Dear Commons Community,

Former CIA Director John Brennan sharply criticized President Trump in a Washington Post op-ed published on Friday.  He commented:

The president “has shown highly abnormal behavior by lying routinely to the American people without compunction, intentionally fueling divisions in our country and actively working to degrade the imperfect but critical institutions that serve us,” Brennan writes.

Brennan says Trump’s actions are based on how they will “personally help or hurt him.”

“For more than three decades, I observed and analyzed the traits and tactics of corrupt, incompetent and narcissistic foreign officials who did whatever they thought was necessary to retain power. Exploiting the fears and concerns of their citizenry, these demagogues routinely relied on lies, deceit and suppression of political opposition to cast themselves as populist heroes and to mask self-serving priorities,” Brennan adds. “It never dawned on me that we could face such a development in the United States.”

Brennan has been an outspoken critic of Trump.

Today, Donald Trump simultaneously lied about the Iranian nuclear deal, undermined global confidence in US commitments, alienated our closest allies, strengthened Iranian hawks, & gave North Korea more reason to keep its nukes. This madness is a danger to our national security,” Brennan tweeted on May 8.

“Senator [Mitch] McConnell & Speaker [Paul] Ryan: If Mr. Trump continues along this disastrous path, you will bear major responsibility for the harm done to our democracy,” Brennan wrote in another tweet on May 20. “You do a great disservice to our Nation & the Republican Party if you continue to enable Mr. Trump’s self-serving actions.”

In the Post op-ed, Brennan says he will “continue to speak out loudly and critically until integrity, decency, wisdom — and maybe even some humility — return to the White House.”

Integrity, decency, wisdom, and humility – oh my!

Tony