The liberal website Vox has recently released an article and video that calls for its adherents to not trust their own federal government, so long as President Trump is in office. This coming from the Editor-in-chief of Vox.
The Video, which was posted to the company’s YouTube channel, began with Editor-in-chief Ezra Klein melting down: “Donald Trump’s Presidency has blown into a crisis for America”. He then went on to say: “So long as Donald Trump is President, the actions of the U.S. government and the men and the women who work for it cannot be trusted.”
Klein goes on to justify his statement by diving head first into a sea of hypotheticals and conspiracy theories, stating “Imagine Trump asked for loyalty and this person immediately agreed. We would never know that conversation had happened, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation would now be serving Trump, not the American people.” Ignoring the fact that there is literally no evidence that this has happened, Klein goes on with his conspiracy theory:
And this is what scares me: It might have already happened. On Wednesday, Trump nominated Christopher Wray to replace James Comey as FBI director. How do we know the reason Trump chose Wray over all the other candidates isn't because Wray said “Yes, I will be loyal to you.” Is what I'm saying fair to Wray? Maybe not. Maybe he didn't do any of that. But this is a cloud of suspicion the US government will be under so long as Donald Trump is president.
Even he realizes that he is grasping at straws to delegitimize Wray. In the connected article on the Vox website, Klein quotes from the article of a fellow Vox journalist who wrote that Wray “has one critically disqualifying attribute — he interviewed for the job with Trump, and Trump decided he wanted to appoint him.” That’s right, Wray can’t be FBI director because the President of The United States thinks he can do a good job.
Below is a transcript of the portion of the video:
Ezra Klein: So long as Donald Trump is president, the actions of the US government and the men and the women who work for it cannot be trusted.
(...)
KLIEN: Of course he asked him [Comey] to protect his friend Michael Flynn. It's a height of naivete to believe this same story isn’t playing out elsewhere in Trump's Administration, to believe that it ends with James Comey, or to believe that every public servant's Trump tries to intimidate or asks for loyalty will fare as well or have as much integrity as James Comey.
KLIEN: Imagine Trump asked for loyalty and this person immediately agreed. We would never know that conversation had happened, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation would now be serving Trump, not the American people. And this is what scares me: It might have already happened. On Wednesday, Trump nominated Christopher Wray to replace James Comey as FBI director. How do we know the reason Trump chose Wray over all the other candidates isn't because Wray said yes, I will be loyal to you. Is what I'm saying fair to Wray? Maybe not. Maybe he didn't do any of that. But this is a cloud of suspicion the US government will be under so long as Donald Trump is president.
KLIEN: We know Trump holds an office gives him vast power for intimidation, for vengeance. We know he's a man who will use that power to serve his own ends. We know that people who survive in Donald Trump's employ are those who carry out his commands. We know that those who refuse get fired, like James Comey. In the American system, the presidency is an office bounded by constitutional limits and competing institutions, yes, but it is just as importantly bounded by the morality and personal rectitude of whoever occupies it. There was little doubt before Comey’s presentation that Trump was of poor moral character. There is no doubt after it. Trump is dangerously unfit for this role. The defense cannot be, maybe the President United States isn't “technically” a criminal. And then only maybe. I would ask Republicans hearing this to imagine the word Trump replaced with Clinton or with Obama. How would they feel if everything I've described here was done by Hillary Clinton? How afraid would they be if it was President Obama acting like this?
