Deja Vu: Trump Nominates John Ratcliffe For Head Of DNI — Again

By Red Painter — February 29, 2020

We are at the point in Season 3 of the Worst Reality TV Show Ever™ where the story writers have resorted to bringing back old characters to try to drum up interest in really bad story lines. In this weeks episode, the main character, the evil and dumb President*, has decided to bring back the bumbling, lying, ass-kissing government official to lead National Intelligence, even after he was laughed out of the nomination. This storyline is extra funny because during the last attempt at this promotion, members of this officials own party torched him publicly, leading to a very embarrassing withdrawal of the nomination. I guess the writers think this will end better the second time around!

Here we go again:

Seven months after first picking John Ratcliffe for the DNI job, and then dropping plans to nominate him after he came under intense scrutiny from senators, Trump again announces he'll nominate him for the position.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 28, 2020

Democrats remember:

Asked by @mkraju earlier this week about reports Trump was once again considering Ratcliffe, Sen. Mark Warner, who is vice chairman of Senate Intel, said, "I think there was pretty uniform bipartisan opposition to that pick earlier and I don't think anything has changed."

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 28, 2020

Replacing one highly partisan operative with another does nothing to keep America safe

When Putin is interfering in our elections—we need a nonpartisan leader at the helm of the Intel Community who speaks truth to power

Neither Richard Grenell nor Rep Ratcliffe comes even close pic.twitter.com/PXYxiQg7Ob

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 28, 2020

Twitter remembers:

Has John Ratcliffe somehow un-lied about rounding up terrorists with his bare hands?

— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) February 28, 2020

Ratcliffe withdrew from a nomination to this very post once before in the face of GOP concerns about his lackluster resume and limited qualifications. Also my phone autocorrects his name to Rat Life. https://t.co/U0CwmkvAcc

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 28, 2020

SureJanDotGif:

Trump said he advised Ratcliffe to withdraw last time because of the criticism/attacks he was facing for allegedly inflating his resume. Now he says it was to wait for the IG report... https://t.co/ay895fxv2s

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 28, 2020

Or is there something more nefarious going on?

Don’t be fooled; this isn’t a serious nomination. Trump, Ratcliffe, and Senate Rs all know he’ll never be confirmed.

This is a transparent effort to reset the clock on Grenell’s appointment — and a de facto installation of him as DNI for months to come. https://t.co/QgB37ceSpD

— Ned Price (@nedprice) February 28, 2020

This is almost certainly a play to keep Richard A. Grenell in the Acting ODNI chair. It seems unlikely that Ratcliffe will be confirmed, but this allows Grenell to stay in the chair past the March 11 date on which he otherwise would have had to step down under the Vacancies Act. https://t.co/7wN2zscQ77

— Oona Hathaway (@oonahathaway) February 28, 2020

Let's see what the writers have in store for the Spring Break Cliffhanger Episode! Who will get fired?! Who will fall in love?! Who will break up with who?! It is all so...dramatic!