Every day, at least during the week, the White House sends out a memo called the “Daily Guidance and Press Schedule.” It lets people know what the president will be doing that day. Today’s memo announced that President Trump would speak at 9:00am at the MCCA Winter Conference. Then, at 10:30am, he would receive “his daily intelligence briefing.”
It’s been noted repeatedly since Election Day that Trump is not all that enthusiastic about receiving intelligence briefings, and he turned many of them down, arguing that it was sufficient that the vice-president was receiving them.
President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview airing Sunday that he doesn’t need to receive a daily intelligence briefing, stating he only gets the briefing when he needs it.
“I don’t have to be told ― you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day,” Trump said in an interview airing on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t need to be told … the same thing every day, every morning ― same words. ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again.’ I don’t need that.”
Trump is reportedly only receiving an intelligence briefing just once a week. The president-elect said the people who are giving him the briefings are “very good people” and that he was always available if something changed. He also said that Vice President-elect Mike Pence was receiving the briefings.
In any case, he was scheduled to receive an intelligence briefing at 10:30am this morning. I don’t know how long such briefings typically last but I do know what President Trump was doing at 10:51am.
My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2017
Now, perhaps the intelligence briefing only lasted fifteen minutes. I hope that they discussed some important matters like what to do about the fact that Yemen has rescinded their cooperation in fighting against the al-Qaeda cell our country attacked on January 29th.
Yemen’s government has requested the United States stop ground operations in the country unless they have the government’s full approval after an anti-terror raid authorized by US President Donald Trump killed civilians, two senior Yemeni defense officials told CNN on Wednesday.
The Yemeni officials said the government had sent a firm message to the US administration condemning the January 29 operation that left one US Navy Seal dead along with Yemeni women and children, complaining of a lack of coordination with its officials.
Even if this intelligence briefing ended at, say, 10:45am, it seems Trump’s mind immediately shifted to the financial hit his daughter is taking because Nordstrum is discontinuing their relationship with her. His 10:51am tweet temporarily knocked down Nordstrum’s stock price.
A spokesperson from Nordstrom did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. But when asked about the tweet on a call with reporters, National Retail Federation CEO Matt Shay said that “we’re living in a world with a different kind of a chief executive in the White House.”
“We’re learning, all of us, how to work in that environment,” he said.
I cannot how see how any of this is acceptable. I don’t know how this can possibly have any shelf-life.
…much of anything that I can tell.
At the end of 4 years, will there be a Trump entity left? It looks as if Ivanka, who seems a smart person, is going to lose her business empire to those who do not like her father. Unfortunate for her.
What of Trump? It’s not inconceivable that his missteps, cluelessness, and visibility will destroy Brand Trump.
At the end of 4 years?
It’s week 3 and he has already surpassed what it took W 8 years to accomplish.
This guy is very very bad for Brand America. He’s either going to change or something is going to happen.
Its really up to congress. They are the branch tgat has the power to check Trump. If the GOP doesnt want to it wont happen. Congressional GOP are the ones that own Trump.
Trump owns the Congressional GOP at this point. And McConnell owns his caucus up to the point of being able to sacrifice two votes and still win.
Saying that Trump owns the GOP is a mistake. The actual power rests with the Congress and I see not tying their own failure to reign in Trump as necessary to their defeat. If it’s not their fault, if it’s all Trump then why not vote for them in the mid-terms?
OK. McConnell has unilaterally disarmed Congress of its co-equal power. And Ryan’s caucus is so split it is dysfunctional. From a framing standpoint you are right.
From a legislative tactical standpoint, until you make that framing get traction you have to operate as if Trump owns Congress and make McConnell own up to his capitulation for a job for his spouse. I’m not sure that a charge of corruption in that deal will stick yet but at some point it might.
And as long as Trump owns Congress, you will not get more the symbolic defection of Collins and Murkowski and then Pence pulling out the win.
Unfortunately, there is Joe Manchin. And Heidi Heitkamp. And Claire McCaskill.
