Ex-CIA director slams Trump after McCabe firing: You'll be remembered as a 'disgraced demagogue'

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 03/17/18 08:32 AM EDT

Former CIA director John Brennan tore into President Trump for celebrating the firing of former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, saying Trump will be remembered as “a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.”

Link to tweet

The former CIA director was responding to a tweet by Trump hailing McCabe’s firing as a "great day for democracy."

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/378909-ex-cia-director-slams-trump-after-mccabe-firing-youll-be-remembered

[Chemisse]

1. I hope his is just one of many voices decrying the cruelty and unfairness of this firing.

I think this is the most transparently vindictive and cruel thing that Trump has done. He has done many horrific things, of course, but this one is so easily seen as just plain mean and hateful.

[Marthe48]

2. It's a good thing trump doesn't have pets

What he does to humans is a good clue what kind of life a defenseless animal would have.

[Cracklin Charlie]

3. This is incredible.

A former high ranking official calling out a sitting president in such a manner?

Not sure I’ve ever seen anything like this.

[LisaL]

5. "I have never seen anything like this" is something one can say nearly every day since Trump became

president.

[PatSeg]

12. I know

Such people usually pick their words very carefully and diplomatically. Now everyone is saying pretty much what they really think. I have never seen anything like it either.

[Cracklin Charlie]

28. If that statement from Brennan was at me...

I believe I would be runnin’ for the hills!

No words minced, in that one.

[PatSeg]

34. Oh absolutely

These clowns in the White House have no idea who or what they are dealing with. I can't imagine pissing off the CIA or the FBI and not living to regret it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. I know I've never seen anything like this, not even during Watergate.

Nixon was slammed for specific things he did that related to the cover-up. Trump is getting slammed for what he is.

[left-of-center2012]

4. As much as I hate Trump and all he's done ...

This is the one thing that really pisses me off most.

McCabe is days (or hours) from retiring and the Trump regime fires him,
and then does a jig celebrating the firing.

Just at the last moment,
Trump pulls the rug out from under McCabe and laughs about it.

Of all things, this truly shows what Trump is.

[FakeNoose]

20. McCabe will sue for his pension rights

.. and he'll no doubt win his case. His lawyers are prepared for that.

I agree that this is no way to treat a valuable employee who has served the government for most of his career. But I applaud McCabe's position that he will not be silenced and he will give testimony against Trump when the time comes. He's one of the good guys.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. I keep hearing these things from members of the IC

wonder how it will play out? have they a plan for rebuilding what has been trashed? politically?

and WHEN? It's almost too late already, for some things.

WHEN?

[lindysalsagal]

7. Bring on the avelanche! Full-page ads in newspapers!

More TV ads! Twitter should bury the asshat. Overload his account.

[mountain grammy]

8. I hope hes right. Im not so sure.

[lordsummerisle]

9. K&R n/t

[Cha]

10. Well said, Sir! trump wouldn't know

Democracy if it slapped him upside his empty head.

[FakeNoose]

21. I love how Brennan is speaking up

...surely many more will follow suit. Let's hear from our former Presidents - Bush 1, Bush 2, Carter, Clinton, Obama.
It's time for all of them to speak up on this.

[smirkymonkey]

38. +1000

I like this.

[Shoonra]

11. There's a method to Trump's madness

McCabe, as deputy director of the FBI, certainly knew a great deal about all sorts of investigations into Trump, and presumably he was doing his professional best to move the FBI's part of these investigations along. So Trump deliberately firing him in this very ugly way is a message to ALL government employees who are somehow involved in investigations into Trump hankypanky: If you do anything that helps prosecute Donald Trump you will be kicked to the curb without a pension for your decades of service to your country!

It's a very persuasive, and chilling, message, and crystal clear to all civil servants.

[janx]

13. Notice Brennan's use of the word VENALITY.

Last edited Sat Mar 17, 2018, 01:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Definition of venal
1 : capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration : purchasable; especially : open to corrupt influence and especially bribery : mercenary a venal legislator
2 : originating in, characterized by, or associated with corrupt bribery a venal arrangement with the police
— venality play vi-ˈna-lə-tē noun
— venally play ˈvē-nᵊl-ē adverb

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venal


It was no accident.

Edited to correct link

[Boomerproud]

14. Look at the "likes" and "people are talking about" numbers

This is a major blunder by 45 no matter how Faux and AM radio spins it. Follow the money!!!!

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. Trump, if he bothers to read this at all, will need help with all the big words.

Bravo John Brennan!

[janx]

17. His words are not so much big as they are

precise, specific.

[FailureToCommunicate]

35. Of course. But Trump is dumb as a sack of hammers.

New Mexico True.

[janx]

36. Thank you!

Yes, thanks.

[dchill]

16. K&R!

[Grammy23]

18. It was a long time ago, but when Watergate was unfolding on TV with daily broadcasts (live)

of the hearings, the people in the US were glued to their televisions. Each day of testimony brought new revelations and people were stunned and galvanized by what they were hearing. Just wait until the full story of what Russia did for and with tRump starts to be revealed. He denies all stories associating him with Putin, Russia or the Russian oligarchs but those of us who have been paying attention all these months know there is something to be found in those accusations.

