Ex-Defense Secretary: White House Is 'Leading Us Down The Trail Toward A Dictatorship'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Former Defense Secretary William Cohen on Friday called out President Donald Trump’s violent rhetoric about anti-racism protesters, warning the White House is “leading us down the trail toward a dictatorship.”

Cohen argued to CNN “Newsroom” host Jim Sciutto that Trump’s sharing of a letter that called protesters “terrorists” meant that “he has no understanding of what the rule of law really means in this country.”

“He has declared that he wants to be the ‘president of law and order,’ but that’s not what the declaration of this country is,” said Cohen, the GOP former senator for Maine who headed the Pentagon during Bill Clinton’s administration.

“If you go over to the Supreme Court, you see cut in stone, it is equal protection or equality under law, equality under law,” he explained. “So when he says law and order, he’s missing something. The word ‘justice’ has to be there, and that is what people of this country expect when they sign a contract with the U.S. government, that there will be laws, there will be justice, and so law and order.”

Cohen then recalled a professor once telling him that “liberty without order is a mess, but order without liberty is a menace.”

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/william-cohen-donald-trump-dictatorship-081355341.html

&feature=emb_logo

[sandensea]

1. And what's worse: most Republicans see it as an opportunity, not as the threat it is

Thank you, Secretary Cohen, for speaking up in a time when doing so, being a public figure, means a barrage of death threats from the "very fine people."

[LiberalArkie]

2. I have posted this several times, probably needs to be put up several times a day.

Thanks

[stillcool]

3. He mentions the Supreme Court...

and 'equality under the law' etched in stone. Where has he been these past 3 years? Has he not witnessed the decimation of 'law and order', regarding anything done by this President? Does he not see that it is already gone?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. You need to read the whole article

[stillcool]

6. yeah...I did.

it is just disheartening to me. The state we're in involves so much more than Donald.

[gopiscrap]

5. this guy was a republican senator from Maine fuck him

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. He was also a Secretary of Defense under a Democratic President

And I very much would like to hear what he wants to say.

Sorry if I’m not as enlightened as you are.

[gopiscrap]

8. to me fuck all republicans, he was still a repub when he was sec of the DoD

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. Well okay then. Nt

[bluedigger]

15. You need to study some history.

William Sebastian Cohen (born August 28, 1940) is an American politician, lawyer and author from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973–1979) and Senate (1979–1997), and as Secretary of Defense (1997–2001) under Democratic President Bill Clinton.[1]

Described as "a Republican moderate from Maine, something of a maverick centrist" by David Halberstam, Cohen had very good working relations with President Clinton and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and "almost ideal" collaboration with the Joint Chiefs of Staff;[2] however, he often clashed with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, whom he saw as "a grandstander, too outspoken on policy matters and too eager to use military force".[2]

During his first term in Congress, Cohen became deeply involved in the Watergate investigation. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, he was one of the first Republicans to break with his party, and voted for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. During this time, Time magazine named him one of "America's 200 Future Leaders". In July 1974 he said,

I have been faced with the terrible responsibility of assessing the conduct of a President that I voted for, believed to be the best man to lead this country. But a President who in the process by actor acquiescence allowed the rule of law and the Constitution to slip under the boots of indifference and arrogance and abuse.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cohen

We'd have a better country if we had even one Bill Cohen in the Senate today.

[Hekate]

12. Well yeah all Repubs should remain silent & not object to Trump, is that it?

Goodness me, we can do this all by ourselves, I'm sure.

[johnthewoodworker]

9. Too many of these morally bankrupt republicans are having their 'come to Jesus moment' about three

years too late. Cat grabber is not leaving. The republican coup will be complete soon. All of us need to be willing to do more than write an indignant post or sign an online petition.

[gopiscrap]

11. agreed

[erronis]

14. Maybe on script. "Everybody support us until before the elections, then act like you care about"

" the other stuff like freedom and rule of law and the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights."

Lindsey is a great example of pretending to be something while really being a traitor.

[Cha]

13. TY for saying that William Cohen.. we Got It. :(

[ananda]

16. They had a lot of help along the way.

From Ronald Reagan and admin;

From George W Bush and admin, including William Cohen.

Etc.