As I enjoy my aged coffee this morning I re-read an extraordinary story from Carl Bernstein (All the President's Men) that seems to have gotten lost in all the other news of late.
The article written before July 4th talked about Trump's calls from the White House with world leaders. The lead-in is an amazing (and deeply embarrassing) summary:
"In hundreds of highly classified phone calls with foreign heads of state, President Donald Trump was so consistently unprepared for discussion of serious issues, so often outplayed in his conversations with powerful leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and so abusive to leaders of America's principal allies, that the calls helped convince some senior US officials -- including his former secretaries of state and defense, two national security advisers and his longest-serving chief of staff -- that the President himself posed a danger to the national security of the United States, according to White House and intelligence officials intimately familiar with the contents of the conversations."
He goes on to elaborate further, "The anonymous sources who spoke to Bernstein called Trump "delusional" and described his calls with foreign leaders as "abominations." They report that the president boasted "about his own wealth, genius, 'great' accomplishments as President, and the 'idiocy' of his Oval Office predecessors."
He apparently regularly bullied and disparaged allied leaders, but saved the worst for his female contemporaries, Angela Merkel and Teresa May - he even called the latter 'stupid." Of course, Merkel has a doctorate in Quantum Chemistry while Trump has hired hands take his entrance exams.
These stories are surfacing now because national security officials shutter to think about Trump getting elected to serve another term. Apparently, several believe that Trump "himself poses a danger to the national security of the United States," Interestingly, these call are recorded and transcribed so at some point their content will be revealed and hopefully, it won't be too late. These sources know that if they step forward publicly, they will be fired, al la Alexander Vindman so they remain in the shadows.
I thought Bernstein's comments were fascinating, if not scary beyond comprehension. I keep my fingers crossed that we make it in one piece until November.
I guess it is time for another cuppa.