Trump, treason, and looming tragedy

Nothing less than astonishing are these 260 words, contained in a mere 687-word post:

*A specter of treason hovers over Donald Trump.

*The president-elect is inviting an interpretation that his behavior is treasonous.

*By denigrating or seeking to prevent an investigation of the Russian cyberattack Trump is giving aid or comfort to an enemy of the United States.

*For him to continue to deny Russia’s cyberattack and resist the investigation invites a specter of treason to hover over the president-elect.

Had these thematic poundings erupted from some 400-pound, bonbon-devouring blogger in bed, our astonishment would, of course, fail to ensue. On their surface, the above allegations of Trumpian treason read somewhat like the stuff of a click-baiting polemic, which is the too-common, contemplation-unworthy detritus of the political Internet. Such, however, is not the source of the above accusations -- and the actual source is what renders them so astonishing.

They were penned, in a Boston Globe op-ed, by one John Shattuck, a former assistant secretary of state (under President Bill Clinton), now a professor at the eminent Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as well as a senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. To the best of my recollection, never in the history of our republic has a former American diplomat and distinguished professor of international relations suggested that an incoming U.S. president may be engaged in treasonous acts. (Richard Nixon's felonious, pre-inauguration violation of the Logan Act wasn't confirmed till nearly a half-century later, upon the release of FBI transcripts.)

What's more, Shattuck's is no singular voice of dark suspicion. Among the more reserved of foreign-policy commentators is Fareed Zakaria, who nevertheless has boldly implied what Prof. Shattuck has explicitly stated:

Putin ... believes that the end of Soviet communism in 1989 was the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" and that Russia has been humiliated ever since. His goal appears to be to overturn the U.S.-created international order, even if this means chaos.

The question is, why would an American president-elect help Moscow achieve that goal?

Why, indeed. The answer, it seems, which day after day is frightfully swelling in Trump's demonstrable acts, is unpresidented.

 

Comments

[Patty S.]

Thank you, PM, and welcome back to writing! We can only hope that some things more than "thematic poundings" ensue and that Trump is somehow reigned in as he proceeds to destroy us. Are there any practical ways this prevention can happen? Please advise!

[shsavage]

I wonder how long it will take for Putin and his cronies on Trump's staff and cabinet to manipulate him into a war with China. The ultimate Soviet fantasy...

[Peter G]

Two words, Yellow Peril. There has long been such a school of thought among your more racist calculators of foreign policy. To be, if not fair, then at least cognizant, the reverse view is extremely popular in Asia. No nations are more overtly racist than Japan or China. The Chinese seem to be driven by a desire to lock down natural resources. Hence their claim to the whole South China Sea.

So, it is thought, the Russians who are white and have vast natural resources at their disposal make a natural ally in the containment of this Yellow Peril. I have little doubt this is the subtext of Trumpian foreign policy. And it is certainly consistent with many of his supporter's views on race.

Here's the big question though. Does anyone, anyone at all, remember what happened the last time this containment strategy was used with respect to an Asian nation?

[David & Son of Duff]

"Does anyone, anyone at all, remember what happened the last time this containment strategy was used with respect to an Asian nation?"

Perhaps your question would be better put to the Chinese!

[Tony]

Your judgement is right on this time, Peter. Trump, champion of the white "race", sees the world as divided by people with white skin and everybody else (except maybe Ben Carson). Does our military really want to be part of a global War of Civilizations?

[shsavage]

Our military has been involved in a global war of civilization for several decades. I've worked and traveled in the middle of it for the past 40 years. Here's some background reading for you:

https://www.amazon.com/Great-War-Civilisation-Conquest-Middle/dp/1400075173/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482084851&sr=1-1&keywords=the+great+war+for+civilization

[Tony]

Thanks for the link. I greatly respect Robert Fisk, especially his reporting on the Middle East. Without having read this book, my feeling is that our previous involvement in the Middle East fell somewhat short of a global war of civilizations. Rather, it was more a good old capitalist war for resources. After all, it is clearly unfair that God put most of the world's oil underneath Middle Eastern sand, isn't it?

There is a case to be made that Trump is a product of GW Bush sticking his hand into that beehive.

[Peter G]

Perhaps you should consider the fact that the last time this happened only one side had nuclear weapons and not many of them.

[Tony]

It would be a win-win for the Russians. Not only does Putin get to see America disintegrate internally, (mission nearly accomplished!), but their greatest geopolitical rivals would be destroying themselves.

[shsavage]

It is, for me, a very difficult book to read. I have friends on every side of every conflict in the region. No matter what happens somebody I care about is apt to get hurt. But it is an important book to read nonetheless. I have a list of about twenty essential books to read for getting up to speed on the region, and this is one of them.

I had a NASA Space Archaeology grant to look at 40 years of human impact on archaeological sites in Lebanon via satellite imagery. Nowadays I spend my time running a web-based, crowd-sourcing (http://terrawatchers.org) project that catalogs damage to archaeological sites in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq caused by the last 40 years of war and instability. It's all very heartbreaking.

[shsavage]

http://terrawatchers.org

[Tony]

Fascinating stuff. I will further investigate your website soon.

One of the things I remember from the last Iraq War was how, under our occupation, we allowed many priceless treasures in the Baghdad museums be looted and destroyed (while carefully protecting the Ministry of Oil). My God, Iraqi and Sumerian civilizations are the oldest in the world! Anyone with an interest in the origins of human civilization has to be deeply grieved by this. (As it turns out, my mother's mitochondrial DNA indicates her maternal line originated in Sumeria.)

In addition to the oil found there, Israel gets a pass from us on its aggression into Palestine and its brutality in Lebanon. I can understand how you would say that no matter what happens there, some of your friends get hurt.

Having seen the effects of military intervention there, I just wonder if our military leaders have a clearer vision than our political leaders, and whether they have an appetite for more of the same. I just wonder what they will think of having to take orders from Commander-in-Chief Trump?

[Tony]

Today's discussion above reminded me of something I heard during the campaign: Trump thought we just just take Iraq's oil.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-said-take-oil-can-he-n645021

Now, to be fair, there were Bush officials who said at the time that the war could be cost-less because Iraq's oil would fund it. And who knows, maybe somehow by some creative accounting Iraq oil money did find its way to US.

Yet, Donnie's idea that we should just flat out steal Iraq's oil never got much media play. Of course, I realize, this was not nearly as important an issue as Hillary Clinton's emails. Sometimes it is difficult to achieve the media-sanctioned sense of perspective appropriate to the times.

[Another Matt]

What's the legal definition of "an enemy of the United States"?

[Peter G]

In Trumpland? Everybody.

[shsavage]

Here are a couple of additional links about the destruction of sites: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/03/satellite_images_show_isis_other_groups_destroying_archaeological_sites.single.html -- This is an article I wrote for Slate about two years ago concerning the nature and extent of the destruction. And the TerraWatchers project, in cooperation with the American Schools of Oriental Research and the U.S. Dept. of State: http://asorblog.org/2016/05/31/11930/

My good friend, the late Dr. Donny George, was Director of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, and Director of the Baghdad Museum at the time of the Iraq War. He's responsible for saving much of the ancient collections from the Museum. See https://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Baghdad-Matthew-Bogdanos/dp/1582346453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482165276&sr=1-1&keywords=thieves+of+baghdad by another friend, Matthew Bogdanos.