Let’s take a look at how the last three presidents handled getting intelligence briefings during the transition period between their early November election and their inauguration on January 20th.
President Bill Clinton got his first post-race briefing on Nov. 13, 1992 — 10 days after the election. He received daily intelligence briefings almost every working day of the rest of the transition time in Little Rock.
President George W. Bush’s first briefing was delayed until Dec. 5 because of the Florida election recount. But Bush, whose father had served as CIA director, asked for daily briefings for the remainder of the transition.
After his election in 2008, President Obama took part not only in regular intelligence briefings but also scheduled “deep dives” on key subjects including Iran’s nuclear program and covert CIA operations, including the accelerating campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan.
“During the transition, President Obama was an avid consumer of intelligence,” said retired Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was CIA director when Obama was elected.
This is not how Donald Trump is handling things. He has so far refused to sit own with James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence. He has received only two briefings.
Trump was given an initial briefing within days of his election victory, and took part in a second session with senior U.S. intelligence analysts Tuesday in New York before he departed to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday, officials said. Trump turned other briefing opportunities away.
His running-mate Mike Pence, by contrast, has received intelligence briefings “almost every day since the election.”
However, if you think this indicates a lack of interest in national security matters or a general lack of seriousness, you need to get a life.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a senior member of Trump’s transition team, dismissed the issue, saying that Trump has devoted significant attention to security matters even while meeting with world leaders and assembling his administration.
“National security is Donald Trump’s No. 1 priority and I think he’s taking it very seriously,” Nunes said in an interview. “Look how many leaders he’s met with, how many phone calls he’s done, positions he’s filled. People who are being critical need to get a life.”
So, I’m looking at all the phone calls he’s had on unsecured phones and all the foreign leaders he’s talked to to lobby them on building permits and wind farms and the positions he’s filled with discredited cranks, white nationalists, anti-Semites, and Islamophobes.
It’s not making me feel better.
Just part and parcel of Der Trumper’s attention deficit disorder syndrome, which the BT community discussed extensively before the failed election, and which was even reported in a variety of outlets (except the useless corporate media, of course).
Trump is a shallow, childish man whose life experiences have obviously done nothing to prepare him for the high office our incompetent white electorate foolishly conferred on him. As an unqualified idiot savant, he isn’t going to be reading the briefing books, or doing “deep dives” on anything but ways to enrich his “blind trust”, ha-ha.
Nor can he even suffer to sit and listen to anyone, apparently, and he seems to be the sort of insufferable boor who literally can’t keep his mouth shut for one minute. So briefings were clearly going to be out of the question, and these reports simply confirm Der Trumper’s almost unbelievable unsuitability for the position, which was painfully obvious to anyone with a functioning brain. Oh well, the Age of Incompetence is upon us.
An unqualified blowhard who can’t listen to anyone on any topic—greaaat. This is going to result in an incalculable number of crises, none of which Der Trumper is suited to handle competently. The world’s equity markets are going to be very interesting to watch…on that note, Happy Thanksgiving and Heil Trumper!
Just a quick fly-by before heading out to visit with family: Trump is going to make George W. Bush look highly competent by the time all is said and done. Now there is a statement I never thought I would find myself writing.
Try to have a good Thanksgiving holiday. Take care.
If he doesn’t start a big shooting war halfway around the world that costs $4 trillion, GWB is going to make Trump look competent.
This is the R’s one trick pony: stick an unqualified vindictive man-child in office and then act astonished when he acts just like an unqualified vindictive man-child (e.g. Chris Christie). Like no one could have seen it coming.
It’s the very definition of insanity yet they keep doing it again and again, expecting different results.
“Last time we must have been holding our jaws wrong when voting or something, this latest asshole will be the charm, just trust us!”
I honestly don’t know what the Fed has done for me lately. I just want the lights on, the garbage picked up, water coming out of the tap when I turn it on, water going down the drain and staying down, and decent schools for the kids. This having to personally worry about people at the top running amok with all the money, power, weaponry, and secrets at their disposal is nuts.
It’s like the oil burner in your basement. When it’s working right, you don’t even notice it, except for the money you have to throw its way periodically.
Now go enjoy your federally-inspected turkey.
I’d value the Fed more if it couldn’t be so easily bought off by big money. And when the Fed is in the bag there is no higher power to appeal to for justice.
