President Trump took to Twitter late Tuesday to fire his top cybersecurity official via tweet for not toeing the line on his “rigged” election narrative.
“The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud - including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, ‘glitches’ in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” Trump declared.
Krebs, who had set up a web page to counter disinformation about the security of the election, had reportedly been expecting to be fired after becoming one of the few in Trump’s administration to dispute his claims.
He reacted to his termination with a brief statement on his personal Twitter account: “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.”
His firing comes as more and more of the president’s allegations of voting discrepancies fall apart in court. Just hours before Krebs’ ouster on Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled against the Trump campaign’s claims that observers were not able to properly monitor absentee vote-counting.
GOP Throws More Crap at the Wall as Trump Legal Losses Pile Up
While the president has repeatedly tried to sound the alarm over supposed voting discrepancies that he claims robbed him of victory in the Nov. 3 election, officials have said there is no evidence to back up his assertions. Even the Trump campaign’s own lawyers, in their legal blitz to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, have struggled to present evidence of a “rigged” election in court; many of their legal challenges alleging voter fraud have collapsed when judges grilled them on their claims. In some cases, the evidence was deemed to be hearsay gathered via a “voter fraud” website. In others, Trump campaign lawyers admitted under questioning that observers were not blocked from monitoring the vote count as the complaint alleged.
Lawmakers responded to news of Krebs’ termination with praise for his work in protecting the election.
“Chris Krebs is a dedicated public servant who has done a remarkable job during a challenging time,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said in a statement. He went on to say the work of Krebs and his CISA team “should serve as a model for other government agencies” and was “essential in protecting the 2020 U.S. presidential election against threats of foreign interference.”
Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) and Lauren Underwood (D-IL) issued a joint statement calling Trump’s firing of Krebs “disturbing” and “antidemocratic.”
“The fact is that, since Election Day, President Trump has sought to delegitimize the election results by engaging in a disinformation campaign that could shatter public confidence in our elections for generations. Director Krebs put national security ahead of politics and refused to use his position to do the President’s bidding, so the President fired him,” they said.
“In firing Director Krebs for refusing to lend credibility to his baseless claims and conspiracy theories about voter fraud, the President is telling officials throughout the Administration to put his political interests ahead of their responsibilities to the American people.”
This, of course, comes on the heels of Trump's firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, a move during what should be a transition period, characteristically a time of relative wobbliness. This vulnerability does not go unnoticed in the world:
Even under the best of circumstances, a presidential transition "is a period when we aren't necessarily firing on all cylinders in terms of the people and processes that manage national security issues for the nation, which creates that sense of heightened vulnerability," Nick Rasmussen, a former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, told NBC News.
"This particular move today creates concern and uncertainty because there are already concerns about the president's decision-making style and what he might do in the remaining days of his presidency," he said.
We also must include as part of the context for the Krebs termination the abrupt drawdown of US troops in Afghanistan. The manner in which that is being proposed has raised concerns:
In a rare rebuke of Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has warned that the outgoing administration’s planned drawdown of troops in Afghanistan would “hand a weakened and scattered al-Qaeda a big, big propaganda victory and a renewed safe haven for plotting attacks against America.”
Mr McConnell couched his warnings about the hazards of an Afghanistan troop withdrawal in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday in more general praise for Mr Trump’s foreign policy achievements over the last four years. But the recently re-elected majority leader’s comments fit a larger pattern of pushing back — gently — against the president’s most anti-interventionist instincts in the Middle East.
“A disorganized retreat would jeopardize the track record of major successes this administration has worked hard to compile” in the region, Mr McConnell said on Monday.
Still, at this late date, this dangerously unfit buffoon has slavish devotees who are perpetuating his delusions and indulging his impulses. Townhall, American Greatness, The Federalist, OANN, Newsmax TV and the wilds of after-8 PM FNC are determined to ride the Trump Train all the way over the cliff.
It's time for actual conservatives to turn around and step back onto solid ground. There's not a moment to lose in beginning the process of rebuilding an understanding among thoughtful Americans as to what the immutable principles informing our positions are.
We'll just have to hope for the best during eight more weeks of winging it in place of coherent policy.
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