This Is Very Bad

For some time, Donald Trump has been threatening to yank the security clearances of anyone from previous administrations who publicly criticize him. To do so would be such an irrefutable authoritarian escalation that even Speaker Paul Ryan was obliged to comment that surely Trump was just "trolling people."

He was not.

Today, Trump revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump Regime.

Just yesterday, in fact, Brennan tweeted at Trump: "It's astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, and probity. Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, and honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation."

We have now crossed yet another line from which there will not be easy return, especially because the majority party in Congress abets Trump's tyranny.

Donald Trump revokes former CIA director John Brennan's security clearance because Brennan is a critic of Trump.

And Republicans keep silent about this authoritarian behavior because Trump is and has never been an anomaly of the Republican Party, but its inevitable final boss.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) August 15, 2018

This is very bad. And I regret to observe that it's a stark signal things are only going to continue to get worse.