjects like climate change or vaccines, they run the risk of being completely discredited by their peers even if they have compelling data. Some experts have agendas that benefit them personally. I know we put Trump in office for a change in the status quo. I doubt he makes any decisions without advice from someone. He has made good policy decisions thus far so I have no reason to question it.
We had a lot of talking head "experts" during the Mueller investigation.
Trump supporters have very little to no standards of behavior that they REQUIRE him to conform to. It's ridiculous.
If the principal of your local school was a known tax cheat, business fraud, constant liar, sexual assaulter, bully, and public buffoon, would that principal keep his/her job solely because the students all had at least a C+ or B- average? Of course not. Your school district would find another principal. Find another candidate for the election next year.
Just like all the experts who over prescribed pain pills and caused a whole opioid problem across the country. Plenty of "experts" likely knew it would be a problem but also knew they would make a lot of money if they just keep their mouths shut and just say "yea, it helps with the pain". Funny thing is I have heard many people say, "well they(the patients) should have done research on their own". Why should they when according to JohnRussell, they should just listen to the experts.
That's an example of an 'expert' being accountable to elected officials. Trump wasn't hired; Trump was elected.
Since Trump was elected then voters should be involved in removing Trump from office. Isn't that how democracy is supposed to work?
Let impeachment go forward (if that is what the House wants) but it needs to be transparent.
The basement dwellers hiding under the blanket of national security to only control the narrative is political.
And where is the crime?
By all means, we need an impeachment trial to publicly disclose how government technocrats are manipulating political Washington. If the technocrats are let off the hook then they will only be emboldened to exert greater control over politics. It's time to clean house and it appears that an impeachment trial is the best hope of achieving that.
Trump's crime is technical involving campaign finance regulations. Trump is being threatened with impeachment over a petty misdemeanor in much the same way that Clinton was impeached. The difference between the two cases is that the government technocracy is overtly going after Trump. Clinton's impeachment was primarily political. Trump's impeachment is much more technical and the technocracy has been overtly involved in the politics of impeachment.
That's what the vote was for today and was passed, so that's exactly what's about to happen.
The Republicans were given equal questioning time in the closed door depositions. There was no "controlling" any narrative other than Republicans trying to falsely claim that the depositions were fair or weren't a process they had put in place years ago before the numerous Benghazi investigations which had hundreds of hours of closed door testimony.
Using federal resources to further a politicians career or help in an upcoming election is illegal. Withholding congressionally approved military funding for an ally on condition of, at a minimum, announcing an investigation into a political rival, is an abuse of power. Openly asking foreign governments to investigate political rivals is an abuse of power. The 10 counts of obstruction laid out in the Mueller report, along with the numerous subpoenas that have been defied are all crimes. And besides the many likely crimes, the ethics violations, the breaches of national security, the attacks on and disrespect of the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, the emoluments violations, the misuse and abuse of his charity, the misuse and abuse and likely campaign fund violations of inauguration funds, the campaign finance laws broken which the President is currently an unindicted coconspirator, the more than two dozen accusations of sexual assault, all of it clearly shows Trump to be the most lawless, ignorant, despicable, inept President in American history. The Republicans of the Clinton era would not have hesitated to excise this malignant tumor from their party. For some reason, Republicans today are willing to sacrifice the body just to hang on to a smidgen of power as their party is ravaged by the cancer that is Donald Trump.
And who says Trump has committed these alleged crimes? Democrats? lol
Did you guys not learn anything from Mueller?
No, that is not a crime. That's business as usual for political Washington. Issuing executive orders or passing legislation that will bolster a politicians competitiveness in elections happens all the time.
The accusation against Trump is that he solicited something of tangible value for his reelection campaign without paying for it. And that he solicited the tangible value from a foreign government. Both are technical violations of campaign finance laws.
Trump did not obstruct scrutiny or cover up anything since the summary of the communication between himself and Zelensky has been declassified and released to the public. And Trump's possible threat of withholding military aid as a quid pro quo bargaining chip didn't happen. So far, the experts have only confirmed what Trump has already declassified and released to the public.
So, Trump's alleged crime is that he attempted to violated campaign finance regulations. But Trump didn't actually follow through; Trump didn't actually violate the regulations. Democrats are attempting to impeach Trump because he did something stupid; not because Trump actually violated any regulations or broke any laws.