Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

He really is that stupid.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

In my day, never was longer.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / Not To Promote War, But To Preserve Peace… LTC Alexander Vindman’s Next Chapter

Not To Promote War, But To Preserve Peace… LTC Alexander Vindman’s Next Chapter

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Elihu Root, the father of the US Army War College (USAWC) stated that its purpose is:

Not to promote war but to preserve peace by intelligent and adequate preparation to repel aggression

Today The Washington Post has reported that:

Both of the Vindmans were detailed to the NSC and will return to jobs in the Defense Department, with Alexander Vindman then planning to report to the Army War College in July.

A number of you asked me in comments last night what I thought was going to happen. I laid out several possibilities. One of them being that he was sent to either USAWC or one of the other Services’ senior leader colleges outside of the DC area (either Naval War College in Rhode Island or Air War College in Alabama). This would place him back in school for his O5/O6 (lieutenant colonel/colonel) level professional military education (PME), and get him out of the capitol region. LTC Vindman will be matriculating at the end of July/beginning of August into the resident class at USAWC for academic year (AY) 2021. When he graduates he will have earned both a Masters in National Security and Strategy and his Joint Professional Military Education Phase II certification. Without these he would not be eligible for an O6 (colonel) level command or equivalent assignment. He’s just at the right stage of his career, 22 years in, to be sent to one of the senior leader colleges. Given how the selection process for the Senior Leader Colleges is done, I suspect that this was also always his intended follow on assignment to serving on the National Security Staff of the National Security Council as his assignment was supposed to originally end in May of this year. While it does not always work out that way because life is not neat, the expectation is that the officers who attend the Senior Leader Colleges will serve well past their graduations retiring as full colonels or captains near or at the 30 year mandated retirement or be promoted to general officer/flag officer and serve past the 30 year mark.

Here’s what I think is likely to happen to LTC Vindman and his career based on informed speculation. He will attend USAWC as a student next academic year, graduate, and I would expect that he will be then moved onto the faculty as the Director of Eurasian Studies where he’ll oversee the Eurasian Regional Studies Elective (every student in the resident class is required to take a regional studies elective, but they get to choose which one, which is why it is called an elective even though it is mandatory – don’t ask me, I just worked there…). If this happens, then at some point he’ll be promoted to full colonel and will serve out the remainder of his career at USAWC. He and his family will have eight years of stability in a lovely small town that is close to a medium sized city (Harrisburg) and within a ninety minute to two hour drive of three large cities – Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC – depending on traffic and whether you’re driving like you stole it. During the short summer breaks between resident class graduation and course prep for the next academic year, he, like many of the Foreign Area Officers (FAOs) assigned to the faculty will be available for temporary duty assignments in his functional speciality as a Foreign Area Officer. While the pinnacle of a career for a FAO is usually being a Defense Attache (DAT) or Senior Defense Official (SDO) at a US embassy within their region of expertise, given LTC Vindman’s prominence, I’m not sure that will be possible. I cannot imagine it would be safe to send him back to US Embassy Moscow to be the DAT, especially given how Russian intelligence and security treats US personnel assigned there. I expect that he and his family will have the stability that this type of assignment at USAWC brings: not having to relocate every two or three years, being able to keep your kids in the same schools until they graduate, and allowing one’s spouse to finally begin to put down some career roots.

Prudens Futuri

Open thread

Adam L Silverman served as the Cultural Advisor to the 48th, 49th, and 50th Commandants of the US Army War College from 1 July 2010 through 15 June 2014 as an appointed supervisory civil servant on civilian mobilization orders. In that assignment he also served as Professor of National Security & Strategy with a focus on culture for strategy and policy in the Department of National Security & Strategy, as well as the course director for the US Army War College culture and theater strategic pre-deployment certification course. He is the first and only person to be assigned to USAWC as the Cultural Advisor.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  3. 3.

    Annie

    If I understand this right, Col.  Alexander Vindman will be basically OK.

    what about his brother who also got sacked from the White House?

