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babylonsister

(170,960 posts)
Thu Sep 6, 2018, 12:11 PM Sep 2018

Mutiny in the White House

http://prospect.org/article/mutiny-white-house

Mutiny in the White House
Peter Dreier
September 6, 2018
The Times’s anonymous op-ed calls to mind the World War II tale of a ship’s captain losing his marbles and seeking revenge.


If you haven't seen the 1954 film The Caine Mutiny, now's a good time to watch it. Humphrey Bogart plays Phillip Queeg, a navy captain who shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes the ship. To save the crew, the first officer relieves him of command. When Queeg gets word of the mutiny, he broadcasts this message over the ship's intercom:

This is the captain speaking. Some misguided sailors on this ship still think they can pull a fast one on me. Well, they're very much mistaken. Since you've taken this course, the innocent will be punished with the guilty. There will be no liberty for any member of this crew for three months. I will not be made a fool of. Do you hear me?


Fast-forward to the current occupant of the White House.

snip//

The anonymous writer is obviously a conservative. She/he opposes Trump because she/he thinks the president is out of control, unprincipled (“amoral” is the term the author uses), and dangerous. In that way, she/he agrees with a growing number of conservative pundits—George Will, William Kristol, Charles Sykes, Peggy Noonan, David Frum, Jennifer Rubin, David Brooks, and Steve Schmidt, among them—who have come out against Trump.

Their motives and reasons for opposing Trump are different from those of liberals and progressives who've led the "resistance" protest movement in the streets and in the campaigns to elect Democrats. The anti-Trump conservatives want to cleanse the conservative “brand” of this crude and cruel interloper. They want to return the GOP to core conservative principles, or at least what they consider to be its principles, including the rule of law. If some Republican whom they liked actually were elected president—she/he would clearly prefer someone like John McCain, but might settle for Marco Rubio or Nikki Haley—liberals and progressives would be opposed.

snip//

It will be interesting to watch how Trump reacts to this mutiny from within.

Like Captain Queeg, Trump is going nuts trying to figure out who squealed. It may lead him to purge many of his top staff and Cabinet officials (except his family members) and look even more suspiciously at people who have dirt about his personal life. Trump may even ask the FBI to investigate those he suspects wrote the op-ed to uncover who the culprit is. Will the FBI—or Attorney General Jeff Sessions—cooperate with this? The anonymous author, after all, has neither leaked any documents nor violated any laws.

Whether the FBI cooperates or not, will the story leak out that Trump asked the agency to track down the author and thereby make Trump look even more out of control? If so, how will Trump investigate this leak? Clearly the Times column is going to consume Trump for the next few months if not longer. As a result, his administration will become even more ineffective at getting things done. That's a good thing, too.
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gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
3. Don't forget the denouement
Thu Sep 6, 2018, 12:24 PM
Sep 2018

At the court martial, Captain Queeg finally loses his marbles before the court, ranting about missing strawberries and how any problems on the Caine were everyone else's fault. The skillful cross-examination by the defense attorney (Jose Ferrer) pushes Queeg over the edge. Afterwards, Queeg has been relieved of command and the mutineers are exonerated. The vindicated sailors adjourn to a bar and celebrate their victory.

Ferrer shows up some time during the third round of drinks. He's greeted enthusiastically by the sailors for getting them off. Ferrer thanks them, then goes on to lay into the men about their own failures. They could see for themselves that Queeg was unstable and his grip on command was slipping. But instead of helping Queeg, they all dog-piled on, ratcheting up the stress until Queeg finally snapped. They had betrayed their captain, but more importantly, they had betrayed the Navy. Ferrer raises his glass to toast the real author of the Caine Mutiny, the officer played by Fred MacMurray. MacMurray had undermined Queeg all along in subtle ways, encouraging the other officers to disrespect the command and hurt the Caine's readiness.

As Ferrer details MacMurray's under the table manipulations, the other officers realize their own contributions to the insubordination and lower their heads in shame. Ferrer gets done with his peroration, splashes his drink in MacMurray's face, and leaves the bar in disgust. MacMurray is humiliated but can't do or say anything since Ferrer had described his shameful behavior so accurately.

If Trump is Queeg, the anonymous Times author is Fred MacMurray. It remains to be seen whether anyone else in the White House has a sense of shame for their connivance.

dlk

(11,425 posts)
6. How Does the Anonymous Op-Ed Writer Think Trump Got into the White House in the First Place?
Thu Sep 6, 2018, 12:38 PM
Sep 2018

Seriously, they are part of the problem.

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