I’m not advocating for “state’s rights” but for dissolution of the union. Having ultra powerful positions like president, senator, representative, supreme court justice, etc. is just asking for massive abuse by professional grifters failing up.
The republic of virtue died with Washington — and even then, it was a dream.
It’s not coming back.
Not even if every devolved bit of government you envision is led by a Black/Red coalition.
You’d need to repeal original sin first.
My local government works pretty good, and I actually have some say over it. Sure there are too many surveillance cameras, too many cops, and the school admins make too much money for what little they do, but I suppose one can’t have everything when it comes to larger organization. I’m glad water quality and insurance company activity are overseen by the state (NJ).
I like the price of my Obamacare, and I want the SS and Medicare I paid into, but that’s about it for me Fed-wise. The rest is an enormous, harrowing drag on our collective existences. Humans don’t seem good at running things like the entire world.
Pence gets the briefings. I think we all know how this administration is going to work. It’s certainly not going to be the ADD Trump making day-to-day decisions about national security threats.
I find these stories interesting. What are the sources? Presumably someone in the intelligence community. It’s not the first story about him blowing off briefings. Shot across the bow?
If Trump decided to make Pence the Intell Czar as his VP duty, that would be fine with me. I don’t trust Trump with stuff like that. Pence is a more conventional guy. You may disagree with some of his ideas, but he would probably do a fine job on the intell/foreign policy stuff.
Seems to say it all: is Pence the new Cheney?
Pence is going to be a very large person in this administration. He certainly has components of his political personality that I do not agree with.
However, we have this admin for 4 years. To my mind, it is best to determine what can be accepted, and what cannot.
I could live with him as the Foreign Policy guy.
Bomb the shit out of ISIS might still happen, but Pence could be a conventional check. Now if ISIS were all gay………
linky thingy
“You may disagree with some of his ideas…”
LOL; redefine rape as ‘forcible rape’, broaden felony charges for marijuana possession and increase prison sentences, discriminate against LQBTQ individuals using religion as a defense, despite existing civil rights protections, stipulation that doctors must show women who want an abortion an ultrasound of the fetus and have their fetuses cremated or buried, a stipulation with no justification whatsoever — other than to shame women who need abortion care.
And he doesn’t know fidge about foreign policy; he’s a tub-thumping wowser from Indiana. I’m guessing he’s more committed to the Rapture than nuclear deterrence.
“Trump Blowing Off Intelligence Briefings”
Well…yeah!!!
Maybe he doesn’t exactly trust the U.S. Intelligence services?
The ones that were busily trying to tar him with allegations of Russian control? The ones that were in total attack mode against the Wikileaks/Snowden info that tended to paint HRC as the incompetent that she has plainly turned out to be?
DUH!!!
AG
I will take this opportunity to wish a pleasant and argument-free Thanksgiving to all. It’s a good holiday, in which the true American religion of plenty of food and drink is celebrated.
Menu: Turkey, cranberry-orange relish, cranberry sauce, mashed yams, stuffing, carrot-parsnip-ginger mix, cornbread, wine, beer, nuts, all kinds of cheese and crackers. I will have my mom (89) and sister, with my wife and myself. We’ll have them at X-mas.
Enjoy the crackers. And reruns of “Leave it to Beaver”.
thanks, and best wishes to you and your family also.
I’ve been reading about the history of food, which drives home that nearly everyone for nearly all of human history went hungry a lot. Having enough to eat was worth celebrating for most until very recently.
I’m making salad to take to a big group dinner, supposed to be 20+ people. I think I’ve met most of them before.
As I’ve noted here before, the typically constrained mis-definition that includes only roughly the past 5-10,000 years is highly unrepresentative of the whole of humanity’s tenure on this planet (as paleontology and archeology have now made clear, necessitating invention of the fiction of “prehistory” to accommodate most of humanity’s actual history).
What you say (i.e., “nearly everyone for nearly all of human history went hungry a lot”) is true only for that misleadingly constrained concept of “human history” that is completely limited to the brief and aberrational history of “our” now-globally-dominant culture going back to its origins in “our” Totalitarian Agricultural Revolution (because “we” wrote that “history”! See links above).
I’m increasingly worried about what Prime Minister Pence will do while President Trump is Making America Great Again and hobnobbing with authoritarians and royalty.
I would not be surprised if Trump dies of natural causes before inauguration.
