Rep. John Ratcliffe, possible director of Trump's national unintelligence

With Dan Coats out, Rep. John Ratcliffe might be our next director of national intelligence, as both the title and office would still be amusingly known. But hold on to your tricorn hats, for even some Senate Republicans "hesitated Monday to embrace" him because he's "too inexperienced and too partisan."

Almost as painful for the nominee was that the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, said "I don’t know John Ratcliffe," and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, also of the Intelligence Committee, said Ratcliffe's only real claim to fame is "his record of promoting Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories."

The national intelligence office's founding law is clear as to the director's required qualifications; He or she must have "extensive national security expertise." Republican Ratcliffe has served in Congress for four years, before which he was a United States attorney in Texas and — "the mayor of Heath, Tex., a town of about 9,000 people." He is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, however he only joined the committee this year. So his extensive national security experience amounts to a few months.

Ratcliffe, "a star of Fox News" — and that explains a lot — is a true zealot. "[He] has cast doubt on the C.I.A.’s finding that Moscow favored Mr. Trump the 2016 election" and "appeared to have sealed the intelligence nomination by [kissing Trump butt in] executing one of the most effective Republican attacks on Mr. Mueller during his closely watched House testimony last week."

Still, he of shape-shifting coifs, former Republican congressman Trey Gowdy, said Democrats’ assaults on Ratcliffe are "more reflective of the political environment we are in than John Ratcliffe." Gowdy seems unaware that it's Senate Republicans who are more likely to end Ratcliffe's security career before it begins. "[They] said in private conversations … they wanted to keep the intelligence post apolitical, and Mr. Ratcliffe will need to show he can move beyond the die-hard conservative persona that has made him a star in the House."

Is that even humanly possible for an inbred propagandist such as Ratcliffe? I think not.

Comments

[Anne J]

Who the hell is Trey Gowdy to complain? His complaint is more a reflection of his projection than it is of democrats. What was his greatest accomplishment in congress? Trying to bully and intimidate Hillary Clinton for eleven hours only to come out sweaty and red faced and huffing and puffing at the end while she left looking like she just had a spa day?

[J.P. McJefferson]

While I would like to have confidence in Senate Republicans holding a fair and proper Senate comfirmation on Rep. John Ratcliffe as DNI; and insist on meeting the requirement of "extensive national security expertise"; I'm reminded of Moscow Mitch and his inane loyality to DT. Once again, I remind that the Founders envisioned Trump, but they did not envision a band of traitors could control the U.S. Senate.