Illegality vs. danger

The CIA pulled one of its most important intelligence sources from Moscow in early 2017.

CNN initially reported the story. In its report, CNN claimed:

The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.

The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.

The clear implication is that the CIA was spooked by Trump's big mouth and feared that sources would be inadvertently outed because he doesn't know how to keep his trap shut.

In its own reporting on the story, the New York Times clarified that the CIA's concern predated the new administration:

As American officials began to realize that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2016 presidential election, the informant became one of the C.I.A.’s most important — and highly protected — assets. But when intelligence officials revealed the severity of Russia’s election interference with unusual detail later that year, the news media picked up on details about the C.I.A.’s Kremlin sources.

C.I.A. officials worried about safety made the arduous decision in late 2016 to offer to extract the source from Russia.

So Trump wasn't solely, or even primarily, responsible for the CIA's decision to extract this Russian source.

But can there be any doubt that other sources are nervous about the Blabbermouth-in-Chief?

As noted in the above quotation from CNN, Trump blew an Israeli intelligence source. He has had multiple private conversations with Putin, conversations whose contents he refuses to discuss and which he took deliberate care were not witnessed by any other U.S. person. If he were motivated solely by patriotism, he wouldn't have objected to the presence of others who could have attested to those conversations' contents.

In short, Trump has contempt not just for national secrets (as opposed to personal ones, i.e., his own) but for the national interest.

The usual defense of Trump's imbecilic handling of sensitive data is, "He's President. He can declassify anything he wants." And so he can, under the law.

And as every honest observer knows, THAT TOTALLY MISSES THE POINT.

Legal actions are not always wise ones.

If the president who blabbered the Israeli intelligence data to the Russians had been named "Obama", every Republican in the country would have screamed that Obama was a secret Muslim selling the country out. (A lot of them said that anyway.)

If the president who held private discussions with Putin, unwitnessed by any other American, had been named "Obama", every Republican in the country would have taken to the streets, torch and pitchfork in hand, screaming, "TRAITOR!!!".

But because the president who did these things is named "Trump", Republicans have pretended that "legality" is the only concern.

Bullshit.

Legality is not the issue, judgement is. And Trump's judgement is appalling. One could argue that it's nonexistent. He is a feckless, thoughtless moron incapable of comprehending the gravity of the national secrets with which his office is entrusted. Worse, he is devoid of the empathy needed to feel the weight of his responsibilities and to exercise his office's authority with commensurate discretion.

Spare me the "it's legal" argument. That's bullshit and we all know it.

Trump's a threat to everyone who puts his or her life on the line to acquire intelligence for this country.