President Trump- The Implications

[erfalf]

I don't think you know how ridiculous you sound deflecting his behavior by saying, "everybody does it!" You got conned dude. Lots of people refused to see him for what he is.

No, I see him for exactly what he is, and haven't been one bit surprised. I'm not defending him, as much as trying to redirect y'alls furor. Trump is exactly like every other politicians except decidedly less cunning.

No one was conned. The left is still just having PESD (Post Election Stress Disorder) and can't come to terms with the fact that all of their former secrets (conspring with foreign enemies, pay for play) are all now coming out into the open. I personally think, that while Trump's "Presidency" will be a flaming disaster, it may turn out to be one of the best things to happen to this country in a long time. Because the path we were heading down with liar and cheat after liar and cheat (just better at it than Trump) was going to lead us to some dark places I'm afraid. While Trump might be laughed out of office, he will not get his head chopped off or dragged out in the street and gutted.

And I think we will easily survive anything he could possibly do. I have more faith in American's than I guess most do. That's my vice.

[erfalf]

And I don't think you all see how ridiculous you sound screaming at the top of your lungs about how THIS time, the things that the president is doing are going to spell the end for this country.

[swake]

This is not normal, you have swallowed a Russian disinformation campaign because it suited your political leanings. It is now completely obvious that Trump is a traitor to this country and this election was fraudulent and cooked by Russian intelligence colluding with Trump and his campaign.

He should be impeached in short order.

Not my president.

[cannon_fodder]

Trump is exactly like every other politicians except decidedly less cunning.

That is decidedly not so.  I respect your dissent, I really do.  And it is axiomatic that every politicians engages in politics and that this administration appears to be less cunning, but this is not normal.

It isn't normal for a top adviser to be fired only after the media makes it public that he openly lied to the President and the American people.  It isn't normal for a President to regularly lob juvenile insults at people.  It isn't normal for a President not to release a tax return.  It isn't normal for a spokesman to plug products on behalf of the first family.  It isn't normal to conduct intelligence briefings with a foreign leader in an open dining room surrounded by people who paid $200k to join your club.  It isn't normal to pick fights with our allies. It isn't normal for a President to never have served the public in any capacity.  It isn't normal for a President to send out angry tweets in a near constant stream.  It isn't normal to have the head of the EPA to be engaged in active lawsuits with the EPA.  It isn't normal for the intelligence community to investigate administration ties to foreign governments who attempted to influence the US election.  It isn't normal for the President to regularly insult the judicial branch and question its purpose. It isn't normal for spokespeople for the President to give different versions of events to different media outlets at the same time. It isn't normal for a President to brag about "grabbing them by the Pussy!"   It isn't normal to Presidents to issue executive orders without speaking with the experts advisers on staff.  It isn't normal for Presidents to repeat claims that have repeatedly been proven false.  It isn't normal for the First Family to divide their time equally between two residences and a luxury resort.   It isn't normal for the President to be ignorant of basic governmental concepts. It isn't normal to exclude security experts from the security council.  It isn't normal for the Education Secretary to have no experience in education.   It isn't normal to regularly get in fights with the intelligence community.
It isn't normal to insist on facts that are demonstrably fiction. It isn't normal for the plan to be "come up with a plan" even after taking office.


There is some normal political wrangling that both Democrats do and Republicans do, and each whines and wails when the other engages in it (a good hint is when they accuse the other of "politicizing something" it really means "why are you doing exactly what I did last term?").  Of course there is some of that going on - Jeff Sessions was a fairly normal political fight and the Supreme Court nominee is going to be tit for tat on locking out Garland. But please, don't actually believe that most of what's going on is "normal."  This is not normal.  

Is this the end of America?  Almost certainly not. Powers usually don't blink out of existence, they fade away.  Leaders with no direction and a poor understanding of the matters of state greatly hasten that decline.  Vegas says Trump only has a 40% chance of making it all 4 years, that isn't good for anyone.  America season 45 isn't normal, but I don't think its the last season.

[heironymouspasparagus]

No, I see him for exactly what he is, and haven't been one bit surprised. I'm not defending him, as much as trying to redirect y'alls furor. Trump is exactly like every other politicians except decidedly less cunning.

No one was conned. The left is still just having PESD (Post Election Stress Disorder) and can't come to terms with the fact that all of their former secrets (conspring with foreign enemies, pay for play) are all now coming out into the open. I personally think, that while Trump's "Presidency" will be a flaming disaster, it may turn out to be one of the best things to happen to this country in a long time. Because the path we were heading down with liar and cheat after liar and cheat (just better at it than Trump) was going to lead us to some dark places I'm afraid. While Trump might be laughed out of office, he will not get his head chopped off or dragged out in the street and gutted.

And I think we will easily survive anything he could possibly do. I have more faith in American's than I guess most do. That's my vice.

