American Resistance: the Deep State should be commended

 Trump was opinionated and used to getting his way or hurting those who objected.  In his campaign he made a lot of provocative statements that appealed to different voter segments that helped to elect him.  Russia may have thought they could control him or that America in chaos would benefit them, but they also used resources to help get him elected.

Perhaps because he was surprised to get elected he and his team were unprepared.  That enabled a resistance to slow him down, but unfortunately far from learning how to better serve America he has learned how better to serve his by now obsessed and somewhat demented self.  "American Resistance" was published in 2022 and depicts what Trump has revealed himself to be and how some government employees did what they could to alleviate the stubborn ineptitude.  The author predicted Trump's second term strategy.

Immigration was clearly a key motivating factor for voters.  Trump had suggested that Mexico was sending rapists and murderers.  At various times he instituted travel bans for a variety of countries most often black or brown revealing his motives were driven by bigotry more than security.  Rex Tillerson was declared State Secretary and after a while Tillerson describing Trump  "as a f-----g moron" and resigned.

Many dedicated government employees felt a dilemma:  they could stay on and try to mitigate the damage or they could make a statement and resign.  Some very good people did resign.  Others took advantage of the opportunity.  

Kirstjen Nielsen was chief of staff for the Department of Home Security developed strategies for dealing with the Trump team.  One was to offer alternatives in an effort to find out what he really wanted and explain options within legal rules.  Another was to explain consequences to a wider range of those affected.  She had a list of contacts to deal with specific issues.  She wasn't always successful, but in general did mitigate the overall disasters in her realm.

Trump was sensitive to the notion that Russia helped him, although he publicly asked for it.  The only adjustment made to the Republican platform was to hold back funds for Ukraine.  Before he made his infamous "perfect call" to Volodymyr Zelenskyy he had blocked more funds for Ukraine, but didn't mention that so he could tie it to a threat.  It became obvious that Trump thought he could get Zelenskyy to get damaging information on rival Joe Biden.  Some staff realized this was an impeachable act and before too long it was used for an impeachment proceeding.  He was forced to release the funds on this occasion.  Trump took revenge by forcing out an ambassador and a general who disappointed him.   

H.R. McMaster, a general replaced Mike Flynn as national security advisor, adopted the strategy of restricting who had access to Trump as he learned Trump was too easily distracted.  Knowing what he did, McMaster was quoted as saying "it was incontrovertible that Russia interfered in 2016" and shortly afterward he resigned before he could have been fired.  

Many earlier blog posts could have been selected, but perhaps these two explain Russian interference.:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/06/house-of-trump-house-of-putin.html  and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/10/freezing-order.html

When the Covic Pandemic first got attention, Trump saw it as annoying.  His team had already discarded  the pandemic plan set up by Obama.  Dr. Anthony Fauci found himself very restricted, forbidden at one point talking directly to networks.  He would give a podcast to Harvard and let CNN pick it up.  He found Trump not paying as much attention to rational advice as to uninformed people.  Trump advocated using bleach to cure Covid without out much resistance, until Fauci challenged it.  There was more co-operation with the military who were concerned with personnel safety and used masks and distancing.

George Floyd's death at the hands of police created another crisis.   It had been witnessed and videotaped and quickly went viral.  For years Trump had berated Black Lives Matter as being disruptive.  He tried to get the military involved in putting down protests, but encountered a lot of resistance to that.

As the election approach there was concern over security, but they found Trump upset over any discussion related to what he called the "Russian Hoax."  It has been pointed out that the Russians did indeed try to influence the results.

After the election he refused to accept the results.  Some staff tried to restrain him, but were only partially successful.  The January 6th insurrection was witnessed by millions around the world.  Mike Pence has been credited with stopping Trump's desire to nullify the election and throw back the decision to the states, however he had to be coaxed and wavered at some of the early steps.  The police took the brunt of the attack suffering deaths and injuries to 150 officers.  Many staff tried to talk sense into Trump and finally he called off the rioters.

Afterwards Trump fired "unreliable" staff and replaced them with some he felt more loyal.

Rothkopf was concerned Trump was readying to make another run.  On one of his campaign speeches he threatened to legislate for the president to be able to fire anybody and "bring the deep state... to heel."  We know the Trump team has planned to do a more thorough job to make America fit their image. 

One view might be that Trump's first term was a rehearsal.  In the future we have to be concerned how Trump will react to humiliation.  On another hand there are plenty of right wingers ready to pick up where Trump has left off.  Will voters "wake" up?