OPINION:
You know John Brennan’s gone too far in his anti-President Donald Trump rhetoric when even fellow anti-Trumping intel types begin to take him to task.
That’s just what happened this Sunday on television talk shows, from CNN to Fox News.
First, none other than ex-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said this on “State of the Union” on CNN: “I think John [Brennan] is subtle like a freight train and he’s going to say what’s on his mind. … But John and his rhetoric have become, I think, an issue in and of itself,” The Hill noted.
You don’t say.
Brennan’s Twitter feed is one long-running condemnation of this president — and it has been for some time. “Off his meds” is the phrase that comes to mind.
“If you were ’presidential,’ ” Brennan just wrote a few days ago, “you would focus on healing the rifts within our Nation, being truthful about the challenges we face, & showing the world that America is still that shining beacon of freedom, liberty, prosperity, & goodness that welcomes all.”
That was a tame one.
On July 16, Brennan wrote this: “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ’high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
Treasonous?
In June, he compared the White House clamp on illegal border crossings to the hypocritical injustices of the U.N. Human Rights Council, from which the Trump administration just withdrew.
“It is the height of irony,” he wrote, “that the U.S. is withdrawing from UN Human Rights Council when the Trump Administration is perpetrating such cruel human rights abuses involving children on our border. The Trump Administration is ruining America’s reputation for compassion & justice.”
No wonder the left loves Brennan — no wonder the mainstream media adore him. He’s the go-to, high-pedigree guy with pure hatred for this president. Not only can he be counted upon to slam whatever this White House does. But he’s also got the intel world credentials to make his rhetoric seem as if stemmed from “The Inside” — meaning, unquestionable.
Or rather — he did. That world just crumbled when Trump yanked his national security clearance. Since, his buddies have rallied behind him and used the yanking of the clearance to score even more political potshots against this president.
Apparently, though, the tide is turning. Joining Clapper in criticizing Brennan was retired Adm. Mike Mullen, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 to 2011.
On Fox, Mullen called Brennan “an extraordinary servant of the country.” And then he said this: “But I think he has been incredibly critical of the president and I think that has put him in a political place which actually does more damage for the intelligence community, which is apolitical.”
Indeed. What it does is drive home the point, the very Donald Trump point, of a Deep State. And what that does is entrench Trump supporters all the more.
Brennan, in an odd sort of way, may very well be a key aid in the re-election of the very man he detests, Donald Trump.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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