Very strange world you got there...

It's not just the left, it's the people like me in the middle and the real Republicans - what few are left.   Liar and cheat...as I have said before, let's see a list.  I can come up with rebuttals to every single line item on the Hijacked Republican side 10 times or more worse and easily show how the economy - therefore the American people - have done massively better under the Dem and moderate (real) Repubes than any of the extremist right wing.  National and state.

[AquaMan]

To bolster what CF and H just said, if you want a more conservative view from a respected analyst, read this link. You are living in a bubble constrained by your view of what is left, right and normal. The republicans are none of those right now.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/opinion/how-should-one-resist-the-trump-administration.html

[Hoss]

To bolster what CF and H just said, if you want a more conservative view from a respected analyst, read this link. You are living in a bubble constrained by your view of what is left, right and normal. The republicans are none of those right now.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/opinion/how-should-one-resist-the-trump-administration.html

Oh he'll just call Brooks a RINO and continue on.

Meanwhile, this nugget appeared in my feed today re:  Trump's response to the 'Russia' question:

Trump saying leaks abt treason are worse than treason is like the Empire convincing Alderaan survivors that the stolen Death Star plans was the real war crime.

[patric]

Trump saying leaks abt treason are worse than treason is like the Empire convincing Alderaan survivors that the stolen Death Star plans was the real war crime.

Like convincing the world Bradley Manning leaking video of war crimes was worse than the war crimes themselves? 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/21/bradley-manning-leaks_n_3788126.html

[erfalf]

Apparently it's just the corruption and ineptitude that bother me, not the level of corruption and ineptitude.

Cannon I appreciate your non-knee jerk response. I just have a real sour taste for all "politicians". I real dis-trust. Honestly, I have never really considered getting off the grid more so than at this point in my life. People letting a duffus like Trump cause them to literally tear each other down is pretty depressing to watch.

And to think we could have had this and been so much better off...

[heironymouspasparagus]

Apparently it's just the corruption and ineptitude that bother me, not the level of corruption and ineptitude.

Cannon I appreciate your non-knee jerk response. I just have a real sour taste for all "politicians". I real dis-trust. Honestly, I have never really considered getting off the grid more so than at this point in my life. People letting a duffus like Trump cause them to literally tear each other down is pretty depressing to watch.

And to think we could have had this and been so much better off...

It has NEVER been - and never will be - a choice between corruption and no corruption.  There is a huge choice between levels one puts up with...the evil of 1 or the evil of 100.  It's all about perspective.


And since Trump is gonna make us "great again"...lol...  And he has made so much noise about infrastructure...  Then why did he wait until just a few minutes ago to finally acknowledge the Oroville Dam problem - finally after all these days...worse response than Bush for Katrina!!   Another massive fail for the "Cheetoh"!!


http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/15/oroville-dam-repairs-continue-as-trump-approves-relief-for-state.html

[heironymouspasparagus]

That time....

https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98/videos/1700323216645316/

[swake]

Apparently it's just the corruption and ineptitude that bother me, not the level of corruption and ineptitude.

Cannon I appreciate your non-knee jerk response. I just have a real sour taste for all "politicians". I real dis-trust. Honestly, I have never really considered getting off the grid more so than at this point in my life. People letting a duffus like Trump cause them to literally tear each other down is pretty depressing to watch.

And to think we could have had this and been so much better off...

First off, giving access for campaign contributions is slimy and it sucks. I want it fixed, the Democrats want it fixed and Republicans have been the ones blocking a fix. After the Republican K Street scandals the bi-partisan McCain-Feingold bill was passed to get money out of politics. Republican groups sued and won in the Supreme Court. That suddenly allowed all sorts of dark money into politics. There are two ways to fix this, by electing a new liberal Justice, but Republicans blocked that for 10 months and now with Hillary losing that option is out. The other is by crafting a new version of the law that can pass SC review, a path the Republicans have been blocking for years and now that they are fully in power aren't talking about at all. Money, it seems, is good.

This sucks and I wish it was different but it has no relation to the corruption of this young Trump White House. He has his adviser hawking his daughters company on news shows. He refuses to release his tax returns. He has divested nothing and is in violation of his lease with the federal government on his hotel in DC. By far the worst of all he is selling access to himself for $200,000 a pop to his own bank account through his club that has become the weekend White House. He's has a state dinner at his restaurant that was open to the $200k paying public, a Super Bowl party with that same $200k paying public. Has his handlers and staffers taking selfies with those $200k paying guests to his resort. And now that he's spending every weekend there making that $200k fee that much more popular.

This is so wrong and so far from anything that has been done since the Nixon White House and Spiro Agnew.

And none of this gets into the corruption and actual treason of colluding with the Russians to get himself elected which is on another level again.