In fact I’m trying to distinguish between stocks that go up when the Gullible Oligarch Party has all of the reigns of power and those that go up only when Trump is President. There must be a few that diverge. Then find the ones which would drop like a rock on Trump’s death and get some put options on them.
Note I’m saying natural causes here. I’m absolutely NOT saying fragging.
Was wondering about this myself. He’s 70 and in poor shape.
hobnobbing with authoritarians and royalty.
Would that be new?
I’m all in favor reaming Trump/Pence up one side and the other. However, let’s not have different standards for their, so far imaginary, behaviors and what we have lived with for decades and what Hillary promised more of.
(Bet Pence’s bank account doesn’t have tens of millions in it from authoritarians and royalty like the Clintons account does. Expect he’ll soon be looking for such handouts (if Trump doesn’t get there first and nudge him out of the way), but he has a long way to go before he catches up with the Clintons and Bushes.)
the positions he’s filled with discredited cranks, white nationalists, anti-Semites
Know your enemy.
The seeds of the alt-right, America’s emergent right-wing populist movement
Old High German name, fascination with white supremacy, Putin apologist… Pointy hat?
Russia did not attack us on 9/11; Al Qaeda did. Yet your candidate saw Russia as the bigger enemy.
By coddling Islamic terrorists, Obama and Hillary lost the trust of the American people.
Coddling Islamic terrorists? What the hell are you talking about? Do you support the war on terror?
Meanwhile, look at Russia fighting ISIS!
Michael T. Flynn and Islam, by Thierry Meyssan
Obama fired Flynn because Flynn believes that the US should not coddle Islamic terrorists.
I see, so you subscribe to the Michael Flynn school of crank, conspiracy, and Islamophobic foreign policy regiment. Which also coincidentally happens to support Putin’s outlook of Christian Orthodox white supremacy.
I’m curious: Why do you hate Christianity and yet are enamored with Islam? Do you believe that Islam is more rational, enlightened, or progressive than Christianity?
Is this a multiple choice question?
I oppose our wars. I oppose our air strikes against ISIS. I oppose our funneling of weapons to rebels. I oppose our assistance of Saudi Arabian war in Yemen. I oppose Russian air strikes in Syria. I oppose imperialism.
You on the other hand just seem to hate Muslims, and love Russian imperialism.
Opposing US air strikes on ISIS and Russian air strikes in Syria doesn’t make any sense, if one is for women’s and LGBT rights, given that sharia, which ISIS imposes, violently oppresses women and calls for the execution of gays.
Russia is not attacking ISIS. It’s why I provided you with a map.
Russia works in concert with the Syrian Arab Army.
Syrian Army Kills over 30 ISIS Terrorists in Deir ez-Zor
Look at the map. Does that look like a country attacking ISIS, or a country working with Syria as it attacks its own civilians and rebels in a civil war? You’re blinded by anti-US and Islamophobic feelings to see clearly. Sadly a lot of the left has thrown in their lot with this bullshit.
I would be interested to know your opinion of Patriarch Kirill’s claim on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, through the agency of the Moscow Patriarchate, of spiritual suzerainty, and one assumes political influence, over several non-Russian republics whom object to this; the Ukraine, for example.
Most of the West is unaware of this militant and potential schism of the Russian Orthodox Church from the rest of Christianity, even Orthodox Greeks. The historical parallels are suggestive.
One thing that tipped me off to this bullshit was seeing all the right wing Christians — particularly Rod Dreher — talk about how awesome Russia is. Now maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but they’d clearly prefer Putin’s embrace of this Christianity to a secular state.
The whole Russian Empire re-enactment fetish is a worry until you remember why it collapsed in the first place. Global ambitions and a crap navy. Stalemate with Turkey and lingering ill will even with European ‘allies’. Broke and lagging behind the industrialised West because of the sea-anchor of agricultural peasantry. Yeah, I can see all that happening again.
The correct question that needs to be asked is…..
What is happening, and being posted, on the Pond these days to make an alt-right White Russian feel comfortable spreading his propaganda there? So far he has posted links to a Men’s Rights site, a Russian military financed news site, and an alt right conspiracy site. Without push back (except you), or downgrades.
No post is an island unto itself. Following his paints quite a picture on the current Pond.
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While indicative that it shows up here it seems to me we are seeing a global push to sow doubt about the institutions of the West, our leaders and culture. That the motives for these endeavours inevitably seem to suggest malicious intent on the part of some geopolitical actor should give us pause. That they would also ironically align with the aspirations of the Right all these years is a national disgrace which shames us as a free society.
