Interrupted
Glenn Thrush and Peter Baker on Trump’s gymnastics:
In a series of early-morning posts on Twitter, Mr. Trump did not dispute reports that he might have provided enough details to reveal the source of the information and the manner in which it had been collected. The information about the Islamic State plot came from a Middle Eastern ally and was considered so sensitive that American officials had not shared it widely within their own government or among allies.
I think it’s probably obvious what Middle Eastern ally that is. What’s not obvious is whether or not Trump ever grasped that it doesn’t want the US blabbing what it shares, and why it doesn’t (angry mullahs would be one big reason), and what the consequences will be if it decides we can’t be trusted. It’s not obvious that Trump can follow a chain of reasoning with more than one moving part.
Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts on Tuesday morning appeared to undercut the carefully worded statements made by his advisers Monday night to try to dispute the original news reports without taking issue with specific facts in them. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said in a statement that the president “did not discuss sources, methods or military operations” with the Russians. Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, likewise told reporters that Mr. Trump had not disclosed intelligence methods or sources.
But The Post and the other news organizations did not report that he had done so. Instead, they focused on the breach of espionage etiquette, and on the possibility that American allies might be discouraged from sharing intelligence with the United States.
Different thing, see? But that could be too meta for Trump.
General McMaster told reporters on Monday that The Post’s account “as reported” was “false,” but on Twitter on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump made no such assertion and instead sought to justify what he had done.
As he did with the Comey firing. His people say he didn’t steal the cake, the next day he says he had an absolute right to the cake.
PAUSE TO READ BREAKING NEWS HEADLINE
Oh. I was wrong about which ally it was. I thought it was Saudi Arabia. The Times reports it was Israel.
I gotta go read more.
No, 3: his lips + his tongue. But that’s a special case. And tangential to reasoning. So OK, I take it back.
Chain? I’d be happy if he could handle a link of reasoning. Not gonna happen, though.
Also, I wonder if the seriousness of this leak comes down to the actual location of the now compromised asset (also leaked, I gather). Quite apart from the loss of trust, globally.
DonDontheJohn needs to stop with Russian leaks and fix his plumb addiction.
It’s clear that even following a path from A to B requires a detour to the lands of self-aggrandizement, random insults, childish nicknames, torture of the English language, and passing of the blame to his underlings. Yet the rest of the GOP can only manage to summon up “concern” about “troubling” behaviors, and ask for less “drama” (would Democratic forays into treason be dismissed as “drama”?), and Donnie’s abysmal ratings still amount to ~40% approval.
OTOH, without the total chaos in the WH, would we end up with an efficient and streamlined dismantling of every vestige of decent government (environmental protection, women’s rights, science funding, health care)? It’s difficult to even know what to hope for.
Notice even his
communicatorsliars don’t deny that he shared intel, only that he didn’t reveal the gathering ‘methods and sources.’ Also note that ‘carefully worded’ frequently means lying by omission.Ah, but which are the weasel words?
He merely declared them, and then (as is his wont) his scrambled brain moved on to the next shiny nugget of self-aggrandisement.