A couple of days ago, a young man walked into a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., armed to the teeth, fired a couple of shots to dramatically announce his presence, and then proceeded to look in the back of the pizzeria for evidence of a child slavery ring headed by Hillary Clinton, which he had read about on social media. He was quickly arrested and fortunately no one was injured. Clearly, this young man, Edgar M. Welch, the 28-year-old father of two from Salisbury, N.C., was not the brightest bulb in the firmament, but must have fancied himself a man of action ready to step in and stamp out an evil where others feared to tread.
The internet social media story, which had been around for a week or two was, of course, total nonsense, which had been totally debunked but that information never reached the ears of Mr. Welch. You can almost understand it with Mr. Welch who was both public-spirited and well meaning, if a bit misguided and a bit dangerous. His analytical skills were clearly deficient.
What you can’t understand is why the perpetrators of all this fake news — news so outrageously wrong, you might even say news so ridiculous and silly if it weren’t so serious — finds an audience so ready to believe anything they read or hear that agrees with what they would like to believe. Either America has dumbed down, even worse than we feared, or they simply don’t care if it’s true or not as long as it feels good, and confirms their belief the other side is evil and godless.
What is unforgivable is the people who trade in this garbage, especially a few who are part of the incoming White House, and those who are perilously close to them like their children. The incoming National Security Advisor to President-elect Trump is retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who was formerly head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, before President Obama fired him. After this recent Washington, D.C., restaurant incident, his son, who appears to be a virulent angry partisan, and also Flynn’s Chief of Staff and closest advisor, tweeted that the Hillary child molestation story, which has become know as Pizzagate, is still good information and hasn’t been proven to be false. At the same time they are trying to get a security clearance for the son so I guess he can work in the White House alongside his dad. I guess we shouldn’t be terribly surprised at the son because during the campaign, his dad, the retired general, tweeted, “U decide-NYPD Blows Whistle on New Hillary Emails. Money Laundering, Sex Crimes w Children, etc…MUST READ!” on Nov. 2.
This is all qualitatively different than what’s happened in past administrations and doesn’t portend well for the incoming Trump administration. The National Security Advisor is the person who has to have the temperament and the analytical skills to sift through all of the incoming intelligence from everyone — the State Department, the various branches of the military, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the National Director of Intelligence, foreign intelligence sources — analyze it quickly, rationally and lay it out for the president so the president can make decisions. The evidence sent to the president, and the analysis and the recommendations, are often contradictory and in conflict. What the office definitely doesn’t need is an individual with an agenda, who appears to revel in conspiracies, who has preset notions and a strong dose of Islamophobia, because that kind of guy can get you into a real war, real fast. Sadly, the National Security Advisor, I understand, is presidential staff and doesn’t need confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Looking at the appointments Trump has proposed to date, he’s appointed some very conservative, very strong personalities with some very specific agendas and some very limited Washington experience. How that will all work out when they begin to collide with each other and also the bureaucracy is just about anybody’s guess, which is why this is going to be a very interesting administration.
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Next week, on Monday, Dec. 12, the new Malibu City Council gets sworn in and thereafter is when the campaign promises actually hit the ground and the local game begins. In many ways, it’s as uncertain as the national picture, so stay tuned and follow it in The Malibu Times.