Notice my instant downgrade by his co-registrar. My post will soon disappear.
That is the state of Pond commentary.
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Thank you.
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I would down-rate them but I personally believe that their existence here is a much better demonstration of the threat facing Western democracy from Putin’s tyrants’ confederacy than anything I could say. In that respect I find them useful and instructive.
I understand perfectly, I used to feel the same way. But after being blitzed with about fifteen 0’s, I changed my mind.
No more slack for the alt right Putin lovers or their enablers on this site from me.
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Agreed. The culture and norms on this blog have changed for the worse, and absent any attempt at moderation by either the blog’s proprietor or moderators (which really have been nonexistent for ages), we have no choice but to adapt. I miss the days when zeros were reserved for overt racism and spam posts, or the days of the cafes and such where the motto was “may the fours be with you”. But gone they are. And adapt we must.
Well I still reserve the right to link to whatever I want; that’s what got me wrangling these trolls in the first place.
We do seem to have our fair share of individuals who are seeking attention for the sake of attention. There’s always been a bit of that here, and it sort of goes with the territory on the Internet Tubes. Se la vie. The drama of this election and its aftermath has increased the number of individuals seeking drama of their own.
The troll rating thing though is definitely a bit more disturbing. It strikes me as very personal, almost coordinated vendetta. It’s as juvenile as a group of bullies and their toadies trying to beat up on some kid on the playground expecting no one will be there to defend the one receiving the beating. And they will be wrong, because there are a few who will stand up. Hopefully more. Otherwise, we will lose good posters who have plenty to offer. We’ve lost too many already.
Normally I avoid getting meta here, out of respect to Booman’s own stated wishes. These are not normal times.
So what is the plan? I want to keep at least one of the Russian trolls for reasons already mentioned.
I honestly wished I had a plan. At the moment, I’m just winging it. Short of uprating comments that have apparently been troll rated for no other reason than because of the commenter’s identity, I’m not sure there is much I can do. At DKos, down rating abuse led to instituting a limit on the number of donuts users could give. Maybe the time has come for that here. Not my call though as I don’t own this blog. I’m merely a guest.
As far as your particular interest in keeping a particular troll around, I have no intention of standing in your way. You’ve stated your reasoning and I respect that. No worries.
Well, for me the ‘plan’ is to make sure people notice. I now know that you and another commentator have noticed the alt right is here, and is advancing alt right goals, something I noticed months ago.
As far as ratings, and why they matter…the system used on this site ‘rewards’ uprated comments by moving them up the comment list. Get 5 4’s, with 2-3 high rated answering comments, and you will be at the top, or near it. An example is this conversation we are having right now. By one person down rating it, it’s guaranteed it stays as is, slowly getting harder to read. Go here The Progressive community lost a giant last week, named SEK. Booman put a brief eulogy in his diary. Try to find it. It’s lost amongst all the bile and hate that gets upgraded. This is ostensibly a progressive site, yet not even SEK can get a kind word in his passing. He had eulogies everywhere, but not here. Because it was not rated.
That’s why some here care so much, and constantly complain about, their ratings. They want to be first, or very near it. The site libertarian makes it a priority.
Now imagine a progressive coming to ‘check us out’. What would he see first in the comments? Libertarian, alt right nihilism, with a dash of Rand Paul love.
They won’t come back, and the site becomes less progressive.
Not only do we risk losing potentially new contributors, but we risk (and have already seen happen) the loss of previously valued contributors. That in and of itself is inexcusable, and does not bode well for the long term health of this particular blog. Sounding the alarm is critical. I honestly have no idea if Booman has the time or energy needed to really get ahead of a problem that is festering as of this writing. He needs to. There is only so much that an isolated set of individuals can do.
True, there is virtually nothing an isolated group can do.
Once again, lowest common denominator wins, because individual self aggrandizement and greed for attention will always be more motivated and work harder than disinterested engagement, no matter how factual.
As far as losing progressive voices here, to many that is a feature, not a bug.
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And that is how a community blog dies – when it devolves into a battle of who can scream the loudest and who can troll rate the most.
In some senses, I am reminded of Peeder’s attempt at a practically rule-free community blog, called Political Fleshfeast. I want to say that lasted all of a year. Started off okay enough, and probably provided a bit of breathing room for those who felt a bit stifled at Daily Kos or My Left Wing (which was Peeder’s target audience for his then-new venture). But it became an unreadable mess very quickly, and one day out of the blue Peeder pulled the plug.