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Annie: There was nothing in today’s reporting. He’s a staff judge advocate, so I expect the Army will find an appropriate billet for him and he’ll be assigned to it.

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    I have been depressed by this all day. I know he’ll be basically all right, but the public humiliation is so galling. And the fact that Drumpf gets away with it all! I don’t watch TV news — have they made 1/10th as big a deal of this as of Nancy ripping the speech?

  7. 7.

    zhena gogolia

    I’ve been thinking more and more today about Pelosi ripping the speech. There’s something really profound about that act. Everyone, the media of course, but even his opponents, keep acting as if things are normal. She did this to signal loud and clear that things are not normal. It is a shocking act — I was shocked by it — but it’s just the kind of thing that’s needed right now. It’s like an upside-down flag.

  8. 8.

    Adam L Silverman

    @zhena gogolia: Remember what KGB defector Yuri Bezmanov, writing as Tomas Schuman in 1984 wrote about subversion citing Sun Tzu:

    1. Cover with ridicule all of the valid traditions in your opponent’s country.
    2. Implicate their leaders in criminal affairs and turn them over to the scorn of their populace at the right time; 3. Disrupt the work of their government by every means;
    4. Do not shun the aid of the lowest and most despicable individuals of your enemy’s country.
    5. Spread disunity and dispute among the citizens.
    6. Turn the young against the old.
    7. Be generous with promises and rewards to collaborators and accomplices.

    – Tomas D. Schuman, Love Letter to America, W.I.N. Almanac Panorama, Los Angeles, CA, 1984

  12. 12.

    Procopius

    @zhena gogolia: What’s humiliating about being punished by Trump? I would think it would be considered a great honor, a recognition that you have done something that actually wounds him.

  14. 14.

    Josie

    @zhena gogolia:

    I like it more every time I think about it.  You know it galls him that she showed her contempt for him, and there is nothing he can do to her in return.  That is in addition to the fact that she is a woman and is completely unafraid of him.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Apparently she pre-tore the edges during the speech so that she could do the ripping really cleanly at the right moment. It reminds me of how we pre-break the bread for Communion so the minister can do it easily while saying the words of institution. (I guess Catholics don’t have to do that.)

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    The Vindmans are patriots.  There are millions of current and former military and civilian employees of the USA who took and take their oaths seriously.  It’s good for everyone to be reminded what that looks like.

    Thanks for this, Adam.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    A handful of Republican senators tried to stop President Trump from firing Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who testified in the House impeachment hearings, but the president relieved the diplomat of his post anyway, according to people briefed on the discussions.

    The senators were concerned

    Does Susan Collins not have a political operation? Someone should tell her “concerned” is the punchline to a joke about her lack of courage.

  27. 27.

    Barb 2

    Trump is an evil being.

    However, there are so many dems and non partisan humans who have stood up to his evilness. They show the other path. We can be proud of them and their loyalty to the constitution and democracy.

    thank you for the rest of the story.

    the Evangelicals are harming themselves and exposing themselves as mindless cult members.

    history will expose Trump’s evil and dirty ways. Did you see the news about how much money Trump’s daughter & son in law have made in outside deals. I wonder how much of that loot is legal? Makes Hunter Biden’s million look insignificant.

    (For some reason the first letter in the paragraphs begins with a lower case letter. Even when I go back and add a capital letter.)

  29. 29.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: Sondland loaned a number of pieces of art so that the First Lady could decorate the White House. I doubt he’ll be getting those back.

  31. 31.

    opiejeanne

    Did anyone else see brief notice that O’Brien will fire about a dozen more from National Security this coming week?

  35. 35.

    Bill Arnold

    @zhena gogolia:

    She did this to signal loud and clear that things are not normal. It is a shocking act — I was shocked by it — but it’s just the kind of thing that’s needed right now. It’s like an upside-down flag.