Right now, tRump thinks he is “winning” because no one has stopped him. He better enjoy it while he can because I have a feeling his free ride is coming to an end. And then the truth of what he did and who helped him will be known, even to his most devoted followers. They are in for a big surprise and let down. Much the way Nixon’s supporters had to face hard truths about their guy. tRump will go down in flames and some of us will cheer his fall. The big unknown is what will be left of our way of governing and who will come next in leadership? Uncertainty abounds.

[pangaia]

23. Times are different. So are republican politicuans and so are republican voters.

[janx]

19. CNN is broadcasting this tweet

far and wide!

Fredricka Whitfield read it out loud as it was displayed on the screen!

[Pantagruel]

22. Happy St. Patrick's Day

from John Brennan

[TNNurse]

24. Impressive, but who will explain all the big words to Trump?

They are way more than his vocabulary limits.

[NBachers]

25. This is truly a ho-lee-shit! moment. It will not be lost on the Intelligence Community rank and file

[duforsure]

26. This is absolutely

The results from a guilty person in power, and he was never going to testify, or produce documents that he knew would prove the case against him. Obstruction on steroids. Where's the outrage from RepubliCONS? Show's they are involved also.

[TwistOneUp]

27. Firing someone one day before retirement...

Is the kind of stunt that rankles many of us older Americans, who remember a time when companies fired peeps before their profit sharing was fully vested, before they got their "gold watch", etc. This does not sit well with many, many peeps - including GOPers. This will only amplify the blue wave coming this November.

You really have to be a flaming dick head to do something like this. I hope he enjoys his reputation for being a total asshole. And he doesn't even have the cojones to do it himself, so he has The Mouse do it, which makes him a chickenshit asshole.

The world will most assuredly lower its respect for the USA - and, sadly, the democratic process - for having elected a "leader" that pulls stunts like this. To say that this is a travesty of justice is to massively understate what happened.

26 hours before full retirement. If Trump voters are happy with the Asshole-In-Chief, then they're assholes, too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. The timing proves the motive.

If what McCabe did was really so terrible as to warrant his firing, it should have been dealt with months ago rather than leaving him twisting in the wind until the day before his retirement. From what I've been hearing, normally those decisions are not made in a matter of a couple of days, as this one was; an employee usually has a substantial period of time to defend himself and argue against his dismissal. This just reeks of Trump's enjoyment of hurting and humiliating people. And I'm wondering what kind of pressure was brought to bear on the people in the agency that made the decision. They say the IG and others involved have good reputations as fair-minded, apolitical people, but who knows whether and how they might have been leaned on a bit in this case? Sessions, of course, knew he'd be fired if he didn't comply. But the fact that this was all done in a desperate hurry to beat McCabe's retirement date shows how much it all stinks.

[Abu Pepe]

37. Its very possible that there was legal cause to fire him

my guess he was talking to the press off the record and "was less than candid" when asked about it by whomever. But that isnt why Trump fired him. He fired him to further his obstruction of justice in the russia attack. Remember Rosenstein found that Comey should be fired for his handling of the Clinton investigation then Trump let the cat out of the bag on prime time teevee as to why he really did it. Then the very same Rosenstein appointed Mueller.

Trumps timing and manner in the firing make it clear a reason was found after the decision was made.

[RVN VET71]

32. Trump's reaction to the firing he engineered is beneath contempt

But, then, how many of Trump's responses to the myriad disgraceful things he has done, or caused to be done, have not been beneath contempt? Sessions, however, seemed curiously adversarial to Trump, refusing to resign despite Trump's repeated humiliating insults -- publicly expressed! -- of him. Sessions is a die-hard racist, a man who is so backward looking that the civilized world -- including the 65 millions of Americans who voted against Trump in 2016 -- remains shocked and disturbed by his continued tenure as AG of the US. But still, it seemed that despite his despicable beliefs and medieval views of law and race, he at least had cojones enough to stand fast against Trump.

How wrong we were to think so.

Session's action shows him to be just another Trump sycophant, a man who kowtows and kneels before the dubious majesty of the worst mistake this nation has ever made, "President" Trump, an unrepentant lying cheat who has taken this nation to the brink of dictatorship. Before this clearly political action against McCabe, I had thought Sessions to be an ignorant and stubborn racist. I still do, of course, but now I know he is also a spineless, unprincipled pissant whom history will memorialize as such.

I feel hopeful that Mr. McCabe will prevail in his suit against the government. Considering the obvious political reasons behind his illegal firing, if he does not prevail, the American Constitution and the legal system created to defend and enforce it's tenets will be shown to have no more actual meaning than did the old Soviet constitution whose pages guaranteeing individual freedom may as well have been given to prisoners in the gulag to stoke the fading warmth of their dying fires.

[janx]

33. It is beneath contempt, yes.

But ironically, it is more clear evidence of obstruction of justice and will be used against him. His inclusion of Comey's name points directly to his motivation.

[MBS]

39. + 100 n/t

[SCVDem]

31. I prefer a happy ending.

Like the end of the movie 'Trading Places'!

[MBS]

40. John Brennan speaks for me.

Every single, searing word.
Also notable because Brennan is more or less the epitome of a country-over-party civil servant.
And, true, I think, to his character, his outrage is all about saving the country and, really, not at all about party politics.

[DeminPennswoods]

41. What an amazing statement!

Usually when former cabinet official and agency heads are critical of something it's in a more nuanced and respectful way. But, Brennan sure didn't mince any words. I don't think I've ever seen a statement like this from anyone who held such a high and important position.