We've seen the ruinous effect of President Donald Trump's placement of a de facto Roy Cohn - William Barr - at the top of the Department of Justice. And we're about to see that same kind of ruin with Trump's appointment of propagandist Richard Grenell as acting director of national intelligence.
Grenell, the current U.S. ambassador to Germany, is completely unqualified for the job, even in an acting capacity. He has no experience in intelligence or in managing large organizations - like the 17 agencies that will now report to him.
Yet he won the president's favor in the same way many of the president's men have - by loudly praising him and his agenda on Fox News.
And, no doubt, he has convinced Trump that he - like Barr - can be counted on to put the president's personal and political interests above those of national security.
The new appointment came earlier this week on the heels of a Trump meltdown when a senior U.S. intelligence official followed the law and, in a briefing, told House lawmakers that Russia wants to see President Trump reelected and already is tinkering with our 2020 primaries and general election.
Trump called his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, to the Oval Office and blamed him for the senior intelligence official's briefing, dressing Maguire down for being disloyal, according to both the Washington Post and the New York Times. On Wednesday the president announced he was replacing Maguire with Grenell.
(MORE: Trump looks for permanent national intelligence director)
You might recall that it also was Maguire, serving as acting director after Dan Coats's ouster last summer, who brokered a deal with the House Intelligence Committee to hand over the whistleblower's report on Trump's abuse of power in Ukraine. Coats, Trump's first DNI, was fired after infuriating the president both by publicly reporting and defending the intelligence agencies' overwhelming consensus that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump (and likely would interfere again), and by reporting that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear accord, which Trump would go on to tear up.
Are we sensing a repeating pattern here? We should be.
But this time, it's scarier.
The first time, with the Department of Justice, Trump became angry because former Attorney General Jeff Sessions followed the law and ethics rules and recused himself in the Russia probe that followed the 2016 election. Trump fired Sessions and appointed Barr - who has proven quite malleable.
This time, Trump became furious when intelligence officials followed the law and informed members of both parties about what their intel indicated about new Russian efforts. Trump is replacing Maguire for allowing such heresy - primarily, according to reports, because Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-California, who led the impeachment proceedings against Trump, was one of the lawmakers who heard the briefing. Trump says Schiff and Democrats will "weaponize" these revelations.
Dwell for just a moment on what this means. Our intelligence officials have concluded that another effort to subvert our election is underway. But Trump's big concern is that this could be used against him, not that our election is in grave danger of being compromised.
Truth-telling is the last thing Donald Trump wants to hear. Truth telling is beyond his comprehension. He prefers - and increasing demands - alternative facts that match what he thinks or wants to do.
Worse, however, is the impact of his deluded understanding of what is right vs. what he wants.
With his twisted view, Trump regards any effort to protect the integrity of our elections as a firing offense. So out with the truth-tellers and in with the Barrs and Grenells and other Cohn-like ruthless political operators who stroke Trump's ego.
Further, it's not as though Trump is being duped. Our sad president has consistently said publicly that he would accept foreign election help - even invited it, even to tried to blackmail Ukraine into helping him.
Now, with Grenell, it seems he'll have another new Roy Cohn to lie to Congress and to us.
Whither democracy?