    Yes. Last SOTU (2019) she used facial expressions and hand signals[1] and the walrus clap[2]. This year she signaled to all of us.
    [1]Pelosi’s Take on Trump Was Written All Over Her Face – Disagreements with State of the Union are unstated but visible – She keeps control of restive Democrats simply by raising hand (Billy House, Anna Edgerton, 2019/02/06)
    [2]Pelosi turns clapping into a viral art form as she trolls Trump (Sam Wolfson, 6 Feb 2019)

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @opiejeanne: That’s been announced for months. The President and several of his senior advisors, beginning with Flynn and Bannon, have been arguing since before the inauguration that the National Security Staff was too large and major cuts needed to be made by sending the detailees back to their home agencies.

  37. 37.

    Annie

    @Kay:

    Collins was elected to the Senate in 1996 and re-elected ever since so I guess she figures she doesn’t need a political operation.

  38. 38.

    chris

    On Twitter I see that Marie Yovanovitch has signed up with the Javelin group, the literary agency that represents Bolton and others from the administration. It’s all going to come out. Yay!

    Also boo because I want it yesterday.

  41. 41.

    Kristine

    What effect is this having on the military’s regard for Trump and overall morale? I know it’s not a monolith, but between this and the SEAL debacle….

  45. 45.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, in the press and general publishing it’s “Lt. Col.” There’s a lot of military alphabet-soup-ism that doesn’t transfer well.

  46. 46.

    J R in WV

    I’m glad to hear that LTC Vindeman [et al] is going to be OK, at least so far as we know right now.

    Sondman, gave them valuable art, thought he would get it back, duh! what an ass. They won’t ever give him anything ever now. Kiss that art work goodby. It will hang on Trump’s prison cell wall before Mrl Sondland ever sees it again.

  47. 47.

    Bill Arnold

    @chris:

    They already dumped the pandemic team. Smooth move, no?

    I shudder to wonder about what Trump believes he “knows” about epidemiology. (Or epistemology :-)
    The public health measures (quarantines, etc) by China and others have bought time for new information acquisition, including for trials like this.
    China trials anti-HIV drug on coronavirus patients (Sarah Boseley, Fri 7 Feb 2020)

  48. 48.

    hitchhiker

    When I think of Vindman stepping up on behalf of the country and then being escorted out of the White House, I actually tear up. Like w/that old man in the 1940 photograph of the last French troops marching their flag off to Africa, it’s just a moment that hits me in the gut. As Schiff said, if right doesn’t matter, we’re lost.

    trump being an asshole about it on twitter is just … so expected. So exactly what he would do. I just cannot take it in that any veteran would not want to spit in his face.

  49. 49.

    TS (the original)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Sondland loaned a number of pieces of art

    Trump would never understand the word lend – no doubt he will take them with him – and whatever else he can remove from the White House when he is dragged out screaming next January.

  50. 50.

    Spanky

    @opiejeanne: Did anyone else see brief notice that O’Brien will fire about a dozen more from National Security this coming week?

    Yes, that’s what’s called a “purge”. Usually applied to dictatorships, but we might as well start using the term, as it is the correct one.

  51. 51.

    TriassicSands

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Fucking idiot.

    To whom are you referring? Trump, whose idiocy is well known, or Sondland for lending the Trump’s anything worth more than fifty cents? I suppose you could have just tacked an “s” onto the word “idiot.”

  53. 53.

    Mike in NC

    Apropos of nothing I’m about to watch my DVD of “Seven Days in May” with the late great Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. Wonder what Rod Serling would have thought about a real megalomaniac demagogue sitting in the Oval Office?

  54. 54.

    TriassicSands

    @Mike in NC:

    Wonder what Rod Serling would have thought about a real megalomaniac demagogue sitting in the Oval Office?

    We’re not in The Matrix, Mike, we ‘re in The Twilight Zone. Rod would understand.

  55. 55.

    takebakawashi

    If Sondland is worried about the artwork he’ll send word that he’d like it shipped back to him by then end of October, with a not-so-subtle hint that if it’s not forthcoming he’ll file a well-publicized lawsuit on Nov 1.

  57. 57.

    boatboy_srq

    @zhena gogolia: More people need to put either scare quotes or scare asterisk around President when referring to him. “President” or President*. Sauce for the goose, and this particular gander is hypersensitive.

