Sullivan, who never criticized Trump, lectures Biden appointee on mean tweets

Sen. Dan Sullivan, who perfected the art of pretending to never hear, see or read the nonsense of Donald Trump, can’t stop complaining now about Biden appointees who criticized Republicans with intemperate language.

“Dr. Kahl, I think a lot of us are trying to figure out a critical issue,” Sullivan said in a patronizing address to Colin Kahl in a March confirmation hearing.

Kahl, named by President Biden to the top policy planning post in the Defense Department, is a political science scholar with a long career in government and academia, though Sullivan made him out to be a political hack.

“Are you a balanced, measured national security professional who can help lead the Pentagon? Or, to be a little bit more frank, are you a political hack who has a history of going off on Twitter by attacking those who don’t share your politics?” said Sullivan.

Sullivan took supreme offense at Kahl’s mean tweets, even those laced with sarcasm, and claimed that they were enough to disqualify him from holding public office.

The Senate confirmed Kahl Tuesday on a 49-45 party-line vote with Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sullivan on the opposing side.

Sullivan claimed that since Democrats objected a year ago to the extremist statements made by retired Gen. Anthony Tata, who was up for the same Pentagon post, Kahl should be rejected by Democrats because the two did exactly the same thing.

Sullivan is wrong on multiple counts.

First off, Tata’ was dumped because enough Republicans recognized him as unhinged, along with Democrats, that his nomination was withdrawn.

Tata claimed President Obama was a Muslim who plotted against the interests of the United States and was a terrorist leader.

Tata claimed a CIA director tried to overthrow Trump and assassinate him. He said what Obama and Michele Obama said about Trump before the inauguration was “borderline treasonous” and that Islam was the “most oppressive violent religion I know of.” He said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters were “violent extremists.”

Sullivan claimed Tata’s attacks on Obama with Kahl’s attacks on Trump and Republicans were “nearly identical.”

Sullivan complained about a tweet that followed Trump’s announcement of withdrawing troops from Syria, though Sullivan did not present it in context.

The context is that James Mattis resigned as secretary of defense over Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds. Even Sullivan took issue with the move by Trump, before reversing himself.

Kahl retweeted a story in which Republican Sen. John Cornyn said: “If Turkey was planning on coming into northern Syria and trying to ethnically cleanse the Kurds, and U.S. troops were caught in the middle, I am not completely convinced that it was a bad idea to get them out of harm’s way.”

About deserting the Kurds, Kahl Tweeted: “The GOP used to pride itself as a party that put values front and center in US foreign policy. Now—as they debase themselves at the alter of Trump—they are the party of ethnic cleansing.”

Sullivan, who debased himself at the altar of Trump, put this spin on that tweet in attacking Kahl: “I think your comments about all Republicans are now the party of ethnic cleansing. It’s pretty, it’s pretty strong stuff. Again, free country, you can say whatever the heck you want. I believe in that. But sometimes these kind of statements have consequences.”

Sullivan repeated the “ethnic cleansing” bit on the Senate floor, failing to put it in context. “I don’t think we’re the party of ethnic cleansing.”

In his speech opposing Kahl, Sullivan complained that Kahl called Trump a “moron.” Sullivan didn’t give the context—a tweet responding to Trump’s repeated moronic claim that the 1918 flu epidemic was in 1917.

“No matter what your views of members of my colleagues or of the former president,” Sullivan sermonized, “words matter, attacks matter. And If you can’t refrain from making them, maybe you don’t belong in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon.”

This is rich coming from a card-carrying member of the Trump Praise-a-Thon crew, who never took issue with the words and attacks of Trump.

Silent Dan was steadfast in his claims that he had not read the Trump Tweet, heard the Trump interview or watched the Trump show on TV.

The peak moment was last fall when Sullivan had nothing to say after Trump refused to condemn white supremacy in a debate.

“I’m not commenting. I didn’t see the debate,” Sullivan said to a CNN reporter, saying he was at an “event” for himself. He walked into an elevator and stared silently at the reporter for 7-8 seconds before the door closed.

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