That’s the answer. The Rs are gonna have a “come to Jesus” meeting with him, my guess is on March 1. They will tell him that the R Congress is threatened by his bullshit, and that it needs to stop. I doubt we will hear much, because Trump cannot be seen to be in the wrong. But soon, the tweeting will stop, and when it does, you will know that this meeting occurred. McCain, McConnell, Ryan, other poobahs will be there. They will tell him that its straighten up, or they will impeach him.
I doubt there will be such a meeting but if there is I think it will only happen after Trump has broken the social safety net, and financial and environmental regulation by signing the bills they want. Perhaps taxes as well. Trump gets the blame, the GOP can impeach Trump and Pence can roll theocracy with a relatively clean slate.
Why do I doubt that it would happen? While Trump has very low approval among independents and Dems, he still maintains strong approval among Republicans. The GOP has been conditioned for decades to fear their right flank, not their left (reasonably so). I think it will take actual losses to make them worry about losing from anything other than right wing challenges from people who are hard Trump. Especially in the face of a number of generally unpopular changes.
I agree. Why would the GOP turn on Trump? They are getting everything they’ve been pining for for years. No reason the change course until the midterms.
There is no rational, controllable person hiding behind the facade. If Republican congressional leaders (McCain? lol) try to rein Trump in we’ll be reading about it on twitter within hours. And there will be a Brietbart-backed primary challenger for each knocking on the door within days.
Only if Elaine Chao resigns will you see an effective “Come to Jesus” meeting anytime. You folks waiting for the turn to optimism in this administration are waiting for a false hope. Trump is what he is, and everyone has waited in vain for him to show his more benevolent side.
Lets be fair. Maybe he was tweeting during the briefing. After all kids in classes are playing games on their computers during lectures all the time.
Thing is he’s been crowing all day about the imminent threat of a terrorist attack and directing everyone to blame the judges. Once again we are taught that an imminent attack doesn’t mean Trump doesn’t have time to protect a family business interest first.
Josh Marshall was right: Trump literally doesn’t understand the concept of “conflict of interest.”
It’s just like how he doesn’t understand separation of powers/checks and balances; the limits on the President’s authority, or what to do when he doesn’t get his way.
Remind me again how we got here?
All yer nutjob neighbors and relatives voted for this idiot .. THAT’S how we got here, accelerating fast, downhill, evidently in some sort of basket….
I’m reminded of an old George Carlin quote:
“Where are we going? And what’s with this hand basket?”
I suspect that the Orange Don has at least a primitive understanding of these concepts; it’s just that he simply doesn’t care. He made a clear, transactional arrangement with Ryan: you let me do anything I want in the White House and I’ll sign all your bills. Ryan has, on more than one occasion (like last night) stated that this is basically how he sees the arrangement too.
How odd he forgot that he and Ivanka are no longer involved in the businesses.
Not sure what is supposed to have shelf life. But anyway, Trump is an ego gratification machine. Rules are not a concern unless they affect his supply. Conflict of interest isn’t a problem since congress won’t hold him responsible. Enrichment is part of his supply so he is going to get as much of that as pleases him. It would be helpful to his associates or anyone really, to know when he is going to denigrate a company. They know the stock will drop and then recover. Buy low, wait for recovery and sell high. Profit!
Nordstromgate as indicated by Deep Bloat.
That particulat tweet was sent from an iPhone suggesting this was not actually Trump (android). If hecwas in the briefing that would explain why.
I’d make them deny that he’s the author of his tweets if he wants to use that excuse.
Good move.
On the defense of his daughter Trump is acting within norms.
Man it is such a mistake for us to drag his daughter into the fight….
Isn’t it interesting that the norms have a double-standard.
She’s an adviser, which Margaret Truman was not.
Besides, if she is always pushing him to do the right thing then she is a miserable failure and should be referred to as such.