  62. 62.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @opiejeanne: No, Trump doesn’t “think” he needs this size of staff.  Trump “thinks” the federal government is just like his shitty company and it can be run by him and Jarvanka.

    ETA: The smaller staffing levels also work for the reason you cite as well.

  63. 63.

    The Lodger

    @Barb 2: For decades we’ve known that evangelicals will fall for anything.  With Trump,  they’ve now proven they stand for nothing.

  64. 64.

    Patricia Kayden

    My fear is that Vindman will not be safe. Republicans are celebrating his termination. I wouldn’t put it past them to go after him in a violent way. After all, he betrayed Dear Leader by speaking the truth about his corrupt behavior.

  65. 65.

    The Dangerman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    …have been arguing since before the inauguration that the National Security Staff was too large and major cuts needed to be made…

    Oh, dear, someone from the NSC asked for a deposit slip for the Billion from Saudi Arabia, didn’t they?

  66. 66.

    Kent

    @Adam L Silverman: @debbie: Sondland loaned a number of pieces of art so that the First Lady could decorate the White House. I doubt he’ll be getting those back.

    This is just bizarre.  Normally the White House can just get loaners from the National Gallery and Smithsonian and they also have a huge amount of art in storage as well for rotation:  https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-white-house-loans-cattelan-history-121597

    It must be some Trumpish dominance and subservience thing, to get his folks to loan him art or something as a way to suck up.

  67. 67.

    opiejeanne

    @Kent: Oh, he got some from the National collection too. That’s where the Andrew Jackson portrait came from.

    He asked another, independent museum for a piece and they told him no, but  he could borrow the golden toilet piece instead.

    There’s every possibility that Sondland volunteered the artwork to kiss up to Trump.

  69. 69.

    The Dangerman

    Testing, a one and a two and a three (Lawrence Welk rendition).

    Someone go and break the blog?

    ETA: Huh. Guess it’s OK. Thank you, Bobby and Sissy.

  70. 70.

    Ruff the Dog

    @Adam L Silverman: I was privileged to spend a semester at the Army War College as a college sophomore. I was so woefully too young for such an experience. What an intellectually challenging and high performing environment! I would have a blast there now. I also graduated with a degree in political science somehow convinced that there wasn’t much happening in that intellectual field. Gawd, how three dozen years has proved me wrong. We were already at (civil) war and it’s fully engaged now.

  71. 71.

    Psych1

    Vindman is a hero and I  would expect that gets recognized and rewarded in a Democrat administration.

  72. 72.

    Chip Daniels

    Every so often I read something from a former 60’s radical who proudly reminds the reader that he or she was on Nixon’s enemies list, like it was some honor or medal they earned.

    In the future, people who were fired or attacked by Trump will do that, reminding people of the honor of being identified as a public enemy of this wretched regime.

  73. 73.

    oatler.

    It’s like Jimmy the Gent ordering everyone whacked who participated in the Lufthansa heist that enriched him.

  74. 74.

    Kent

    @opiejeanne: There is probably some scam in right wing circles where you get your art to hang in the white house and it increases its value or something.  Everything is always a scam and a grift with these people.

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Josie:

    You know it galls him that she showed her contempt for him, and there is nothing he can do to her in return.

    He already floated the trial balloon of citing the absurd right-wing theory that Pelosi committed a crime of “destroying federal records” when she tore the speech. You know he’s been trying to get people to have her arrested. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he actually does rather than blustering about, but you never know.

  80. 80.

    Matt McIrvin

    (Of course, the fact that Trump himself has a famous habit of ripping up every document he reads, undoubtedly in a reflexive effort to destroy all records of his actions, makes that yet another particularly pure example of projection.)

  83. 83.

    Jackie

    @neldob: During the Congressional Hearings, I was so concerned for him. And his open letter to his Dad… “This is America. I can speak honestly and have no fear of retaliation…” I hope, as Adam says, he will be okay. We know Trump will try to do anything within his power – with Barr’s help – to destroy him.

