NATO – * Failed Pols

I do not fault stupid people for making the stupid decision to elect Donald Trump in 2016.

I do fault smart people for making stupid decisions. These include:

1. Senators who voted to acquit Donald Trump in his no-witnesses-allowed impeachment trial, including primarily Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell:

* Impeachment of Donald Trump (2020-02-05)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Donald_Trump#Acquittal

* Mitch McConnell (2020-02-05)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell#Impeachment_trial

2. Members of the GOP who voted to disenfranchise voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – before, during, and AFTER the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol – including Paul Gosar (AZ-04), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jody Hice (R–GA-10), Mo Brooks (R–AL-05), Scott Perry (R–PA-10), Josh Hawley (R–MO), and Louie Gohmert (R–TX-01).

* 2021 Storming Of The United States Capitol (2021-01-06)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_storming_of_the_United_States_Capitol

* 2020 United States Presidential Election Electoral College Count (2021-01-06 – 2021-01-07)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_Electoral_College_count

3. Donald Trump’s cabinet, who could have invoked the 25th Amendment to remove POTUS at any time:

* Cabinet Of Donald Trump (2017-01-21 – PRESENT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Donald_Trump

4. Social media, including especially Facebook and Twitter, for allowing their social networks to be used as platforms for hate speech.

* Donald Trump On Social Media (2017-01-21 – PRESENT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_on_social_media#2021

5. Mainstream media, including especially CNN (on the left) and Fox News (on the right) for not doing their jobs – asking questions until they get answers – and allowing POTUS to lie unchecked.

* Veracity Of Statements By Donald Trump (2017-01-21 – PRESENT)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracity_of_statements_by_Donald_Trump

6. Lawmakers at all levels, for failing to fix bad laws and for failing to enact good laws. Changes that must be made going forward include:

Limiting POTUS power:

Executive order power must be limited.
All cabinet members (acting/interim/actual) must be confirmed by Senate.
Treaties and tariffs must be the role of Congress so that POTUS cannot engage in trade wars.
War Powers Act must be updated to limit POTUS power to deploy the military.
Special Counsel Act must be updated to make clear that POTUS cannot fire special counsel.

Writing better and new laws:

Impeachment Act of 2021, to define how impeachment is conducted, including the requirement to have witnesses.
Follow the lead of The Restatements Of The Law project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restatements_of_the_Law) and codify major SCOTUS cases, including especially Roe v. Wade.
Fix the Census.
Fix immigration.
Fix SCOTUS processes, such as limiting appointments to 2 per POTUS with the number of SCOTUS justices fixed at the number of Federal Circuits (currently 13).
Election reform, including who is qualified to run for POTUS and that tax forms must be disclosed to do so.

Just to name a few.

Stupid people, bad laws, and lies got us into this mess.

Smart people, good laws, and the truth can get us out of this mess.

LAW >> MAN.

#FailedPols
https://www.failblog.com/

To say that Donald Trump is the most history-ignorant U.S. president that ever served would be to use superlatives with as much abandon and as little supporting research as does Trump himself. But we do know that in Donald Trump, the U.S. has a president who is grossly uninformed about history. Not only that, he is our president because, in part, the people who elected him “don’t know much about history,” either, and are damned proud of it.

Trump’s supporters seem to see a kind of righteousness in Trump’s (and in their) ignorance of history. Had they understood (or cared about) the importance of having a leader who could navigate treaties and historic global relationships, perhaps Donald Trump would never have stumbled into the Oval Office. It’s an embarrassment that so many citizens of our country have so little knowledge of its past, its place in the world, and its friends and enemies. But the bigger embarrassment by far is that our 45^th president has perhaps even less knowledge, and less desire for knowledge, than his supporters do. It’s more than embarrassing, though – it’s dangerous.

In a recent example, Donald Trump, “leader of the free world,” proved that he barely knows what NATO is, or why it was formed. He insulted member nations (our allies), and in his lack of knowledge of the Obama administration’s 2014 formal agreement already in place with NATO countries, tried to bully them into making greater contributions to its defense fund. At the same time, showing that he was unaware of the real figures, Trump exaggerated the dollar amount of the United States’ contribution. Overall, he likely weakened the U.S. stance with an organization that would help protect U.S. security.

Though the Soviet Union, per se, no longer exists, a former Soviet, Vladimir Putin, president of Russia and adversary of the United States, is alive and well. Putin would like nothing better than to weaken or even dismantle NATO. Trump, however, has demonstrated his apparent ignorance of Putin’s history as well as the history of the American relationship with the former Soviet Union and what is currently Russia, by repeatedly maligning our crucial allies while cozying up to our enemy.

Since Trump’s supporters don’t appear to be familiar with this history, and since they don’t appear to see the importance of understanding this history, it’s no wonder they can continue to make excuses for Trump, even in the face of his astonishing behavior. It’s a threat to our country’s well-being, however, when Trump, a man who ignores history to this extent, is leading us all.

Trump again questions the entire point of NATO | CNN [2018-07-18]

Trump pressures allies to boost NATO defense spending | Fox Business [2018-07-12]

Category: NATO

* Erik’s Editorial: The Guilty Parties Who Put American Democracy At Risk In The Name Of Donald Trump

Trump’s Ignorance of History