Merry Chaos!
‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the White House…
…there was chaos!
Last week was particularly messy for the Trump presidency.
President Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, appeared in a federal courtroom, ready to face a jail term.
Trump had claimed that Flynn was tricked into lying to the FBI in 2017.
But Flynn threw a monkey wrench into that narrative.
He freely admitted he decided to mislead the feds all by himself.
There had been folks at Fox News who mistakenly thought the judge deciding Flynn’s fate would chastise special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation.
That didn’t happen either.
Instead, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who was expected to give Flynn nothing more than a slap on the wrist – angrily threatened to send him off to jail – before delaying Flynn’s sentencing until next month.
Trump’s wishes had been dashed.
That certainly wasn’t the most disappointing development in his week.
There was that business about his personal slush fund, known as the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
Last Tuesday, the Trump family agreed to dissolve the foundation, after New York State Attorney General Barbara Underwood claimed it was part of “a shocking pattern of illegality.”
Ouch.
That means that the Trump Foundation’s remaining $1.75 million will be sent to other charitable agencies.
Underwood disclosed that since 2014, Trump hadn’t given any of his own money to the foundation.
That wasn’t the worst part.
When outside donations came in, there was a chance that it would be spent to help Trump and his organizations.
According to court documents, the largest donation the charity ever made was back in 1989, when a gift of $264,231 was made to the Central Park Conservancy.
On the surface, that doesn’t seem to be a bad idea.
But wait.
The money was used to restore a fountain right outside of Trump’s Plaza Hotel.
It was disclosed that the smallest foundation gift was a whopping $7 to the Boy Scouts – also in 1989.
Curiously, that was the same amount of money it took to enroll a boy in the Scouts, say, like Trump’s son – Donald Trump, Jr. – who was 11 years old at the time.
Don Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka, by the way, were listed as officers of the Trump Foundation.
But the attorney general’s investigation discovered that none of the Trump siblings had ever held a board meeting.
In fact, the man listed as the official treasurer of the foundation, Allen Weisselberg, claimed he didn’t even know he was on the board.
These revelations should embarrass the entire Trump family.
But history seems to indicate that it’ll be somebody else’s fault in a few days.
By mid-week, Trump even made what some of his supporters are calling his biggest blunder since he’s taken office.
Without warning, he announced he’s immediately drawing down the 2,000 American troops now serving in Syria.
“We have won against ISIS. We’ve beaten them, and we’ve beaten them badly. We have taken back the land. And now it’s time for our troops to come back home,” he said in a strange on-camera soliloquy on the grounds outside of the White House.
But by every measurement, ISIS is still active.
Both Democrats and Republicans responded with disgust.
That’s not an overstatement.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders, believes the withdrawal from Syria “is a stain on the honor of the United States.”
Graham’s sharpest rebuke came in the form of a tweet. “Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of six senators sent Trump a letter requesting that he reconsider the move.
But there is one person who supports Trump’s plan – Vladimir Putin!
The Russian president made it a point to call our president “Donald” when he mentioned him during a lengthy news conference.
“I don’t think they’re (U.S. troops) needed. Let’s not forget that the presence of troops there is illegitimate,” said Putin.
Our foreign policy nowadays is being applauded by our chief adversary.
Troubling!
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.