1. United States
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Another day in the spiraling descent of the United States of America. Not a day passes without more displays of the belligerent incompetence of the Trump administration, but on day 63 there were two revelations that provided new levels of clarity. In the second, it was reported that 18 of the highest level national security officials in the Trump Administration used a nongovernmental communication service to discuss, in detail, war plans, specifically for recent raids in Yemen. The depth of the ineptitude of not one or two, but eighteen of the highest Trump Administration officials was made more egregious by the fact that a reporter was somehow included among the addressees for the email thread, and that inclusion was not noticed. Further, the shallowness of the concerns of these Trump officials was laid bare, for example, when one of them suggested the attacks should be delayed by a month because they could disproportionately improve conditions for Europe at a moment when Trump is trying to apply pressure on Europe. And, arguably, by the shallowness of their mutual patting-on-the-back reactions once the U.S. raids began. Not a single one of the 18 Trump national security officials recognized their actions were national security breaches and almost certainly illegal. And by the end of day 64 the Trump Administration had definitively confirmed the veracity of the report. Then, before the Senate Intelligence Committee, the National Security Director refused to discuss her involvement, the CIA Director confirmed his involvement, and the FBI Director begged off. Of course, President Trump brushed it all off as a minor glitch — after all, the first in two whole months of his new Administration. It was just another everyday no-harm-no-foul event. As usual, the situation begs credulity. Trump and his senior national security staff do not see that risks that such behaviors present? That leaves us with only two possible conclusions. They are either incompetent or reckless, and, by all appearances, likely both. The unending belligerent incompetence of Trump and his Administration seem every day clearer, but revelations on days 63-64 seem like they ought to approach a seriousness that even Trump’s most loyal disciples should begin to see there is no foundation under the Trump Administration other than his own insatiable desire for self-aggrandizement. The Congress of the United States is constitutionally charged with oversight of the President and the executive branch. Serious damage to the function of the U.S. government has already been done by Trump and his Administration. The levels of national security incompetence documented on day 63-64 cry out for a Congress that stands up to recognize and carry out its duty.