GOP CONFIRMATION OF INAPPROPRIATE CANDIDATES HARMS THE COUNTRY

Another day another headline that should be from The Onion. Should be but it’s not. It’s now just another SOP headline coming from the Trump administration. The GOP Senate voted to confirm Joseph Kent as head of the National Counterterrorism Center, despite his support of the January 6 insurgents. Despite his embrace of multiple conspiracy theories. Even despite his attempts to alter intelligence reports. 
Now this former aide to Tulsi Gabbard, herself a pro in the realm of conspiracy, will head the NCC, created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to analyze and integrate intelligence relating to transnational terrorism, including threats to US interests at home and abroad. Kent has embraced a series of far-right conspiracies, including that the FBI played a role in the January 6 insurrection. He has had a past association with white-supremacist groups. He earlier this year pressured analysts at the National Intelligence Council, to alter a report that concluded the Venezuelan government did not direct the activities of the Tren de Aragua cartel. An analysis that undercut Trump’s rationale for deporting suspected gang members without due process under the Alien Enemies Act. He, like Gabbard, is a Russian fan. Shortly after Russia’s invasion, Kent described Putin’s demands on Ukrainian territory as “very reasonable.” 
And, the metric by which all promotions depend, he has repeated conspiracies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. It’s unbelievable that you continue to elevate the worst candidates to positions in the government that enable them to act out their worst tendencies. What has happened to GOP standards? In anything? Your whole party needs an intervention. Dereliction of duty no longer describes what we’re witnessing.