How to Ruin Your Reputation and Become a Laughing Stock Serving Under Donald Trump
A$AP & Robert "Rapper Hostage-man" O'Brien
In the latest case of reality mimicking fiction in the Trump administration, the White House has pulled out all the stops to get American rap singer Rakim Mayers, aka A$AP Rocky, out of a Swedish jail. Mayers, 30, was arrested by Stockholm police last month on charges of assault. He and his entourage had gotten into a street brawl under confusing circumstances that will be sorted out at their trial.
Donald Trump followed a phone call to Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven with - surprise! - a tweet: "Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We do so much for Sweden but it doesn't seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem!" (Next step: revenge tariffs.)
It gets better.
Trump then dispatched the State Department's Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Robert O'Brien on an all-expense-taxpayer-paid junket to Stockholm. O'Brien said he was in court to "support the members of the family and the American citizens." He added that the president "has made it very clear that he wants these individuals to come home as soon as possible."
This is how farcical our country has become, with a "foreign policy" that looks like it was written by the Monty Python team.
Where does one begin?
First, does our president not have anything better to do? While Central American kids are dying in their own filth at overcrowded border facilities, the number of shootings of African-Americans by white cops has been surging, public outrage rises over draconian anti-immigrant measures, the Impeachment Posse is closing in, and war may break out any moment with Iran, the U.S. president (reportedly at Melania's urging) is devoting his time to getting a U.S. citizen/street brawler sprung from Swedish law enforcement custody.
Second, having myself done consular work overseas, the standard procedure for dealing with arrest cases is to ensure an American is receiving fair treatment under the laws of the country where he or she was arrested, not to take a position on guilt or innocence. And in the case of democratic nations like Sweden, application of justice is deemed to be fair. The State Department's annual Human Rights Report assesses each nation's justice system. Russia's get low marks. Sweden's ranks among the highest.
Third, send a senior hostage negotiator? I mean, really?! Under a normal administration, the U.S. embassy would assign one of its consular officers to monitor Mr. Mayer's treatment. But the Monty Python team would send the guy responsible for getting hostages freed, e.g., Americans held by ISIS, the Taliban, North Korea. What kind of message does this send to Sweden and the world? Well, 1) we have a president who doesn't know his arse from his elbow in how to govern, and 2) he assumes Sweden is a lawless banana republic which he can push around. And he again proves he holds no respect for the rule of law - any nation's law.
This is yet another case of Trump betting the prestige of his office on a given matter, blustering and bullying to no effect, offending a friendly nation, resulting in embarrassment for him and the U.S. Then what? Send in Delta Force to liberate A$AP Rocky in Operation Rapper Rescue?
Now here's my message to Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Robert O'Brien:
Quit!
While you are not a career diplomat, you do have a distinguished background in the law and advising candidates for presidential office. Why piddle it all away doing clown antics for a mentally unstable and clearly criminal president? At 53, you have many more years to serve your country and your profession honorably. Instead you're becoming a laughing stock. Why allow yourself to be buried in the Trump administration's ever-expanding graveyard of reputations? Rather than being known as a distinguished lawyer and public servant, your legacy will be, "Oh yeah! That guy who went to Stockholm as a 'hostage' negotiator to free up a street brawling rapper from those nasty, thuggish Swedes. What a doofus. Another Trump toady made into a living, breathing joke." (Shaking head.)
I've written recently about how government officials need to sometimes question following orders. By not doing so, Robert O'Brien and his ilk are no better than the proper family men who ended up in the Nuremberg docks seven decades ago.
Can you tell the difference between today's GOP & the guys on the right?
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