Clinton and Trump were in no way equals. His corruption is at a level never seen in this country.

[dioscorides]

It appears Trump is going to have more than just a US Intelligence problem:

U.S. Allies Conduct Intelligence Operation Against Trump Staff and Associates, Intercepted Communications

http://www.newsweek.com/allies-intercept-russia-trump-adviser-communications-557283

As part of intelligence operations being conducted against the United States for the last seven months, at least one Western European ally intercepted a series of communications before the inauguration between advisers associated with President Donald Trump and Russian government officials, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The sources said the interceptions include at least one contact between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian official based in the United States. It could not be confirmed whether this involved the telephone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that has led to Flynn's resignation, or additional communications. The sources said the intercepted communications are not just limited to telephone calls: The foreign agency is also gathering electronic and human source information on Trump's overseas business partners, at least some of whom the intelligence services now consider to be agents of their respective governments. These operations are being conducted out of concerns that Russia is seeking to manipulate its relationships with Trump administration officials as part of a long-term plan to destabilize the NATO alliance.
...

[AquaMan]

Oh he'll just call Brooks a RINO and continue on.

Meanwhile, this nugget appeared in my feed today re:  Trump's response to the 'Russia' question:

I knew he wouldn't read it. Makes too much sense. Ego gets in the way.

My favorite hypocritical remarks are those who think the illegal leaking of criminal, traitorous activities are worse than the activities themselves!

[swake]

Long, but very interesting read on Trump vs US Intel Agencies. This is really scary stuff.

The Spy Revolt Against Trump Begins

By John Schindler

John Schindler is a security expert and former National Security Agency analyst and counterintelligence officer. A specialist in espionage and terrorism, he's also been a Navy officer and a War College professor. He's published four books and is on Twitter at @20committee.

In a recent column, I explained how the still-forming Trump administration is already doing serious harm to America's longstanding global intelligence partnerships. In particular, fears that the White House is too friendly to Moscow are causing close allies to curtail some of their espionage relationships with Washington—a development with grave implications for international security, particularly in the all-important realm of counterterrorism.

Now those concerns are causing problems much closer to home—in fact, inside the Beltway itself. Our Intelligence Community is so worried by the unprecedented problems of the Trump administration—not only do senior officials possess troubling ties to the Kremlin, there are nagging questions about basic competence regarding Team Trump—that it is beginning to withhold intelligence from a White House which our spies do not trust.

That the IC has ample grounds for concern is demonstrated by almost daily revelations of major problems inside the White House, a mere three weeks after the inauguration. The president has repeatedly gone out of his way to antagonize our spies, mocking them and demeaning their work, and Trump's personal national security guru can't seem to keep his story straight on vital issues.

That's Mike Flynn, the retired Army three-star general who now heads the National Security Council. Widely disliked in Washington for his brash personality and preference for conspiracy-theorizing over intelligence facts, Flynn was fired as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency for managerial incompetence and poor judgment—flaws he has brought to the far more powerful and political NSC.

Flynn's problems with the truth have been laid bare by the growing scandal about his dealings with Moscow. Strange ties to the Kremlin, including Vladimir Putin himself, have dogged Flynn since he left DIA, and concerns about his judgment have risen considerably since it was revealed that after the November 8 election, Flynn repeatedly called the Russian embassy in Washington to discuss the transition. The White House has denied that anything substantive came up in conversations between Flynn and Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador.

That was a lie, as confirmed by an extensively sourced bombshell report in The Washington Post, which makes clear that Flynn grossly misrepresented his numerous conversations with Kislyak—which turn out to have happened before the election too, part of a regular dialogue with the Russian embassy. To call such an arrangement highly unusual in American politics would be very charitable.

In particular, Flynn and Kislyak discussed the possible lifting of the sanctions President Obama placed on Russia and its intelligence services late last year in retaliation for the Kremlin's meddling in our 2016 election. In public, Flynn repeatedly denied that any talk of sanctions occurred during his conversations with Russia's ambassador. Worse, he apparently lied in private too, including to Vice President Mike Pence, who when this scandal broke last month publicly denied that Flynn conducted any sanctions talk with Kislyak. Pence and his staff are reported to be very upset with the national security adviser, who played the vice president for a fool.

It's debatable whether Flynn broke any laws by conducting unofficial diplomacy with Moscow, then lying about it, and he has now adopted the customary Beltway dodge about the affair, ditching his previous denials in favor of professing he has "no recollection of discussing sanctions," adding that he "couldn't be certain that the topic never came up." That's not good enough anymore, since the IC knows exactly what Flynn and Kislyak discussed.

In pretty much every capital worldwide, embassies that provide sanctuary to hostile intelligence services are subject to counterintelligence surveillance, including monitoring phone calls. Our spy services conduct signals intelligence—SIGINT for short—against the Russian embassy in Washington, just as the Russians do against our embassy in Moscow. Ambassadors' calls are always monitored: that's how the SpyWar works, everywhere.

