Paul Rosenzweig is a Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Department of Homeland Security; Founder, the founder of Red Branch Consulting a firm that offers strategies on cyber-security and information security, and a Visiting Fellow of the Heritage Foundation.
He also served as a lawyer on Ken Starr’s inquisition of Bill Clinton.
He contributes to the Lawfare Blog, where, in this piece, he explains that he has had to abandon a book he was writing defending intelligence collection for the purpose of Homeland Defense.
Why has he spiked his book?
I’ll let Mr. Rosenzweig explain.
“The malignant deviancy of the Trump administration and Trumpist supporters in Congress continues apace. The decision of the House intelligence committee Republicans to close their investigation into Russian interference with the completely non-credible claim that they found no evidence of Russian interference is yet another sign of the moral and intellectual vacuuity of Trumpism. But it is also something more. It is, sadly, a sign that the liberal order of intelligence oversight is breaking down fatally. And therein hangs a tale—and the spiking of a book I've written…..
….My professional career has spanned presidents from Reagan to Trump. Of all except the last, I could confidently say that their basic commitment to the rule of law was undoubted. Of all except the last, I could also say that congressional oversight, while sometimes ineffective, served as a significant check on the misuse of power. I can no longer say that.
When Donald Trump was elected, I had a conversation with the publisher and said that I thought I could not do the book any more—at least not the way I wanted—because I thought I saw what was coming. The publishing house dissuaded me from stopping and told me that it hoped I was overreacting. I pushed forward with the book but remained deeply skeptical of my own conclusions.
The last straw for me was this week's announcement by Republicans in the House that they have found no evidence of collusion—directly contradicting what the special counsel has uncovered and revealing that the function of oversight is now dead in Congress. Thus two-thirds of my thesis (the premise of legality by the executive and oversight by the legislative) is now untenable. And I have 90,000 words that are no longer ones I am willing to publish.”
Rosenzweig end the piece with a short declarative sentence with which I wholeheartedly agree:
“Trumpism Delenda Est.”
This phrase was cribbed from the Latin Carthago delenda est (Carthage must be destroyed) which was bandied about in Rome prior to the Third Punic War which resulted in this:
Yes, Paul, Trumpism Delenda Est.
And a bulldozer taken to the ruins.