{"id":587938,"date":"2023-08-21T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/tracking-americas-freefall-down-the-rabbit-hole-of-mad-politics\/"},"modified":"2023-08-21T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T17:00:00","slug":"tracking-americas-freefall-down-the-rabbit-hole-of-mad-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/tracking-americas-freefall-down-the-rabbit-hole-of-mad-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"#Tracking America\u2019s freefall down the rabbit hole of mad politics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/US_flag_mississippi_05192023_AP_.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re all mad here. I\u2019m mad. You\u2019re mad.\u201d<br \/>\n<cite>The Cheshire Cat,\u00a0\u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/works\/alices-adventures-in-wonderland\">Alice in Wonderland\u201d<\/a><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If anyone thought otherwise, American politics has long since crashed through Alice\u2019s looking glass into\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/works\/alices-adventures-in-wonderland\">Wonderland<\/a>. The Cheshire Cat is right. \u201cWe\u2019re all mad here.\u201d How else can the current political madness be explained?<\/p>\n<p>Miles of <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>print and gallons of ink have failed to\u00a0gr<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>le with this question. And no rational or objective answers are credible or even believable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>A former president had been\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/interactives\/2023\/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list\/\">indicted<\/a>\u00a0four times with\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/interactives\/2023\/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list\/\">91 charges<\/a>\u00a0leveled against him. They are\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/interactives\/2023\/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list\/\">serious<\/a>, including conspiracy to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/interactives\/2023\/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list\/\">obstruction<\/a>\u00a0of justice in the matter of illegal possession and storage of highly classified material.<\/p>\n<p>The current president has allowed his\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-55805698\">relationship<\/a>\u00a0with his eldest surviving child to cloud his judgment, trapping him in what, at best, can be seen as serious perceived\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-55805698\">conflicts<\/a>\u00a0of interest that could, and the operative word is\u00a0<em>could<\/em>, lead to allegations that Joe Biden is involved in some form of criminal activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But the Wonderland analogy does not stop there.<\/p>\n<p>War\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2023\/aug\/20\/russia-ukraine-war-at-a-glance-what-we-know-on-day-543-of-the-invasion\">rages<\/a>\u00a0in Ukraine. As the highly anticipated Ukrainian offensive to recover territory unlawfully seized by Russia faces a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2023\/aug\/20\/russia-ukraine-war-at-a-glance-what-we-know-on-day-543-of-the-invasion\">stubborn<\/a>\u00a0defense, the White House is increasingly criticized. One critique is that it\u2019s not supplying sufficient war material and support\u00a0quickly\u00a0enough for Kyiv to achieve its objectives. The other is that the second anniversary of the disastrous\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/daily-comment\/the-evacuation-of-afghanistan-never-ended\">evacuation<\/a>\u00a0from Kabul is a reminder that past administration blunders may not be confined to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>Then there are the environmental\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2023-08-14\/california-maui-hawaii-fire\">disasters<\/a>:\u00a0destructive wildfires in Maui and extreme weather off the coast of Southern California with\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/weather\/live-blog\/hurricane-hilary-live-updates-storm-warning-flooding-california-rcna100823\">Hurricane Hilary<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a curious name that Alice might observe.\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/weather\/live-blog\/hurricane-hilary-live-updates-storm-warning-flooding-california-rcna100823\">Unprecedented rainfalls<\/a>\u00a0are likely and cannot be dismissed merely as changing weather patterns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Congress is not in session while on summer recess. Yet, it has\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/what-is-a-government-shutdown-and-why-are-we-likely-to-have-another-one\/\">not approved<\/a>\u00a0all the required authorization and appropriation bills to prevent a government shutdown on Oct. 1st.\u00a0 And Sen. Tommy Tuberville\u2019s (R-Ala.)\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2023\/08\/12\/military-promotions-blocked-tuberville\/\">hold on military promotions<\/a>\u00a0could cause a national security crisis.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>This is one of the vagaries of the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/constitution-transcript\">Constitution<\/a>. Nowhere does that document give the authority to any member of the Senate to place a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/constitution-transcript\">hold<\/a>\u00a0on a nominee. This affects about\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2023\/08\/12\/military-promotions-blocked-tuberville\/\">300<\/a>\u00a0senior officers, including all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Each of the current service chiefs has been made \u201cacting\u201d chief. However, the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/105th-congress\/senate-bill\/2176\">Federal Vacancies Reform Act\u00a0<\/a>specifies that a person can serve only in an \u201cacting\u201d capacity for\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/105th-congress\/senate-bill\/2176\">210<\/a>\u00a0days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If Tuberville does not change his mind or is not induced to do so, the Joint Chiefs of Staff will have no legal authority to hold those positions. Suppose the president orders U.S. forces into action, or Congress passes an authorization to use force. Without a\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/constitution-transcript\">legally<\/a>\u00a0authorized chain of command, how is that done?