  85. 85.

    JWR

    @Matt McIrvin:

    He already floated the trial balloon of citing the absurd right-wing theory that Pelosi committed a crime of “destroying federal records” when she tore the speech.

    Not to mention the fantasy of having Impeachment expunged from his permanent record once the R’s retake the House, which is another fantasy all it’s own. I hope!

  90. 90.

    Leto

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, question for you with this versus how the USAF would handle it: I know that if a member was fired from his job, essentially that would be the end of their career. Sounds like with the Army, he’s still going to serve and potentially get promoted (not sure how that works with a OPR that states he was fired). How does his firing not affect those (promotion/retention)? I ask because from this side, any time an officer is fired and sent to the Pentagon that’s it.

  91. 91.

    smike

    @Matt McIrvin: There was a fact check done by some “reputable” rag that removed any doubt that she could do whatever she wanted to with that copy of trash. After being given by tRump, it was her personal property . Just too bad she wasn’t able to burn it or wipe her ass with it. But, you know, class.

  93. 93.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Leto: He wasn’t fired. He was scheduled to end his tour on the National Security Staff in May. He requested that the tour end, instead, at the end of February and he be rotated back to the Joint Staff. That request was granted. My understanding from the reporting, despite the optics yesterday, is that the White House simply moved up the release date back to the Joint Staff up by three weeks from the end of February to yesterday.

    That said, I’m trying to read between lines that may not be straight. Or even lines. We have no idea what his OPR is going to say. I would find it hard to believe that given all the publicity, as well as the Federal laws and regulations that would classify even this expedited transfer back to the Joint Staff as retaliation, that the Army wants to open a new can of worms here by screwing with his career trajectory by having his OPR marked fired for the assignment to the National Security Staff. Especially as he would have been fired for responding to a lawful subpoena by Congress. This isn’t a normal case. This isn’t something that would normally be covered under the zero defect concept. Ultimately we will have to wait and see.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    @opiejeanne: My understanding from the reporting is that one part of it reducing the National Security Staff was part of Bannon’s deconstruction of the administrative state bullshit. Another part was Flynn’s bizarre theories of how to reorganize the Intelligence Community (this is a discussion for a longer day or just read this:

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/01/18/the-flynn-report-v-how-to-feed-the-beast/)

    Another component was that there had been some complaints during the 2nd term of the Obama administration from the actual agencies that the National Security Council coordinates with for the President that the National Security Staff had gotten too large and was trying to micromanage things. Finally, I expect some of it is that having actual experts around that he can’t just fire willy nilly upsets the President. The vast majority of the National Security Staff are civil servants or uniformed personnel. They are detailed to the White House, but they belong to their home agencies, departments, bureaus, and Services.

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruff the Dog: I’m a little confused here. The US Army War College only matriculates US Army lieutenant colonels and colonels and their other Service equivalents, GS 14s and 15s from the Interagency, and lieutenant colonels to major generals from a number of our international allies and partners. You cannot enroll there as a student at a civilian university like a year abroad.

    Are you referring to having an internship through your university that assigned you to USAWC? I know that there are a dozen or so undergraduate interns at USAWC every year from Dickinson College, Shippensberg State, Penn State Harrisburg, and a couple of the other local colleges and universities.

  96. 96.

    Adam L Silverman

    @frosty: Cole’s idea to be the Silverman on Security avatar combined with Watergirl doing yeoman’s (yeowoman’s?) work to find a variant that was covered by the open source licensing we have with the site rebuild and then to fit it within the ring for me.

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jackie: Barr isn’t going to go after him. Barr may be an ideologue and a theocrat and a revanchist, but he’s not dumb enough to pick a fight with the Army.

  100. 100.

    Mary G

    The fact that his brother was walked out too is just so petty. He didn’t do anything whatsoever beyond supporting his brother by coming to the hearings.

    I hope that both the Vindmans are OK, but I don’t remember the Navy guy who refused to give Eddie Gallegher his trident back doing well. He ended up retiring, but Vindman is too young for that.

