One Possible Reason For a Trump Presidency

In a recent interview with Edward Snowden (above), he lays out in plain language how little control we have over our privacy. He describes vast systems of surveillance which make use of our phones or other communication technologies. From his perspective it is all very simple and it has been going on for decades. But one point he made deserves more attention as it speaks to issues which may explain something that has gone unnoticed regarding the Trump Presidential candidacy.

The interviewer asked him what he meant by “turnkey-surveillance”, a term Snowden has used for years. He replied, saying our country only has a president for eight years at the most. But we do have an ongoing “presidency”, an executive office. This office has oversight over how the CIA and other law enforcement agencies make use of the powers of surveillance they have at their disposal. He described these powers and their associated technologies as ubiquitous and deeply invasive for all who live within our borders.

Snowden emphasized that any president who comes into office has at their disposal a turnkey operation for surveillance to be used on all Americans, which they “could” exploit.

He also said the reason no legislator tries to propose a bill to stop these unconstitutional practices of surveillance is the “terror” word. It is likely that as soon as they put forth a bill, an activity which could be labeled “terror” might occur and they could be blamed for weakening a falsely perceived but widely accepted notion of defense.

If that is true for legislators think how it might work for a lame duck president like Trump: someone resented by a majority of the population; a throw-away in terms of public relations. If Trump is President, any large scale unconstitutional surveillance program or other agenda labeled as an anti-terror strategy, could be carried out or put into place by federal law enforcement. It could then be blamed on Trump if something goes wrong. He would merely be impeached for taking unconstitutional actions. But the bad laws or infrastructure changes would still be in place.

It’s something to think about.

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