This story by a CIA employee who worked under Pompeo says what we all kind of knew about how the government works under Donald Trump. He tells the story of an operation overseen by his boss at the time:
Unfortunately, on this evening, at some level within the Pentagon, there was a perception that the CIA had not been fully transparent, and was unnecessarily sidelining finite military resources needed to continue counterinsurgency efforts against Taliban units engaged with Afghan partner forces. At least, that was the message that had made it to Pompeo from a frustrated senior Pentagon official. This prompted the director to call my boss and unleash a verbal barrage of insults, humiliations and curses more familiar from my days as a Marine recruit on Parris Island’s drill deck as opposed to coming from a member of the president’s Cabinet.
The revealing and most disconcerting aspect of this episode was not that Pompeo presumed the worst from his workforce before getting the full story, nor his vicious dressing down of a dedicated senior official and decorated officer. Rather, it was what caused him to be so furious in the first place: The director was worried that the news would come to President Donald Trump’s attention. Anything that could somehow embarrass the president, or make him appear weak, had to be avoided in order to insulate those in his orbit like Pompeo, who had his eyes on yet bigger and better things.
The president’s advisers knew their own political futures depended on staying in Trump’s favor and providing him with so-called “successes.” Therefore, Pompeo prioritized shielding Trump from news he didn’t want to hear, an approach to the job that sometimes subjugated the country’s interests to those of the president. Concerned more about his own standing with the president, Pompeo also refused to provide the CIA workforce with any words of support in the face of Trump’s repeated attacks on it, fearing such encouragement would anger Trump.
This dynamic continues under the more qualified Gina Haspel which explains her clapping like a trained seal at Trump’s State of the Union address last week.
I know this seems obvious. After all, we see them all laughing and cheering for him over the stupidest things and going out of their way to lick his boots whenever possible. But it is nonetheless chilling to see this playing out in these national security and law enforcement areas. He is a vindictive barbarian and there is no doubt in my mind that if he gets a second term we could all fall in their crosshairs. And I don’t think there will be anyone within the government who will even try to go around him.
He’s changed the entire culture and people are getting used to it.