  101. 101.

    West of the Rockies

    Adam, may I ask you to take a wild guess as to if this woeful treatment of Vindman will diminish Trump in the eyes of the military and–more importantly–its voting population?  Will this sad situation cost Trump votes in November?

  102. 102.

    Nancy

     

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: I have to agree. I imagine that “president” trump intended humiliation. LTC Vindman is above that and his statement about America will echo at least in my head.

  105. 105.

    trnc

    A combat wounded and decorated Veteran who told the truth gets punished, racist Rush Limbaugh, a cancer survivor and drug addict known best for fighting health care access for others and mocking other drug addicts, gets a Medal of Freedom.

    Obligatory context for all mentions of RL.

  106. 106.

    trnc

    @Matt McIrvin: He already floated the trial balloon of citing the absurd right-wing theory that Pelosi committed a crime of “destroying federal records” when she tore the speech.

    It’s weird how willfully stupid cult members become. If they actually took 10 seconds to think about it, if destroying a copy of a document carried the same legal liability as destroying the original document, shredders would have no legitimate purpose in the federal govt and we would need warehouses the size of a city to store all the copies.

  107. 107.

    trnc

    @Mai naem mobile: Susan Collins is very disappointed. Very very disappointed .

    Think about it – she wants her voters to believe she’s just a dupe every time she votes for something about which she expresses concern because getting rolled again and again is somehow better for her than the obvious real reason – she’s a liar.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @trnc:

    because getting rolled again and again

    I wonder if it does look better, though. The NYTimes story about the “objections” looks planted by the senators to me, but “objecting” while Trump rolls right over them makes them look even weaker.
    So funny that they protect only the multimillionaire GOP donor.

  109. 109.

    Barry

    @Leto: “How does his firing not affect those (promotion/retention)? I ask because from this side, any time an officer is fired and sent to the Pentagon that’s it.”

     

    I imagine that his case is different.

  113. 113.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Leto: Because it is extremely unlikely that his rater or senior rater was Trump.  Trump wanting him out was a political thing.  His OPR should reflect the quality of his work – from what I understand, he was good at his job.  He certainly showed great moral character under intense pressure.  His evaluation should reflect that as well.

    His promotion prospects and job evaluation are an army thing not a Trump administration thing.  Playing around with flag officer careers is one thing; once you have a star, you are a political creature to some extent.  As an O-5, you are not.

    TL;DR:  “He can’t do that to our pledges; only we can do that to our pledges.”

  114. 114.

    opiejeanne

    @evodevo: Maybe, but that chump artist would probably just give it to him.

    I don’t remember what painting he asked for and was denied, something like a Van Gogh

    ETA: looked it up, it was Van Gogh’s “Landscape With Snow” that they asked to borrow for their private quarters. The Guggenheim told them no and offered them “America”, an 18k gold toilet.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/the-white-house-wanted-a-van-gogh-the-guggenheim-offered-a-used-solid-gold-toilet/2018/01/25/38d574fc-0154-11e8-bb03-722769454f82_story.html

  115. 115.

    Sam

    @Omnes Omnibus: I think Vindman is political now.  He probably didn’t want it, but he got it.  Trump, it seems to me, can always wreck his career.  He is Commander in Chief.  I am sure that he will be hanging on hoping the Dems win and he is still active duty.  Adam is, IMO, way too optimistic.  Trump will figure out a way to force Vindman out, especially if he is re-elected.

  116. 116.

    dww44

    @Sam:  As much as I do care about what happens to Vindman, if Trump is reelected a whole lot of us are gonna have way more things to worry about than we can even imagine.  Whether the republic survives a 2nd term is very problematical.

    My local paper has a lead front page story today saying that during the impeachment trial Trump raised over 170 million for his reelection campaign.  There are a lot of seriously sick and evil and money grubbing people in this country. Trump is just the evil ugly head of  the spear.

  117. 117.

    Mike G

    @trnc:  This is the same Trump known for personally tearing up presidential documents after he reads them, which is explicitly illegal.

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