Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., took aim at Secretary of State Antony Blinken after it was reported that the State Department held therapy sessions for employees who were upset by President-elect Trump’s election victory.

“I am concerned that the Department is catering to federal employees who are personally devastated by the normal functioning of American democracy through the provision of government-funded mental health counseling because Kamala Harris was not elected President of the United States,” Issa said in a letter to Blinken last week.

The letter comes after a Free Beacon report earlier this month that detailed two alleged therapy sessions that were held at the State Department after Trump’s victory, with sources telling the outlet that one such instance amounted to an information “cry session.”

TRUMP BRINGS BACK FORMER AIDE SEBASTIAN GORKA, EX-STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ALEX WONG TO SERVE IN ADMIN

In another instance, an email went out to agency employees and touted a separate  “insightful webinar where we delve into effective stress management techniques to help you navigate these challenging times” after Trump’s victory, according to the report.

“Change is a constant in our lives, but it can often bring about stress and uncertainty,” the email said. “Join us for an insightful webinar where we delve into effective stress management techniques to help you navigate these challenging times. This session will provide tips and practical strategies for managing stress and maintaining your well being.”

In his letter to Blinken, Issa argued that the reported sessions were “disturbing” and that “nonpartisan government officials” should not be suffering a “personal meltdown over the result of a free and fair election.”

President-elect Trump at a campaign event in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

MATT GAETZ SAYS HE WILL NOT SERVE IN THE UPCOMING SESSION OF CONGRESS

While the Republican lawmaker acknowledged that the mental health of the agency’s employees was important, he questioned the use of taxpayer dollars to counsel those upset about the election, demanding answers on how many sessions have been conducted, how many more are planned, and how much the sessions are costing the department.

Issa also raised fears that the sessions could also call into question the willingness of some of the State Department’s employees to carry out Trump’s new vision for the agency.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a ceremony on May 10, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

“The mere fact that the Department is hosting these sessions raises significant questions about the willingness of its personnel to implement the lawful policy priorities that the American people elected President Trump to pursue and implement,” the letter said. “The Trump Administration has a mandate for wholesale change in the foreign policy arena, and if foreign service officers cannot follow through on the American people’s preferences, they should resign and seek a political appointment in the next Democrat administration.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Last week in Columbus, Ohio, a dozen or so people marched through the city waving Nazi flags and yelling racial epithets.

Disturbing, to be sure, and a grim sign of the times.

But almost as troubling was the reaction from CNN anchor Dana Bash. After airing a video of the march on Monday’s edition of “Inside Politics,” she said it was unclear “which side of the aisle” these white nationalists came from.

“A group of neo-Nazis paraded through that city wearing, waving swastikas, covering their faces,” Bash said during the segment with Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio). “This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened in Ohio in particular. And, of course, it’s continuing to spread. We don’t know what side of the aisle this comes from. I mean, typically neo-Nazis are from the far right,” she said before noting that Landsman, who is Jewish, had “far left” protests outside his house.

Conflating neo-Nazis with protesters for Palestinian human rights is in itself problematic, but blurring the hard right’s direct connection to white nationalism with “let’s be fair to both sides” comments was inexcusable.

Basic rule: Nazis should never be given the benefit of the doubt, or any leeway for that matter. Neither should the political movements that empower them.

Bash wasn’t the only media personality to shy away from condemning the people and parties that embolden fascism. “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, frequent critics of Donald Trump, revealed Monday that they’d recently visited the president-elect and members of his team at Mar-a-Lago to “restart communications.”

Brzezinski preempted questions about their decision with another question: “For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn’t we?”

By the time the “Daily Show” aired that evening, host Jon Stewart had an answer: “Uh, because you said he was Hitler.”

The about-face of news anchors who as recently as last month voiced concerns about the future of the country under a second Trump term sparked plenty of criticism. Ratings plunged after the segment, with some detractors accusing the couple of obeying the president-elect in advance for fear of retaliation once he’s back in the White House. If true, their concern wouldn’t be unfounded. Trump has waged war on the media from Day One, referring to them often as “fake,” “crooked” and an “enemy of the state.”

I’d like to believe that these media figures aren’t folding like cheap suits, but maybe that’s wishful thinking. There’s a lot of that going around these days. Democratic leaders have been throwing pennies in a well since 2016, repeating the mantra, “This is not who we are. This is not who we are.” At least it put a rosier sheen on the rising tide of bigotry and violence unleashed by MAGA.

