Donald Trump wants America to believe that ex-CIA director John Brennan – a man who has served four presidents of each party – is a “liar” who is destroying U.S. institutions.
In a Saturday morning tweet, the president quoted – who else? – a Fox News talking head who said “no single figure in American history has done more to discredit the intelligence community” than Brennan.
“John Brennan, no single figure in American history has done more to discredit the intelligence community than this liar. Not only is he a liar, he’s a liar about being a liar.” Dan Bongino on @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 2, 2018
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Trump’s weekend tantrum came a day after the former CIA head penned a scathing op-ed in The Washington Post.
In the piece, Brennan wrote:
Presidents throughout the years have differed in their approaches to policy, based on political platforms, ideologies and individual beliefs. Mr. Trump, however, has shown highly abnormal behavior by lying routinely to the American people without compunction, intentionally fueling divisions in our country and actively working to degrade the imperfect but critical institutions that serve us.
As Trump lashes out, it’s he who is undermining American institutions
It’s particularly interesting that Trump spewed this nonsense on Twitter considering his own efforts to discredit American institutions, like the FBI and CIA, meant to keep the country safe.
This smear campaign has ratcheted up in recent weeks as the desperate president pushes his new “spygate” narrative, which he has privately said is a public relations campaign more than anything.
In reality, there is nothing suspect about the FBI looking into whether the Trump campaign was coordinating with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
As Bill Maher said on Friday, “It’s what the FBI does – investigation. It’s in their name.”
Worse is that Trump isn’t alone in his reckless war on U.S. institutions. Republicans have been right by his side to help muddy the waters, whether it’s by hampering existing congressional investigations or launching phony ones on the investigators.
Despite what Trump and his state television friends said on Saturday, former CIA Director John Brennan is not discrediting the American intelligence community – just the opposite, in fact.
Brennan is instead trying to save these institutions from the destructive behavior of Donald Trump and his GOP lapdogs in Congress.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
