He’s like a smart person
President-elect Donald J. Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he did not believe American intelligence assessments that Russia had intervened to help his candidacy, casting blame for the reports on Democrats, who he said were embarrassed about losing to him.
“I think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s just another excuse,” Mr. Trump said in the interview, on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t believe it.”
Except the intelligence people who made the assessments are civil servants, not political appointments.
He also indicated that as president, he would not take the daily intelligence briefing that President Obama and his predecessors have received. Mr. Trump, who has received the briefing sparingly as president-elect, said that it was often repetitive and that he would take it “when I need it.” He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive the daily briefing.
“You know, I’m, like, a smart person,” he said. “I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”
Thus demonstrating that he’s not “a smart person.” A genuinely smart person would never say that on national tv on such a subject in such a situation. A genuinely smart person would not refuse to read intelligence briefings, and would not boast of doing so on national tv.
Also, he’s not going to be there for eight years.
He added that he had instructed the officials who give the briefing: “‘If something should change from this point, immediately call me. I’m available on a one-minute’s notice.’”
Oh, how big of him. Of course he’s available on short notice: that’s his job! The level of stupidity is hard to believe.
Mr. Trump’s seeming dismissal of the importance of that daily interaction with intelligence agencies, as well as his claims of politically tainted intelligence reports on Russia, widened a remarkable breach between a president-elect and the agencies he will have to rely on to carry out priorities like fighting terrorism and deterring cyberattacks.
No doubt he’s thinking of it as just more of what he’s used to – he’s The Honcho and everyone else is an undifferentiated mass of underlings, whom he can fire the instant they irritate him.
Eight years? I give it six months before the people who really run things from day to day get together with the less-insane elements of the Republican Party, and with the business interests whose operations Trump will be fucking up with his ham-fisted policies, to stage a palace coup and install Pence in the Oval Office. Of course, then there’ll be a whole new crop of assholes to deal with, but at least they won’t be likely to start WWIII.
Not much to be cheerful about these days, is there?
Yeah. After all, Nixon resigned when it finally got too hot for him. Trump commits 5 outrages every day, plus he trails a very long rap sheet – it seems unlikely he’ll last a full term. Pence will suck, but Trump is the bottom of the very rotten barrel.
I was too young to be properly paying attention to Nixon, but I recall my dad noting that Agnew had been replaced with Ford before Nixon was finally brought down — basically, there needed to be an acceptable replacement ready to hand, and Agnew wasn’t it. It sounds a bit conspiratorial, but there really are machinations always going on behind the scenes.
“I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… I’m smart and I want respect!
It’s not a good sign when the Corleone brother you most remind everyone of is Fredo. (Trump has the intelligence and insecurity of Fredo AND the temper of Sonny. As he would say, not good.)
@ 4 Screechy Monkey
Lol.
(Sad!)
https://www.facebook.com/144310995587370/photos/a.271728576178944.71555.144310995587370/1371112299573894/?type=3&theater
Einstein used to go about whatever place he was in telling everyone he met “I’m smart. I’m real smart. You gotta believe me…. I’m smart; not dumb. Like, you gotta believe me….. ”
Goes with the territory.
You could not make this stuff up.
And he didn’t.
Why not? It seems to be very easy to understand how to push his buttons to do exactly what you want.
He just shifted all responsibility for informing him or keeping him in the dark to the staff people.
With these two things, he can be led around more easily than the Right Honourable James hacker was by Sir Humphrey Appleby. The only thing that is still needed is to find a way to filter the news he watches; after that, he’ll be the perfect figurehead for whoever pulls the strings.
I won’t be the least bit surprised if Trump is re-elected. Depressed – yes. In despair – by all means. But not surprised. The people who voted for him this time did so because they are actively in favor of all the damage he is going to cause. And the rest are either too divided or too indifferent to make a strong counter-movement. As this election has made clear you don’t need a majority to win an election. You don’t even need the biggest minority. All you need is a few more votes than your opponent in a handful of states, and the nukes are yours thanks to the shitty winner takes all system.
Of course there is also a possibility that Trump won’t last for eight years, but neither will we. Once he takes office all bets are off.
Obligatory: https://youtu.be/tcGQpjCztgA
Trump doesn’t seem to know how to manage a picnic. I strongly suspect that these briefings are not one-way. I suspect he’s supposed to react to them, to compose and refine policy based on what he’s told. That will include policy on about what he’s to be briefed on next time and how he should organise and manage his government to deal with the consequences.
Apparently to Trump, being told that the environmental catastrophe is spiraling ever more out of control is just someone saying the same thing over and over again and he’s too smrt to care.