Yes, our own president can be an imminent threat to the United States

The truth is that our president can cause far more damage than foreign leaders

Barack Obama
(Image credit: (Spencer Platt/Getty Images))

One of the biggest gripes about political journalism is that it often takes the ridiculous seriously. Yet there's more to playing up the preposterous than chasing clicks and eyeballs. There is an undercurrent of fear that the crazies and idiots could actually seize control. Pointing to their foibles is a way to laugh those lunatics down.

So there was ritual significance to freshly circulated reports that, as Talking Points Memo put it, "Republicans Think Obama Is A Greater Threat Than Putin, Assad."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
James Poulos

James Poulos is a contributing editor at National Affairs and the author of The Art of Being Free, out January 17 from St. Martin's Press. He has written on freedom and the politics of the future for publications ranging from The Federalist to Foreign Policy and from Good to Vice. He fronts the band Night Years in Los Angeles, where he lives with his son.