Trump’s scorecard — pass or fail?

To borrow from a running gag, Trump’s scorecard among the “caliber of” preeminent US presidents falls to the “lowest rank.” The great American thinkers like James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Adams and Thomas Paine must be spinning in their graves over the existential chaos Donald Trump has brought to the US and the world, short of the demise of the good old US empire.

In fairness to Trump, his rather Zionist if unilateral act of staging the US-Israeli attack on Iran, without congressional approval, in principle, has anchorage on a historical precedent, the reason no domestic law, convention, or soft power could effectively stop the modern-day Hitler from what luminously constitutes a “crime against humanity.”

To otherwise invoke the 25th Amendment is not without friction, whereupon initiating it could be tad difficult. The original Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution dealt with these matters, viz: “In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”

Alternatively, in a row of executive orders, the last culminated in Executive Order (EO) 12333 signed on 4 December 1981, titled “United States Intelligence Activities” where Section 2.11 thereof reads, viz: “No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage, in assassination.”

It was President Gerald Ford who signed EO 11905 in 1976 following the CIA scandals. President Ronald Reagan reaffirmed it in 1981 but in broader language that covers anyone “acting on behalf” of the US. Still, it’s with silent ambiguity whether interpreting the law means its “application is during peacetime or during times of declared war.”

Pragmatically, nothing succeeds that operates in a void. If one scans the entire historical horizon, the activities of the US government are replete with documented cases of the US using the Central Intelligence Agency as a conduit to launch coups, regime changes, targeting leaders for either assassination or detention under the guise of self-defense against imminent threats, terrorism, or nuclear ambition. All these constitute its bogeyman in order to perpetuate US interests in countries or allies under its security umbrella. Its rhetoric, nay, narrative frames its overarching national security roadmap that fully compliments its countervailing economic agenda.

For the sake of policy, even legal, context, there was issued Executive Order 11905 that prohibits “any member of the US government to engage or conspire to engage in political assassination.” Arguably, this ban was affirmed by subsequent presidents.

Here’s the rub, Achilles heel, if you will. Theoretically interlocked, the US government foregrounded the argument that “targeted killings of leaders during active armed conflict or self-defense against imminent threats” are not deemed “illegal assassinations.”

Ten years ago, Hilary Clinton fairly warned of Donald Trump as commander-in-chief, particularly of him “making life or death decisions on behalf of the American people” as now exemplified by this proxy war against Iran.

Worse, some dated cases with direct CIA involvement, include: 1) “Chile (1973) — overthrow of democratically-elected President Salvador Allende after a military coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power; 2) Brazil (1964) — US-sponsored military coup that overthrew President João Goulart, leading to 21 years of military dictatorship; 3) Che Guevara (Bolivia, 1967) — execution of the Cuban revolutionary leader in Bolivia; 4) Osama bin Laden (Pakistan, 2011) — killed by US Navy SEALs in a raid after years of CIA tracking; and 5) Moammar Gadhafi (Libya) — slain following a 2011 NATO-backed uprising as supported by intelligence services.