Aspirational thinking is healthy and admirable, but not in all cases. And in this case, it’s also not particularly accurate, because as the election results attest, this is who we are. Trump’s retribution approach resonated more with voters than Kamala Harris’ promises of a united future. Trump voters may not have fully agreed with his torrent of hate speech, “Access Hollywood” grab ‘em comments or labeling of fellow Americans as “the enemy within,” but they also weren’t bothered enough by it all to not vote for him.

And let me be clear, I’m not conflating the majority of Trump voters with those idiots marching in Ohio. What I am saying is that when news personalities like Bash and the “Morning Joe” crew operate on the unspoken premise that there are two sides to the story and we should give fascism a chance, it serves no one but the aspiring strongman.

Ignoring the obvious seemed to be what Bash was doing. But her viewers probably could discern which side those neo-Nazis were aligned with when they paraded through Columbus.

Journalists across social media were immediately on the case. Nick Martin, who runs the Informant, a publication covering hate and extremism in the U.S., posted a response to her comments. It was a selfie of a founder of the neo-Nazi groups in question, taken at a Trump rally.

Other examples of MAGA’s ties with white power were so fresh they were reported in the same news cycle.

Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, was one of 12 National Guard members removed from security duty for President Biden’s 2021 inauguration over his potential extremist ties. Hegseth has tattoos associated with white nationalist movements, including a symbol popular with Christian nationalists referred to as a Jerusalem cross.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly parroted propaganda used in Nazi Germany when pledging to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

Commentary in the Hill revealed that when he spoke that line at a 2023 rally in New Hampshire, he barely modified from its original 1930s Nazi form. The previous year he dined with prominent white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago.

And we all remember when during his first term he defended violent white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, saying they included “some very fine people.”

Trump wants you to believe that. But we don’t have to. It’s time we admitted that we aren’t all that good, and that we need to be better.

Fred Harris, a self-described populist Democrat from Oklahoma who served eight years in the U.S. Senate before an unsuccessful campaign for president in 1976, has died. He was 94.

Harris’ wife, Margaret Elliston, confirmed his death to the Associated Press in a text message on Saturday, writing: “Fred Harris passed peacefully early this morning of natural causes. He was 94. He was a wonderful and beloved man. His memory is a blessing.”

Harris, who was living in New Mexico, died in a hospital in Albuquerque, Elliston told The New York Times.

Harris first served for eight years in the Oklahoma State Senate after winning election in 1956. He then launched his career in national politics in 1964 when he won a Senate race to fill the vacancy left by Sen. Robert S. Kerr, who died in January 1963.

GAME SHOW HOST CHUCK WOOLERY OF ‘WHEEL OF FORTUNE,’ ‘LOVE CONNECTION,’ DIES AT 83

“I’ve always called myself a populist or progressive,” Harris said in a 1998 interview. “I’m against concentrated power. I don’t like the power of money in politics. I think we ought to have programs for the middle class and working class.”

As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the so-called Kerner Commission, appointed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the urban riots of the late 1960s.

Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma served in the U.S. Senate for eight years. (AP Photo, File)

The commission released its report in 1968, declaring, “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”

Thirty years later, Harris co-wrote a report that concluded the commission’s “prophecy has come to pass,” stating that “the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and minorities are suffering disproportionately.”

COLIN PETERSEN, BEE GEES ORIGINAL DRUMMER, DEAD AT 78

In 1976, Harris ran a failed bid to earn the Democratic presidential nomination, bowing out of the race after poor showings in early contests. The more moderate Jimmy Carter went on to win the presidency.

Harris moved to New Mexico that year and became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. He wrote and edited more than a dozen books, mostly on politics and Congress. In 1999, he broadened his writings with a mystery set in Depression-era Oklahoma.

Former Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris stands outside his Corrales, N.M., home, Friday, July 23, 2004. Harris died Saturday at a hospital in Albuquerque, his wife said. He was 94. (AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf, File)

Harris was born Nov. 13, 1930, in a two-room farmhouse near Walters, in southwestern Oklahoma. The home had no electricity, indoor toilet or running water. He worked on the farm starting at age 5, driving a horse in circles to supply a hay bailer with power – earning 10 cents a day.

He later worked part-time as a janitor and printer’s assistant to help pay for his education at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a law degree in 1954. He practiced law in Lawton before beginning his career in politics.

Harris married his high school sweetheart, LaDonna Vita Crawford, in 1949, and had three children, Kathryn, Byron and Laura. After the couple divorced, Harris married Margaret Elliston in 1983. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.