sonora2sonoma

Regarding the Rob Porter kerfuffle, there is no excuse that justifies domestic violence! That said, the fact the man didn’t have a top security clearance yet he was privy on a daily basis to everything that crossed the president’s desk should be a matter equally deserving of public outrage.

There’s every reason to believe such actions should be not only considered improper but highly illegal, given their implications for national security, or the lack thereof. If this man’s unrestricted access to national security matters crossed a legal line, then why aren’t folks clamoring for a legal remedy? If it isn’t prohibited by statute, then why not?

Perhaps the bigger risk to our nation lies in the ways in which we are becoming inured to executive branch dysfunction, where events once considered outrageous are becoming increasingly regarded as normal and our collective ability to respond with shock and disbelief to stimuli that truly are shocking and unbelievable has been conditioned by repeated exposure such that our responses are dulled and diminished. In such an atmosphere, resistance slowly morphs into acceptance.

For the president to point out, as he did this weekend, that Rob Porter continues to maintain his innocence–forget that not one, but two of his ex-wives say he abused them, and one of them has photos–as if that should mean something, coming from a man who has similarly maintained his innocence of charges of infidelity and more, in spite of evidence to the contrary, speaks volumes about his estrangement from reality.

One should be able to safely conclude that when confronted with a person whose default position is to fabricate, falsify and misconstrue, the prudent course of action would be to disbelieve him or her. Why should it be any different if the person doing the fabricating, falsifying and misrepresenting happens to be the president of the United States?

Tim Konrad

11 February 2018

Petaluma, CA