By Thom Duda
While scrounging around Twitter, I came across a post by The New York Times that cited John McCain as becoming the “Critic in Chief” of Trump’s administration so far, specifically in regards to the foreign policy and repeated attacks on the press perpetrated by Trump. Frankly, I did enjoy seeing that a mainstream Republican had finally called out Trump’s attacks for what they were and that there was a very real parallel to how dictatorships operate.
It was also heartening to see how he was critical of the Muslim ban, and isn’t willing to tolerate Russia and Putin, unlike some Republicans who are seemingly willing to let Russian interference be disregarded. Had it been anyone else, I’m pretty confident that any whiff of Russian meddling would have led to the President’s impeachment and culling of the moles, so it’s been a bit maddening to see someone like Flynn not being investigated thoroughly yet. Anyway, that’s another topic of insanity.
So, I was actually happy to see McCain saying these things and holding the preverbal fire to the Trump administration’s feet. Actually, it made me respect the man a bit – until I remembered how he basically went in lock step with his party during the cabinet nominations; until I remembered that despite the public outcry and concern about Betsy DeVos, who failed her nomination interviews spectacularly and even screwed up a tweet, for Pete’s sake, was voted in and McCain was on the red line that gave the OK. Oh, and let’s not forget that, per the Huffington Post’s report, $50,600 in contributions from DeVos’ family to McCain alone before her nomination.
Nice to know it just takes a sack of gold to get his blessing, though admittedly, that is a really big sack of gold.
I nearly forgot about his original skepticism of Tillerson, the guy who put business dealings before our country’s interest and has the bloody badge of friendship from Putin himself.
I don’t have nearly as much scathing commentary about Chief of EPA Scott Pruitt and Secretary of Treasury Steven Minuchin since their appointments just added to the general misery and anger at how anyone could vote for them. Maybe more sacks of money?
So, I’m miffed about all this and find it a bit difficult to think McCain is suddenly going to go completely against his party’s wishes and start dismantling the nonsense Trump has established. He wasn’t there before to stop Trump’s nominations, who have proven in the past that they have massive conflicts of interest toward the agencies they now head. McCain can say all the words and save face, but until I see him voting against and actively stopping Trump’s agenda, I can’t help but think it all as a hollow gesture.