Republicans are using the New Orleans terrorist attack to make the case that Donald Trump’s national security nominees should be confirmed swiftly. Instead, it shows that they should be vetted especially carefully because of the importance of their jobs.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
After a US-born Army veteran killed 14 people in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Republicans rushed onto the airwaves and social media to make the case that this terrorist attack was somehow related to “open borders,” and that it is a reason to quickly confirm Donald Trump’s national security nominees.
We don’t need to say much about the former, which is either unintentionally moronic or intentionally deceitful, because that rhetoric speaks for itself.
“With the Biden ‘Open Border’s Policy’ I said, many times during Rallies, and elsewhere, that Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe,” Trump stated in a Truth Social Post on Thursday. “That time has come, only worse than ever imagined.”
Of course, in the case of the president-elect, it probably is both unintentionally moronic and intentionally deceitful.
So, let’s talk about the latter.
Ostensibly, the argument that this attack warrants the quick confirmation of Trump’s national security team seems to have some merit.
Here is incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) making the case for swift action:
“With reports of ISIS inspiration, the American people expect clear answers from the administration,” he said. “The threat posed by ISIS will outlast this administration, and this is a clear example of why the Senate must get President Trump’s national security team in place as quickly as possible.”
That certainly appears to make a bit more sense than suggesting that the decision of a native Texan to commit this atrocity is somehow tied to Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
But does it?
Well, it might, if this team did not consist of some dude Trump saw on TV and liked, a guy looking to settle scores with perceived enemies, and a lady who is susceptible to Russian propaganda and seemingly willing to spread it.
Sadly, however, the incoming president chose the crackerjack squad of Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, and Tulsi Gabbard to keep the country safe.
Therefore, assuming that there is a new wave of threats rolling toward the US (and that it does not come from far-right extremists, who may become a bit of an afterthought in the coming years), wouldn’t it be more prudent to apply an especially high bar to these nominees?
Of course it would.
All of them have some explaining to do, and, at a minimum, the American people deserve to have some peace of mind that Trump’s picks are up to the task of protecting them and won’t just pursue their own agendas.
If this really is a matter of urgency, then two things should happen: The first is that their nominations should be dealt with first. And the second is that senators from both parties should be especially rigorous when it comes to vetting the likes of Hegseth, Patel, and Gabbard… especially because all of them are raising a lot of red flags.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
