Russia and our election

[Dill]

(07-14-2017, 07:09 AM)JustWinBaby Wrote: No, I'm not defending him...but rather I'm impugning the media.
What evidence would you present that anything I claimed here is wrong?  Bozo words don't prove that career staffers don't run anything  (and, actually, it kind of makes my point).

One of the points I have explicitly made on this thread (#155) is that uncritically impugning the media, at least the MSM, is supporting Trump, helping to maintain his legitimacy. Even people who are not pro Trump do this when they continue to "equalize" the parties and party leaders, contributing to a mediascape in which standards remain muddied, professional journalism no better than propaganda.

As far as your moderate views of Trump's presidency, including foreign policy, of course I didn't "disprove" your claims in a short post--though I have discussed Trump's foreign policy in some detail in other posts, as well as his paralysis of the Executive. The point was to recall those claims and ask if you stood by them now.  And I was assuming you have been following Trump news over the last six months. Are you unable to think of six or seven unforced errors Trump has made over the last 6 months owing to lack of knowledge of how government works? The recent tweet about "Low IQ Mika" and her face bleeding from a facelift gives us some indication of how he has "grown into his office." Do you maintain EITHER that he is behaving no differently from other presidents OR that there was no evidence before the election that he would be like this?

The issue about career staffers was not whether they "run anything." The original question was whether an incompetent leader who had no knowledge of history or foreign policy could damage foreign policy. Your answer was that foreign policy was largely controlled by "career staffers"--hence Trump wouldn't do much damage, not to worry. My point, which you disputed, was that such staffers have no directive power. A new president brings in new people at senior positions whose job is to implement the president's policy. "Normal" presidents recognize disruption is bad and so much is continued as before. But Trump is not a normal president. He appears to be undoing Obama policies wherever he can, especially in the State Department. Career staffers don't have the power to make policy or stop Trump's.

For example:
1. "Career staffers" cannot cut the budget of and reorganize the state department.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341923-trumps-war-on-the-state-department
President Trump is seeking to radically remodel the State Department in an unprecedented way, according to former officials from administrations of both political parties. 
The administration’s efforts, which include a proposed budget cut of nearly 30 percent, a hiring freeze and a potential reshuffling of offices within the State Department, have left scores of positions unfilled, demoralizing the staff that remain....efforts to remake the State Department include a March 13 executive order that set forth a branch-wide reorganization review that could result in a reshuffling or elimination of agencies and offices.
The administration is mulling a proposal that would relocate the State Department’s bureaus of Consular Affairs and Population, Refugees, and Migration to the Department of Homeland Security, according to CNN.

2. "Career staffers" cannot appoint senior department officials, who communicate policy goals set by Trump/Tillerson.
http://thehill.com/policy/international/334327-worries-mount-about-vacancies-in-trumps-state-department
Concerns are growing about a short-staffed State Department dealing with a host of international crises.

As President Trump begins his first foreign trip, seven of the nine senior State Department roles under Secretary Rex Tillerson remain vacant, including his top deputy. ...

While the Trump administration has put the blame on Senate Democrats and the slow confirmation process, others say Trump has been slow to issue nominations.

There are roughly 200 positions at the State Department that require Senate confirmation, including key ambassadorships, the vast majority of which remain unfilled more than 100 days into the new administration.

3. Most of all, career staffers cannot re-organize regional alliances, as Trump is doing. They cannot ignore our Intel agencies reports of Russian interference in our elections and "de-prioritize" the Russian threat. They cannot reshuffle power arrangements in the Gulf simply be tweeting that Qatar has funded terrorism, this in support of Saudi Arabia, the world's #1 funder. They cannot set our NATO partners on an independent course away from US support.
 
Or do you say no? Foreign policy will continue from Obama/Hillary/Kerry without significant change because lower level Bureaucrats just continue their jobs?