McConnell no profile in courage

In high-school civics class, I was required to read “Profiles in Courage.” Some Republican senators’ reaction to President Donald Trump’s firing of the FBI director and then his giving the Russian ambassador classified information provided to the U.S. by an ally shows that some of those senators also read John Kennedy’s book.

But be of good cheer, Kentuckians, Sen. Mitch McConnell was not one of them.

No, McConnell apparently read only Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and is an ardent practitioner of his lessons.

If it was President Hillary Clinton, would McConnell be restrained? I think not. You only need look to his criticisms of candidate Clinton and her use of a private e-mail server. There was only a potential for any secrets to be obtained by the Russians, and there was never any proof they hacked her server.

However, Trump, wanting to play big shot and impress the Russians, knowingly gave them information coded sensitive. A president can always declassify our secret information, but before he does that with sensitive information provided by an ally, he should first check with that ally to ensure that the lives of their operatives are not being put at risk.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 5:49 PM with the headline "McConnell no profile in courage."