President Trump must take care with his team
After the Michael Flynn fiasco, US President Donald Trump needs to be doubly careful in choosing candidates for his Cabinet. As it is, he has been struggling to have his team in place, even a month after assuming office. The Democrats have been less than helpful, seeking to delay, if not altogether block the clearance of his nominees. At times the Trump Administration has had to bulldoze its way in securing the endorsement. This may not be in robust democratic tradition, but it's also not fair on the Democratic Party's side to create hurdles in President Trump's effort to have his team in place. He has been elected in a free and fair poll process and the Democrats must respect the verdict. There is a element of churlishness in the manner they have been seeking to torpedo President Trump's choices. In the Flynn case, though, the fault lies more with the person in question.
Flynn, who took over the new National Security Advisor, has admitted to having inadequately briefed Vice President Mike Pence on the conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador just prior to the inauguration of the incoming President. Worse, Flynn said he had fed “incomplete information” to the Vice President. This is unpardonable, regardless of the reason he has given — that in the swirl of events in the pre-inauguration days, he committed the mistake. Someone who had misled or misinformed the Vice President could simply not have continued as the country's National Security Advisor. Flynn has had a sterling career track record as a three-star General. He had spent enough time in the public space to understand issues of sensitive nature. And Russia is a sensitive subject for the US, more so now since President Trump has been under fire for his ‘proximity' to Russian President Vladimir Putin and for deciding to pursue a line of close cooperation with Moscow. Even as the telephonic conversation exploded in the public domain, the Department of Justice had informed the White House that Flynn could be subjected to Russian blackmail. If reports that Flynn had discussed the issue of sanctions with Russia are true, then there was all the more reason for him to have briefed the Vice President and also the President, once the dust of the inauguration had settled.
The seriousness of the matter can be gauged by the fact that President Trump accepted the resignation of a key member of his Government, and also somebody whom he holds in high regard, without delay. Flynn had been an ardent supporter of Trump right through the presidential campaign. While Flynn's departure is an embarrassment to the Trump Administration, it's not the disaster that the President's critics are making it out to be. Wrong choices are often made; it's important they are corrected at the earliest. Trump's team has names that have been enormously successful in their careers. The important thing is that they must not bring conflict of interest in their new roles.