Donald Trump tries to turn revoking security clearances into late night reality show contest
Two of the most disturbing storylines surrounding Donald Trump, his decision to begin revoking the security clearances of his critics and his rapidly worsening mental instability, merged into one on Monday night. Trump was watching cable news and snapped when he heard something he didn’t like. He then took to Twitter to not only publicly threaten to revoke someone’s clearance, but also to try to turn the entire process into something that required audience input.
Donald Trump was watching CNN, which he swears he doesn’t watch, when he saw intel analyst Philip Mudd calling out longtime Trump apologist Paris Dennard. This prompted Trump to tweet that “Mudd is in no mental condition to have such a Clearance. Should be REVOKED?” Okay, this is bad enough as it is. Trump is threatening to use the power of the federal government to take punitive action against someone whose cable news commentary he objected to. That’s illegal, authoritarian, and deranged. But that was just the half of it.
After asking his “Should be REVOKED?” question, Donald Trump tagged his pal Sean Hannity from Fox News. In so doing, he seemed to be asking Hannity whether or not Philip Mudd’s security clearance should be revoked. Apparently Trump considers himself so unfit for the job of President of the United States, he can’t make a national security decision without consulting with a cable news stooge first.
For that matter, Donald Trump seemed to be seeking the input of members of his Twitter audience at large. One respondent said that it felt like an episode of American Idol, where the audience had to tell the judges who should stay or go. Back when Trump was hosting the Apprentice, he was at least able to make (often illogical) decisions about which contestant to fire on his own. Now he’s reduced to making security clearance decisions by asking the audience and phoning a friend.