The norms and handful of rules here have not always been perfect, but perfection is not expected nor needed. But they were largely accepted by enough of the regulars, and it mostly managed to work. And therein lies the rub: maintaining those norms that keep the blog functioning. Now back when there were some of the features that are now gone (the froggy bottom cafe, the monthly photo flogs, the welcome wagon), socializing new members was fairly doable. Those days are long gone, and appear unlikely to return. A couple of us keep a remnant or two from those days, but let’s not fool ourselves – they’re hardly a substitute and barely attract much in the way of readership or commentary outside of few (mostly) long time regulars.
Digby over at Hullabaloo has been posting on it for months, here
A mention in that on ‘useful idiots’. On Booman the ‘useful idiots’ are mainly ‘both sides do it’ types. But also just a simple desire for attention. You saw that in the run up, when simply bashing Clinton got you upgrades, so long timers who were marginalized suddenly became accepted, just repeat the acceptable meme. In the meantime the site becomes welcoming to alt whites.
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Yep. Saw that. Was a sight to behold, and from folks who were on to me about being overly critical of the Democratic Party any of a number of years ago. The sin of false equivalence is one that I consider a cardinal sin. So it goes.
I do have a long memory, and there is much that happened that i will not soon forget. One day on a personal blog that thankfully nearly no one reads I think I will post a memoir of how I went from being hippie punched to a neoliberal sellout in one easy election cycle. I’ll need some time for that one. Maybe a few months.
Not on my watch, or the watch of whomever is left here who is actually not a complete and total wingnut.
Thanks.
Or their dupes, which we have plenty of.
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No worries. At the moment I am doing my best to hold my tongue elsewhere here (apparently, when I tell someone that I intend no further contact with them, those boundaries seem not to matter – a bit disturbing, really as that appears to be a persistent problem as well here now). Just got home from a very pleasant meal with some very pleasant people, and would rather hold on to the good vibes just a bit longer.
The question remains is Adalbrand actually Russian, in which case he is likely paid something for this effort, and he would be worth keeping as a pet and Putin barometer. Or is he a Putin-curious Euro-supremacist burrowed into some unsuspecting European liberal democracy and bent on causing trouble, in which case perhaps we should attempt to deprogram him. With kindness.
My candidate? Hillary. You insult me. Hillary is a plodder, a neoliberal and a very average Park Ridge Republican. I see Putin as a bigger threat because he is an injured little boy.
Coddling terrorists? You reveal yourself.
Trump is blowing off ‘intelligence’ briefings because he hates looking stupid. It’s the only time he doesn’t get to do a hand-wave about things he doesn’t really understand.
A devout and arguably militant Evangelical Christian who repeatedly, almost reflexively, calls Israel “our most cherished ally” surely must be suspect of harbouring aspirations more compatible with the Rapture than geopolitics.
Hello Martin and everyone reading this far into the thread,
I am very Thankful for this site and you and your family helping make things seem more understandable.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of the BOOTrib Community of readers!
I hope we are all savoring our last Thanksgiving in the USA as we have known it.
It’s going to be awfulness, squared…
Merry Christmas as well…
…and then…
…The Torture Never Stops…
As Driftglass points out, the Trump appointment circus resemble nothing more than the selection of the Coalition Provisional Authority privateers the Bush administration put together to loot Iraq.
That should tell us something.
From Driftglass above:
Sounds much less confusing when you put it that way.
I highly recommend that book he quoted by Rajiv Chamdrasekarian . It reads like a horror story especially when you reflect on the qualifications of those running the CPA. If he thinks Trump will be worse that is saying something.
It seems the best historical comparison if that helps predict the likely outcome.
“President George W. Bush’s first briefing was delayed until Dec. 5 because of the Florida election recount. But Bush, whose father had served as CIA director, asked for daily briefings for the remainder of the transition.”
I seem to remember that Richard Clarke tried to meet with Cheney a period of months. A little concern known as “Osama Bin Laden”. Cheney refused to meet with him.
I also seem to recall GWB hearing warnings about Bin Laden and then making a wise-ass comment along the lines of “Fine – you covered your ass.
So let’s not paint the GWB administration as being so great on this issue.
was pathetic, yet Trump still manages to make him look Churchillian by comparison.