Here's a new abuse of power by Trump that should alarm you

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The Plum Line • Opinion
Here’s a new abuse of power by Trump that should alarm you

By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
Feb. 7, 2020 at 10:11 a.m. EST

The big danger emerging from President Trump’s acquittal isn’t just that he has learned his whole party is unprepared to constrain any future abuse of power he undertakes. It’s that he has learned his party will, with a few stray exceptions, wholeheartedly support and even actively participate in it. ... So what will this look like going forward? ... In the immediate future, even if we don’t see a single, monstrous new scandal emerge, we might instead witness a slow accumulation and acceleration of insidiously incremental abuses of power that, taken together, continue to erode the rule of law.

Here’s a case in point, one that will take on increasing salience as the 2020 election churns forward: Trump’s abuse of the classification process. ... This may sound dry and wonky. But it could be enormously consequential. ... Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has called on the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to undertake a review of whether the administration is over-classifying government information to keep it hidden from public view to protect Trump.

We already have examples of this. Democrats on the House impeachment inquiry demanded declassification of closed-door testimony by a top aide to Vice President Pence about his Sept. 18 call with the Ukrainian president. ... The administration refused. Democrats continued to insist it showed Pence had deeper knowledge of Trump’s Ukraine shakedown than publicly known. But this information was kept classified and was never aired at Trump’s Senate trial.

“What we know is that the president sees classification as a way to advance his political interests,” Murphy told me in an interview. “He sees that he can use classification to keep embarrassing information from the public.”

{snip}

Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs

[Pacifist Patriot]

1. Kick. This is extremely important!!!

I work for a federal contractor that deals with classification levels. As Sargent point out, improper classifications have very real consequences.

[Perseus]

2. They have been doing that since day one

Anyone who doesn't understand that the "real big evil" ideas come from trump is mistaken, he only thinks about rewinding anything Obama did, other than that, like the caged children, separation of families, tax cuts, etc., those come from the crooks behind the scenes.

trump IS A DECOY, he makes a lot of noise, has everyone enraged and suffering anxiety, and the crooks have been working diligently behind the scenes for almost four years now, that is why the acquitted him, they are involved, they are guilty, they are compromised.

trump is only worried about putting money in his pocket and that of his children, but major evil legislation is being done behind the curtains while the DECOY keeps as all looking the other way. How many times have we heard "the administration is cancelling this or that?" or passing bills and we only get to know about it after the fact?

They are not incompetent, they are just plain evil.

[DENVERPOPS]

6. Amen to that!

The republicans are only using Trump as a Daily diversion to the daily unscrupulous shit they are shoving thru daily.

Trump would not have existed for a single minute after the inauguration if not for the Republican Senate. While Trump serves the purpose of diverting everyone's attention all day every day, the Republicans in the Senate and Trump's minions are shoving massive crap thru without anyone paying attention.

Of course with the media being 80+% owned by Republicans, they aid and abet the smoke screen........

[Marcuse]

7. Judges, Tax Cuts and Deregulation for the Greedy One Percent.

[Skittles]

8. excellent analysis

worthy of a heart; yes INDEED

[iluvtennis]

3. We know they are over classifying info - like they did with Jennifer Williams (Pence assistant) and

how they put transcripts of trump's calls with certain world leaders in vault intended for highest classified info.

This shit needs to end.

[erlewyne]

4. Conspiracy is like drugs

Once you get in you can't get out.

Well, I just wanted to try it.

I really feel bad about that.

[The Mouth]

5. Not that we've been to wonderful when in power

The amount of classified stuff has been growing regardless of who is in power.

Once we get the Presidency back, we need to sunset every classified document: 10 years and public unless it's the actual name of a secret agent.

The government should only be allowed to classify one banker's box worth of stuff a year, single spaced, 12 point type.