At Homeland Security, I saw firsthand how dangerous Trump is for America

[Dill]

(08-18-2020, 02:59 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/at-homeland-security-i-saw-firsthand-how-dangerous-trump-is-for-america/2020/08/17/f10bb92e-e0a3-11ea-b69b-64f7b0477ed4_story.html


The decision-making process was itself broken: Trump would abruptly endorse policy proposals with little or no consideration, by him or his advisers, of possible knock-on effects. That was the case in 2018 when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced, at the White House’s urging, a “zero tolerance” policy to prosecute anyone who crossed the border illegally. The agencies involved were unprepared to implement the policy, causing a disastrous backlog of detentions that ultimately left migrant parents and their children separated.

Incredibly, after this ill-conceived operation was rightly halted, in the following months the president repeatedly exhorted DHS officials to restart it and to implement a more deliberate policy of pulling migrant families apart en masse, so that adults would be deterred from coming to the border for fear of losing their children. The president was visibly furious on multiple occasions when my boss, then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, refused.

Well the bolded gives me some insight into the genesis of the child separation policy.

The rest tallies with what other inside observers have said regarding Trump's indiscipline, lack of focus, and impulsive judgment.

Still, the people who might be profitably reached by this argument are unlikely to read it, avoiding all that reeks of "Trump hate." 

The problem with this country is not really Trump but the millions who continue to share his lack of empathy for others' suffering and contempt for democratic norms and evidence-based arguments. That, and not any special skill on his part, is why he can be voted into office and mount a credible challenge to a decent and competent candidate.