It's Friday the 13th and no one is at the helm of the ship of state.
Unpresident Donald Trump, the nominal leader of the nation, has retreated to his fortress of solitude, licking his wounds and endlessly seeking someone to blame for his downfall. Are there mirrors in that fortress?
His most visible action so far has been to decapitate the Department of Defense, firing Secretary Mark Esper and several other top defense personnel; others have resigned. The reason for this massacre seems to be perceived disloyalty to the Idiot-in-Chief by those who have been removed. They have been replaced by a bevy of Trump loyalists, some of whom have dodgy credentials, such as retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata, a known Islamophobe who has called former President Barack Obama a terrorist.
One can't be sure how concerned to be about those actions. Is it just Trump showing he still has power over a few people, or is he planning to do something tremendously stupid?
It's well known that Trump demands loyalty above all else, as most tyrants do, and Esper had been notably outspoken--especially about sending federal troops into U. S. cities. What is most troubling is the obvious fact that this temporary restructuring of the DoD virtually gives a delusional and frustrated president direct control of the nation's arsenal, including nuclear weapons. Is the Narcissist-in-Chief demented enough to use them, in an "If I can't have this country, nobody can" Armageddon? And does anyone want to find out?
More importantly, if enemies perceive the DoD shakeup as a weakness, they might be prone to strike. Not so much the big guys, who are always under scrutiny, but smaller nations or terror groups, who could slip in under the radar. Let's not forget it was such a group that brought about the most disastrous attack on American soil in history--and that at a time when we had a stable defense structure.
Most of Trump's post-election time seems to have been spent trying to come up with newer and zanier lawsuits. I have to wonder how he can get so many attorneys to work for him, unless he's illegally using DoJ staff. Surely they know they'll have to get into a very long line to get paid. If they're working pro bono, I'm afraid I don't see any "bono" in it.
At this writing most of those suits have been withdrawn or thrown out. The Supreme Court is holding its own counsel, but doesn't seem keen to deal with any more fluff. As a judge once reminded me, "de minimis non curat lex": "The law does not deal with trifles."
Speaking of which, if the Trifler-in-Chief is going to declare himself hors de combat, he is bound by duty and his by oath to provide a replacement for himself. He can voluntarily invoke the 25th Amendment, put Mike Pence in the Oval Office for a few weeks and go off to sulk.
Or he can put on his big-boy pants and actually act like an adult.
---Diogenes, 11/13/2020