I get your basic premise, Vanessa. I might quibble with you about whether or not too much information is being classified. I would argue that's probably true--to me, only the stuff that really, really needs to be classified should be classified. But that is beside the point. We have arrived at a place where we aren't even concerned about what's IN all those classified documents. Not really. We'd rather gloat (if we're talking about the classified documents in trump's possession) or make excuses (if we're talking about the ones in Biden's). Oh, what to do about Pence's?! In a sane world (will we ever return to that?), we would carefully determine what potential harm might have resulted from trump's and Biden's and Pence's possession of classified materials. Then we would figure out what guardrails we need to ensure that future presidents (and as you noted, Senators) will not be able to mishandle the classified information that they receive. But honestly, there's no sex appeal in talking about what the real problem is and what real changes need to be made. Oh, no. It's much more titillating for the media to make hay about how Biden has lost all standing to criticize trump; that riles both Biden's and trump's bases. Bingo! A media circus is born. And nourished. So you and I definitely agree--2024 is crucial if we want to see any meaningful change to put the country back on track. And maybe then we'll be able to tackle the question of what SHOULD be classified and how it should be handled.
Evelyn yeah there is definitely room for a debate overall about to be classified but I agree with you that that's not the point here. Totally agree with everything here. Yeah we just need to have a conversation in the real world! -Vanessa
I get your basic premise, Vanessa. I might quibble with you about whether or not too much information is being classified. I would argue that's probably true--to me, only the stuff that really, really needs to be classified should be classified. But that is beside the point. We have arrived at a place where we aren't even concerned about what's IN all those classified documents. Not really. We'd rather gloat (if we're talking about the classified documents in trump's possession) or make excuses (if we're talking about the ones in Biden's). Oh, what to do about Pence's?! In a sane world (will we ever return to that?), we would carefully determine what potential harm might have resulted from trump's and Biden's and Pence's possession of classified materials. Then we would figure out what guardrails we need to ensure that future presidents (and as you noted, Senators) will not be able to mishandle the classified information that they receive. But honestly, there's no sex appeal in talking about what the real problem is and what real changes need to be made. Oh, no. It's much more titillating for the media to make hay about how Biden has lost all standing to criticize trump; that riles both Biden's and trump's bases. Bingo! A media circus is born. And nourished. So you and I definitely agree--2024 is crucial if we want to see any meaningful change to put the country back on track. And maybe then we'll be able to tackle the question of what SHOULD be classified and how it should be handled.
Evelyn yeah there is definitely room for a debate overall about to be classified but I agree with you that that's not the point here. Totally agree with everything here. Yeah we just need to have a conversation in the real world! -Vanessa