Ambassador Kislyak surely knew his conversations with Flynn were being intercepted, and it's incomprehensible that a career military intelligence officer who once headed a major intelligence agency didn't realize the same. Whether Flynn is monumentally stupid or monumentally arrogant is the big question that hangs over this increasingly strange affair.

Prominent Democrats in Congress are already calling for Flynn to be relieved over this scandal, which at best shows him to be dishonest about important issues. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has bluntly asked for the national security adviser's ouster. Republicans on the Hill who would prefer that the White House stop lying to the public about its Kremlin links ought to get behind Schiff's initiative before the scandal gets worse.

In truth, it may already be too late. A new report by CNN indicates that important parts of the infamous spy dossier that professed to shed light on President Trump's shady Moscow ties have been corroborated by communications intercepts. In other words, SIGINT strikes again, providing key evidence that backs up some of the claims made in that 35-page report compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence official with extensive Russia experience.

As I've previously explained, that salacious dossier is raw intelligence, an explosive amalgam of fact and fantasy, including some disinformation planted by the Kremlin to obscure this already murky case. Now SIGINT confirms that some of the non-salacious parts of what Steele reported, in particular how senior Russian officials conspired to assist Trump in last year's election, are substantially based in fact. This is bad news for the White House, which has already lashed out in angry panic, with Press Secretary Sean Spicer stating, "We continue to be disgusted by CNN's fake news reporting."

That is hardly a denial, of course, and I can confirm from my friends still serving in the IC that the SIGINT, which corroborates some of the Steele dossier, is damning for the administration. Our spies have had enough of these shady Russian connections—and they are starting to push back.

There are pervasive concerns that the president simply isn't paying attention to intelligence.

How things are heating up between the White House and the spooks is evidenced by a new report that the CIA has denied a security clearance to one of Flynn's acolytes. Rob Townley, a former Marine intelligence officer selected to head up the NSC's Africa desk, was denied a clearance to see Sensitive Compartmented Information (which is required to have access to SIGINT in particular). Why Townley's SCI was turned down isn't clear—it could be over personal problems or foreign ties—but the CIA's stand has been privately denounced by the White House, which views this as a vendetta against Flynn. That the Townley SCI denial was reportedly endorsed by Mike Pompeo, the new CIA director selected by Trump himself, only adds to the pain.

There is more consequential IC pushback happening, too. Our spies have never liked Trump's lackadaisical attitude toward the President's Daily Brief, the most sensitive of all IC documents, which the new commander-in-chief has received haphazardly. The president has frequently blown off the PDB altogether, tasking Flynn with condensing it into a one-page summary with no more than nine bullet-points. Some in the IC are relieved by this, but there are pervasive concerns that the president simply isn't paying attention to intelligence.

In light of this, and out of worries about the White House's ability to keep secrets, some of our spy agencies have begun withholding intelligence from the Oval Office. Why risk your most sensitive information if the president may ignore it anyway? A senior National Security Agency official explained that NSA was systematically holding back some of the "good stuff" from the White House, in an unprecedented move. For decades, NSA has prepared special reports for the president's eyes only, containing enormously sensitive intelligence. In the last three weeks, however, NSA has ceased doing this, fearing Trump and his staff cannot keep their best SIGINT secrets.

Since NSA provides something like 80 percent of the actionable intelligence in our government, what's being kept from the White House may be very significant indeed. However, such concerns are widely shared across the IC, and NSA doesn't appear to be the only agency withholding intelligence from the administration out of security fears.

What's going on was explained lucidly by a senior Pentagon intelligence official, who stated that "since January 20, we've assumed that the Kremlin has ears inside the SITROOM," meaning the White House Situation Room, the 5,500 square-foot conference room in the West Wing where the president and his top staffers get intelligence briefings. "There's not much the Russians don't know at this point," the official added in wry frustration.

None of this has happened in Washington before. A White House with unsettling links to Moscow wasn't something anybody in the Pentagon or the Intelligence Community even considered a possibility until a few months ago. Until Team Trump clarifies its strange relationship with the Kremlin, and starts working on its professional honesty, the IC will approach the administration with caution and concern.

I previously warned the Trump administration not to go to war with the nation's spies, and here's why. This is a risky situation, particularly since President Trump is prone to creating crises foreign and domestic with his incautious tweets. In the event of a serious international crisis of the sort which eventually befalls almost every administration, the White House will need the best intelligence possible to prevent war, possibly even nuclear war. It may not get the information it needs in that hour of crisis, and for that it has nobody to blame but itself.

http://observer.com/2017/02/donald-trump-administration-mike-flynn-russian-embassy/