In his mind, his personal security is a matter of national security; to the extent that both are one and the same.
I’m thinking Minesweeper is more Trump’s speed. I was going to say “MineCraft”, but that probably takes more brains than Trump has.
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I am sorta on the fence on how “real” the op-ed is. It seems to me one have thing to risk and nothing to gain by exposing this. If one really was manipulating Trump, it seems to be that making him aware of this would hinder further manipulation.
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If it isn’t real… well, where did it come from? If the NYT created this out of thin air, that’s really bad. If it is someone who seemed to have credibility it is still bad, or at least questionable, but I can at least see the reasoning.
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"We cannot have unelected, hidden people secretly choosing our government policies.
It is literally the only thing worse than having Trump as president."
Er, while not hidden, per se, yeah, the people around the president who help form policy, do the research, present reports etc aren’t elected. They are basically hidden as we aren’t privy to all the interactions. And many of them are in the background and the average person has no idea who they are. That statement is a bit hyperbole, IMO.
Fortunately, pulling NBC’s license would be unconstitutional; there are no federal libel laws that Trump or any congressional Republican is in control of that are relevant here; and I’d like to see him try suing Michael Wolff, given how well his last libel suit against Tim O’Brien went (spoiler: the man who never settles, settled, because his dirty laundry – including his real net worth – would have become public had the suit continued).
Fly some of these over the Naval Observatory in DC (Pence’s res):
I find it extremely unlikely that a staid organization like NYT would completely fabricate something like this. They have too much credibility to lose, and while people may insert their undoubtedly witty commentary about the media can’t be trusted, Judith Miller, etc., the fact remains that NYT is the nation’s newspaper of record and it has too much to lose by simply publishing an op-ed that is completely fictional and which it knows to be completely fictional.
Someone on another forum suggested maybe this was sort of an agent provocateur action, but NYT knows who wrote the op-ed and ostensibly knows if that person is genuine or secretly trying to give Trump World a reason to shout “fake news” from the rooftops.
Nah dude; Angry Birds.
Get him addicted to that, and he may never ‘tweet’ again… pun totally intended.
" L’état, c’est moi"
- Trump, if he understood French
No way it’s Ben Carson.
Do you really think Trump would take his eye off a black person in his office long enough for them to take something from his desk?
Me too.
I agree, but so does the op-ed editor. Not sure on their motivation.
Though it could just be to add chaos. I guess time will tell.
If it becomes a police matter they can just pull phone records and image people’s computing equipment until they get a match.
Waiting for ‘Deep State’ to become ‘Deep Swamp’.
I agree with all of that, which is why i don’t really think backbone was involved in this at all, just devious* (and evil) strategy.
* But probably profoundly stupid.
I am not the leak…
Of course it’s real - the NYT wouldn’t make it up nor be lax in failing to vet the writer, and we’ve heard this story multiple times from multiple sources so far, most recently in Woodward’s book (and he heard it from multiple sources). Fuck, it’s pretty obvious based on Trump’s public statements this is true - the guy is a deranged, ignorant idiot. He sometimes contradicts himself in the same sentence, can’t contain his rage, clearly knows about as much about economics, government and the world as the average 10-year-old, and also obviously doesn’t care about (and/or is incapable of) learning. There’s no way the White House could possibly function (even for this sad, diminished version of “functional” we’ve got) without him being managed like a troubled child.
What the anonymous coward has to gain in writing the op ed is reputation management. They clearly see things going South at the White House and figure their days are numbered (because Trump’s days are numbered). So they’re looking for a story where, instead of being a morally bankrupt creep that worked in the morally bankrupt, corrupt White House, they’re actually a hero saving the country, a story that they can publicly lay claim to when it all falls apart. They want to be able to get a job when this is all over (and maybe a book deal). I don’t think it’s going to work the way they think it is, though.
Everyone around Trump seems to be managing him, to one degree or another, and it’s been publicly talked about, and they’re still doing it. They’re doing it in the first place because Trump’s not mentally competent enough to function normally (i.e. they can hide a document to prevent him from signing it, and he forgets about it, like an infant), which also means his being aware of it doesn’t impact the management that much. So sure, this might make him harder to manage, but just because he’s angry and unbalanced - not because he’s capable of “wising up” to anything.
Right. We have no idea who is actually acting as president in the White House, in other words. Even if we know the names of everyone involved, we have no idea who is doing what. They’re hidden by a complete and total lack of transparency.
To be fair, when he says he never settles, that’s another one of his lies. He settles all the time because he’s usually the one in the wrong. But yeah, he settled that one to avoid his poor finances becoming public. He threatens a lot of lawsuits that never happen as well because he’s afraid of what would be uncovered in the process of discovery. The act of suing just provides the evidence that proves the statements in question.
If you think Pence is well informed, you may be uninformed.
Additionally, Pence supported Trump for president, and continues to do so. This disqualifies him as having any sort of morality or sense.
I just had a wonderful mental image of everyone left in the White House trying to claim to be the writer when things finally slide down the drain; climbing over one another, punching and shoving, trying to be the first person to reach the mic.
like obstruction of justice?
http://time.com/5389533/giuliani-trump-obstruction-of-justice/