The Day of the Beast
Saturday marked the 666th day of the administration of “President” Donald J. Trump. The Day of the Beast reminds us all of the dangerous, mad king that occupies the White House. In just the last forty-eight hours, Trump has attacked Representative Adam Schiff, calling him “little Adam Schitt” (the misspelling is not accidental, with the “little” before it). Schiff will chair the House Intelligence Committee come January, when the Democrats take the majority position in the House, and it will be Trump who is schitting himself when he sees what Schiff has in store for him.
In addition, Trump suggested that poor “forest management” caused the tragic wildfires in California. While that may have contributed in some way to the horrific fires, the main cause, per real scientists and experts, is climate change. Also, much of the forestry around the fires is national lands, and Trump early in his administration purportedly diverted funding from forest management. In any event, it is evil to repeatedly attack the victims for the tragedies (see Puerto Rico, other hurricane locations, and wildfires, as well as synagogues and other places of mass shootings).
In an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News with Chris Wallace, Trump attacked retired Admiral Bill McRaven, the Navy SEAL who led the raid in 2011 that resulted in Osama bin Laden’s death. In response to Wallace’s question re: McRaven’s warnings about the danger of Trump, Trump responded, “OK, he’s a Hilary Clinton backer and an Obama-backer.” When Wallace mentioned he led the bin Laden raid, Trump brushed it off, arguing, “wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama Bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn’t it have been nice?” Trump is as McRaven has suggested: “the greatest threat to our democracy in my lifetime.”
Finally, despite the CIA reporting that there is almost 100% certainty that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was behind Khashoggi’s death, Donald Trump and his son, Eric, have pushed back, asserting that it is a preliminary report. Eric suggested one murder was outweighed by the economic benefit of Saudi Arabia as an ally. McRaven’s comment might be too narrow, as Trump in his actions and words is indeed “the greatest threat to our democracy” ever. The beast is among us.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.