Trump indictment, abortion rulings, intel leak sow chaos in America

At the news conference last week following the release of the National Security Council analysis of the August 2021 evacuation from Kabul, Afghanistan, in which 13 American service personnel and many Afghans were killed, retired Rear Adm. John Kirby downplayed the chaos that was clearly present.

Some believed that callousness differed little from those who claimed the Jan. 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill were peaceful. Regardless, that brief also reflected a degree of political chaos in America.

First, former President Donald Trump was indicted on 34 felony counts, essentially for illegal accounting of funds used for his campaign. Many on both sides of the aisle believed the charges were weak. However, four other more serious investigations are underway: two in Georgia over allegations of election rigging; inciting Jan. 6; and illegal possession of classified documents at his home at Mar-a-Lago.

Second, judges in Texas and Florida came up with polar opposite rulings over the abortion pill mifepristone, approved for use over 20 years ago by the FDA. The New York Times described both in stark terms. "One [ruling] invalidated...FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The other ordered the FDA to do nothing to restrict the pill's availability."

The explosive question is what will the Supreme Court decide if it hears the case?

Third, the leak of highly classified U.S. intelligence material on the Ukraine war shattered trust and confidence in friends and allies who believed they were spied upon. And the leak will give Russia rare insights into America's awesome intelligence collection capabilities.

Who leaked this material and how this will affect the war and future Russian as well as allied security procedures is unclear.

The material has reportedly been on Internet sites for over a month. Some of the material appears "doctored" or altered, particularly casualty figures. Ukrainian casualties were increased. Russian casualties were substantially minimized. Whether the documentation was a false flag to hide the identity of the leaker(s) or not, the material cited potentially grave Ukrainian artillery and air defense ammunition shortfalls. That suggests that the leakers may be Ukrainian supporters calling for urgent supply of weapons.

Fourth, a delegation of U.S. members of Congress visited Taiwan as its President Tsai Ing-wen met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at the Reagan Library in California. In response, China conducted a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan simulating a blockade with practice air attacks. Some 70 of its war planes entered Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone.

One could argue this was just another week in Washington. But it was not. The United States is caught in the nexus between increasingly bitter relations with China and Russia and the linkage with Ukraine. Conventional wisdom in Washington is that as the war in Ukraine goes, so will the future of Taiwan.

The meaning is clear. Many in Congress fear that if Russia succeeds, wins or prevails in Ukraine, then China will seize Taiwan, regardless of knowing whether China has the military capacity to accomplish that task or not. And, at home, the Trump indictment has widened the massive political gaps between the parties. What happens if a second, third or fourth indictment is issued? Will chaos reign?

This is not the first time a sense of chaos has been so foreboding. As World War I was ending, the Spanish flu was still killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. The Espionage and Sedition Acts charged citizens to spy on their neighbors. Many tens of thousands were arrested without charge for criticizing the government as due process and habeas corpus were suspended.

In 1919, two dozen letter bombs panicked Americans probably more than Sept. 11 did. Only two people were killed, one an incompetent bomber who literally blew himself up and an unlucky night watchman. None of the bombers was apprehended.

2023 is different. Yes, a second pandemic is over and no Espionage or Sedition Acts arbitrarily incarcerate Americans. But political divisions are far greater and wider than a century ago. It is true that Eugene V. Debs ran for president in 1920 from jail. But Debs had never been elected president. And a world war had ended.

Reason and common sense would argue that this continuing strife and internal conflict and division must end. But who will end it? Certainly on the Republican side, for the time being, Trump is in charge. And President Joe Biden, absent a debilitating event, will pursue re-election.

Last week may not be unique. If so, one knows the direction America is headed. And it is not a good one.

Harlan Ullman is senior adviser at Washington's Atlantic Council, the prime author of "shock and awe" and author of "The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large." Follow him @harlankullman. The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.