Trump's intelligence divisiveness

The late Sen. John McCain called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a thug and a murderer". Indeed, dozens of slayings have occurred on Putin's watch including journalists and activists opposing his rule. Putin, a former Soviet KGB intelligence operative, has also ordered the invasion of several neighboring countries and expressed the desire to re-establish the power lost by the old Soviet Union.

When told by the U.S. intelligence services that Putin had deliberately attempted to interfere in our 2016 election, and North Korea still possessed nuclear weapons, the President suggested he trusted Putin's word over that of his own intelligence community. When the Homeland Security Department noted that illegal immigration at the southern border has been dropping since 2000 and is at an all-time low, the President claimed that he knew more about it than they did. When the President abruptly ordered our troops out of Syria, our military advised him against it. The President suggested he knew more than they did.

Our intelligence assets are the finest in the world. They have protected us for decades, and their operatives are as much soldiers as are members of the Army, Navy and Air Force. This president has consistently berated them, over ruled them, and refused to read their daily briefings. All the while praising Vladimir Putin.

If our chief executive is so carelessly dismissive of the finest intelligence and military minds in the world, we do indeed have a national emergency, and it isn't at the southern border.

WILL RICHARDSON, Jackson