Bill Pulte was installed as the new acting director of national intelligence on Friday, and by Monday the “deep state” firings had already begun. This guy has absolutely no experience in intelligence. He’s a housing industry nepo baby (Grandpa runs a massive construction firm), and he seems to think the skills are transferrable as he’s already started gutting all 18 spy agencies.
Naturally, the guy tapped to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies has zero experience in intelligence, the military, or even a proper security clearance ahead of assuming the position. What he does have, though, is a documented history of using government power to go after Trump’s enemies. Look at his track record while running the Federal Housing Finance Agency: going after Letitia James, Adam Schiff, Lisa Cook, Jerome Powell, accusing them all of mortgage fraud.
How does that qualify him to run the government’s entire intelligence apparatus? Great question. It doesn’t. Because keeping the country safe from terrorist attacks, espionage, and cyber-warfare isn’t the job. Wielding government power as a weapon on behalf of Trump against his perceived enemies is. The only qualification that matters to Trump is complete and total fealty to Trump. And Pulte got on his knees to prove it. He lobbied hard for the job. He had strong endorsements behind him, too. Roger Stone allegedly pushed for him. Other MAGA insiders called him a “bulldozer,” which is exactly what Trump is looking for. He wants someone to go in, clean house, and demolish his opponents.
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And if this looks like just another instance of a completely incompetent Trump loyalist getting rewarded for prostrating themselves at the altar of the Godking, it’s not just that. The stakes on this one couldn’t be higher. Pulte has the ability to completely unravel our intelligence infrastructure just as this country faces serious security threats (of Trump’s own making, naturally).
Section 702 of FISA, which gives us the surveillance authority to monitor foreign threats, just lapsed, and both Democrats and Republicans cited Pulte’s appointment as the reason they blocked its renewal. That means our intelligence agencies are flying partially blind as we’re in the middle of a war with Iran that Trump started, and facing very real threats from Russia and China. The cuts at the National Counterterrorism Center in particular pose a real risk. This is an agency established in the wake of 9/11 that’s responsible for pooling intelligence across agencies. If Pulte succeeds at firing everyone there, we’ve lost exactly the people whose job it is to connect the dots before something happens. Which, ironically enough, is the exact intelligence failure that reportedly led to 9/11 in the first place.
This is the exact same playbook we’ve seen used at DOJ, DOD, State: gut the institution, install an unqualified Trump loyalist, and weaponize the position against his perceived enemies. It’s governing by pettiness. The lack of competence in these positions isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Trump wants useful idiots to do his bidding, and up until this point, it’s worked.
Only this time, the idiot’s playing with fire. Intelligence agencies handle the most serious security threats facing the country. When something goes wrong - and history tells us something will - who will be there to handle it? More importantly, who will have to answer for it?
This is why Trump wants a bunker under his new ballroom - the rest of us are fucked
Trump wants terrorist attacks. He doesn’t care one bit about the American public.