Oh, Charlie Savage, why do you always harsh my mellow? From The New York Times:

President Trump's three-page draft order, titled "Detention and Interrogation of Enemy Combatants" and obtained by The New York Times, would also undo many of the other restrictions on handling detainees that Mr. Obama put in place in response to policies of the Bush administration. If Mr. Trump signs the draft order, he would also revoke Mr. Obama's directive to give the International Committee of the Red Cross access to all detainees in American custody. That would be another step toward reopening secret prisons outside of the normal wartime rules established by the Geneva Conventions, although statutory obstacles would remain. And while Mr. Obama tried to close the Guantánamo prison and refused to bring new detainees there, the draft order directs the Pentagon to continue using the facility "for the detention and trial of newly captured" detainees – including not just more suspected members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, like the 41 remaining detainees, but also Islamic State detainees. It does not address legal problems that might raise.

Hey, you 14 Democratic senators, how do you feel about that Mike Pompeo vote now? We are getting back in the torture business, and the local economies in small towns in Poland and Thailand are about to get a big old boost. Of course, we're going to call it something else, because we're good at naming things.

Elisa Massimino, the director of Human Rights First, denounced the draft order as "flirting with a return to the 'enhanced interrogation program' and the environment that gave rise to it." She noted that numerous retired military leaders have rejected torture as "illegal, immoral, and damaging to national security," and said many of Mr. Trump's cabinet nominees had seemed to share that view in their confirmation testimony. "It would be surprising and extremely troubling if the national security cabinet officials were to acquiesce in an order like that after the assurances that they gave in their confirmation hearings," she said.

It was the invaluable Jane Mayer of The New Yorker who first brought us the detailed workings of the black sites back in 2007. They were a blot on the country's honor and they were well done away with. Of course, when they were eliminated, it was not understood that we might replace the president who'd done so with an insecure incompetent whose entire career was based on dick-swinging in the New York real-estate game.

David McNew Getty Images

Now, of course, John McCain, who was troubled by Rex Tillerson until he wasn't, is thumping his chest again and pretending that he has to power to do much of anything at all. From Time:

In a statement on Wednesday, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee said the president can sign whatever executive orders he likes, "but the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America." McCain pointed out that the Senate voted overwhelmingly in June 2015 for prohibiting torture and endorsing only those techniques spelled out in the Army Field Manual. Waterboarding and other forms of enhanced interrogation are not included in the field manual. The Arizona senator also said that Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo assured him that they would support the Army Field Manual. McCain said he was "confident these leaders will be true to their word."

And they say there's no humor left in politics. What are you going to do, senator, when you find out these guys have played you for a sucker? Are you going to hold up funding? Demand a hearing? Demand the release of all documents relating to our previous use of black sites? Or are you just going to issue strongly-worded statements and deplore things on Meet The Press?

The country is getting a big gulp of authoritarian government right now, and it's developing a taste for it. Where does that leave the likes of you?

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Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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