<\/p>\n<p>To return to \u201cAlice and Wonderland,\u201d things are getting \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/quotes\/714245-curiouser-and-curiouser-cried-alice-she-was-so-much-surprised\">curiouser and curiouser<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The first Republican presidential debate takes place in two days. Trump says he won\u2019t participate. Will it make a difference? Already, anti-Trumpers\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/aug\/20\/trump-disqualified-constitution-section-3-14th-amendment#:~:text=But%20Calabresi%20said%20that%20Trump,than%20in%20the%20criminal%20prosecutions.\">are citing<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/constitution.congress.gov\/browse\/amendment-14\/\">14th Amendment<\/a>\u00a0as grounds for disqualifying a presidential candidate who supported insurrection or rebellion. Passed after the Civil War, such an action to remove Trump, if approved by a court, would im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely end up in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine if the Supreme Court voted 6-3 along party lines to allow Trump to stand for office. When the court ruled in\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/531\/98\/\">Bush v. Gore<\/a>\u00a0in 2000 to end the Florida presidential recount, Vice President Al Gore\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/story?id=122220&amp;page=1\">accepted the finding<\/a>. Regardless of whether the court ruled to disqualify Trump or not, would public response overwhelm the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/January-6-U-S-Capitol-attack\">Jan. 6<\/a>\u00a0riot and desecration of the Capitol?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the past,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/deadliest-events-united-states\">crises<\/a>\u00a0came in ones or twos. Rarely did the nation face three or more crises at the same time. The\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.federalreservehistory.org\/essays\/stock-market-crash-of-1929\">Stock Market Crash of 1929<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalww2museum.org\/war\/topics\/pearl-harbor-december-7-1941\">Pearl Harbor<\/a>\u00a0in 1941, the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jfklibrary.org\/learn\/about-jfk\/jfk-in-history\/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president\">Kennedy assassination<\/a>\u00a0in 1963, Saddam Hussein\u2019s 1990\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1989-1992\/gulf-war\">invasion of Kuwait<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.911memorial.org\/911-faqs\">9\/11\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0and Russia\u2019s February 2022\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/best-countries\/slideshows\/a-timeline-of-the-russia-ukraine-conflict\">assault on Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0were single crises. And even the combination of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/history\/famous-cases\/watergate\">Watergate<\/a>\u00a0and the October 1973\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1969-1976\/arab-israeli-war-1973\">Arab-Israeli War<\/a>\u00a0was a unique multi-crisis.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But how can the nation respond to two, three or more simultaneous events, especially if each reflects different environmental, political, economic, financial or military crises?\u00a0I have repeatedly raised this question in this publication and in my book, citing seven overriding \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Fifth-Horseman-New-MAD-Existential\/dp\/1637581394\">Massive Attacks of Disruption and Destruction<\/a>\u201d for which we are woefully unprepared in dealing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alice\u2019s Wonderland may not be the best analogy. But, much like the title character, unless or until this nation is prepared to realize that we collectively face a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> of potentially existential dangers, we will not be safe or secure. The choice is ours.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/harlankullman\"><em>Harlan K. Ullman<\/em><\/a><em>, Ph.D., is a senior advisor at Washington, D.C.\u2019s Atlantic Council and the prime author of the \u201cshock and awe\u201d military doctrine. His 12th book was \u201c<\/em><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Fifth-Horseman-New-MAD-Existential\/dp\/1637581394\"><em>The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD<\/em><\/a><em>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/campaign\/4162222-tracking-americas-freefall-down-the-rabbit-hole-of-toxic-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all mad here. I\u2019m mad. You\u2019re mad.\u201d The Cheshire Cat,\u00a0\u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d If anyone thought otherwise, American politics has long since crashed through Alice\u2019s looking glass into\u00a0Wonderland. The Cheshire Cat is right. \u201cWe\u2019re all mad here.\u201d How else can the current political madness be explained? Miles of newsprint and gallons of ink have failed&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":587939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/US_flag_mississippi_05192023_AP_.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134355,134343,43485,4941,72150,70867,144459,124783,991,23261,145000,141939,145140,135954,145141,144847,70588],"class_list":["post-587938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-1230-report","tag-campaign","tag-climate-change","tag-donald-trump","tag-extreme-weather","tag-hunter-biden","tag-hunter-biden-investigation","tag-international","tag-joe-biden","tag-lgbtq","tag-maui-wildfires","tag-politics-of-the-united-states","tag-reactions-to-the-2021-2022-russo-ukrainian-crisis","tag-tommy-tuberville","tag-trump-gop-debate","tag-trump-indictments","tag-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}