Dan Rather takes aim at 'unhinged, amoral' Trump in blistering takedown
Dan Rather, the former longtime anchor of CBS Evening News, tore into President Donald Trump on Monday night, calling the president an "unhinged, amoral man with a massive ego" after his brazen capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a piece for his news site, "Steady," Rather and his team penned a piece chiding Trump titled, "Fire, Aim, Read," and jabbing the president for not having "concepts of a plan," a reference to Trump's campaign claim admitting he didn't quite have a fleshed out health care plan of his own to replace the Affordable Care At.
"For those who think Donald Trump is doing a bad job of running one country, imagine him trying to run two," Rather wrote in the scathing piece. "Pity the Venezuelans who have lived under dictators for nearly three decades. Now they have an authoritarian-in-abstentia. Trump attempting to run the show from 2,000 miles away is a disaster in the making."
Over the weekend, Trump deployed U.S. military forces to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, without notifying Congress. The move was a direct violation of the War Powers Act, Rather wrote, noting that oil executives appeared to get tipped off of the plan instead. The pair now face drug trafficking and weapons charges in New York.
"The legal, moral, and political ramifications of such an abuse of power will become clearer as Maduro and Flores move through the justice system and Venezuela reorganizes after the sudden and deadly U.S. aggression," warned Rather. "This is what happens when an unhinged, amoral man with a massive ego and enormous power has no guardrails."
Rather also laid into the "sycophants" Trump has surrounded himself with, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio fumbled through Sunday talk shows offering vague answers about "changes of all kinds." Meanwhile, Trump himself was far more candid aboard Air Force One.
“We’re in charge. We’re going to run everything. We’re in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful and where the oil is allowed to freely come out.”
The startling admission caught Rather by surprise.
"What was that? Who said anything about oil?" he wrote.
Rather noted that Trump ostensibly campaigned as an isolationist, only to turn his back on his own campaign pledges. He left with a parting message about Trump's pals.
"Trump allies have long said to take him and his outrageous ideas seriously but not literally. After Saturday’s military action, they will have to change their tune. With guardrails long gone, we have to be ready for literally anything," Rather concluded.