Where are Republicans now that Trump's yanked security clearances from former top officials?
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Hello there, very serious media people! You may have noticed that yesterday the White House announced that Donald Trump had decided to revoke the security clearances of former top government officials who had dared to criticize him. This is the very same actiWhere are Republicans now that Trump's yanked security clearances from former top officials?
Hello there, very serious media people! You may have noticed that yesterday the White House announced that Donald Trump had decided to revoke the security clearances of former top government officials who had dared to criticize him. This is the very same action that House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed as “trolling” that wouldn’t happen when Trump first floated it. Similarly, Sen. Bob Corker, with the courage of someone who’s retiring and also won’t take any hard votes against Trump anyway, had strong words back in July: «I can't even believe that somebody at the White House thought up something like this,» Corker said during an interview on MSNBC. «I mean, when you're going to start taking retribution against people who are your political enemies in this manner, that's the kind of thing that happens in Venezuela.» «So you just don't do that. I can't believe they even allowed it to be aired, to be honest,» he said. «I mean, it's a banana republic kind of thing.» Let’s assume that “I can’t even believe that” part was rhetoric, because who that’s been paying attention to Trump can’t believe he would do this? Of course he would! These are former top officials who’ve seen information on his campaign’s dealings with Russia and have dared speak out against him—Trump’s narcissism and his fear both demand reprisals against them. But there’s the question: where are Republicans now that Trump has followed through and stripped security clearance from former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former NSA Director Michael Hayden, former national security adviser Susan Rice, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe? Does Paul Ryan still think this is just trolling and what, in his final months as House speaker, is he willing to do about it? The media’s across-the-country editorial blitz about freedom of the press is nice, but how about some hardcore reporting? Every Republican in Congress should be facing questions about this, from reporters and voters alike. Read more