I’m not defending her, but I don’t think you can make that assumption. It may seem incredible, but evidence suggests that is a moderating influence.
http://www.jta.org/2017/01/31/news-opinion/united-states/did-shabbat-keep-jared-and-ivanka-in-the-da
rk-about-muslim-ban-crisis
This phenomenon was already noticed during the campaign.
http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2016/09/09/correlation-between-jewish-holidays-and-twitter-faux-pas/
What’s particularly scary is that Trump’s other advisors, who have their own agendas and at least one of whom is an antisemite, are well aware of this, and know when is the best time to get Trump to do stuff they want him to do without interference from the Kushners.
Is not dragging his daughter into it. It is the free market. I agree people shouldn’t insult her but people also shouldn’t feel compelled to spend their money on her clothing and shoe line just because.
If sales of her products are suddenly falling off, then Donald Trump only needs to look at his poll ratings to understand why. He is doing this to his daughter.
I’m sure you have noticed that Trump’s mistakes are ALWAYS somebody else’s fault.
“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election.” Donald J. Trump, “president”
We know what Dear Leader thinks of his poll ratings.
And today on FOX, from the White House, Kelleyanne Conway encouraged viewers to show support and shop for Ivanka’s products. I think this might be illegal, shilling for the family’s investments, but anymore I don’t know what this administration can get away with.
After almost 20 days of seeing the Trump executive style in action, it’s time stop worrying for a bit about acceptability and try to figure out who it is that is actually doing the functions of government. A daily round of the game “Ain’t it awful?” doesn’t move us forward any more than it did for Republicans during the Trump administration. You will notice that they did quite a bit more than mutter about “acceptability”.
What we know is that the CIA President’s Daily Briefing does not meet the style requirements of their chief “customer”, as the CIA likes to frame it. That is the CIA’s problem of the moment. None of their analysis means shit if they can’t deliver it to the First Customer.
Besides assholery (not to be discounted), what exactly is Trump saying here?
(1) Employees (lessers) are obligated to figure out what I mean; I am not responsible for making clear communications. It goes along with not being responsible for much of anything but credit for successes.
(2) I like to think of myself as an efficient management-by-exceptions, interrupt-driven sort of guy who takes advantage of opportunities, not day-to-day operations. The day-to-day is not “creative”; that’s what I hire the lessers to do and do it to my satisfaction — or else. Oh, did I point out that I am a management-by-fear sort of manager, except when I am benevolent and treat my best performers to a management-by-greed sort of style.
(3) Trying to separate government affairs from private commercial affairs is an infringement on the free enterprise economy. I’m the effing President; I can do what I want.
(4) I have practically gelded the Republican caucus; they will help me sideline the Democratic caucus and geld the courts. They also will make anything I want legal with a party-line vote. Just watch.
(5) Watch as I take down one Democratic Party constituency at a time; they won’t know what hit them. And the Democratic caucus in Congress won’t tell them what happened because the interests behind these moves have them very well paid.
(6) Foreign leaders haven’t figured me out either because I go out of may way to be truly baffling to normal ways of doing things. It’s how I deal and how I win (when I win). I also have a habit of shoving off risks on other people. That’s why Pence is the minister in charge of daily security briefings. It is he who better not screw up. Pence thinks he’s Dick Cheney, but he’ll grow to appreciate the position of Richard Nixon under Ike. He got his Tea Party administration. Let’s see what he does with it. I get to go make deals with foreign leaders and “Make America Great Again” by jawboning the locals.
(7) I’m still the lead every day in the media. So I haven’t effed up much yet, have I, thank Kellyanne and now Sean. When they spread the fog, the do it good. The media gets so distracted for days they don’t notice what I’m doing. Good!
Well that’s close to what Trump is communicating through his daily contempt.
The #resistance better figure out how that is leading them around instead of their backfooting Trump.
Clutching pearls and waving hands about “That’s not acceptable” sorta died on the day the electoral college selected the winner of the election. It is wholly irrelevant. What is relevant is watching and defeating him from seizing power from the Constitutional form of government no matter how ricketty it has gotten in this century.
And keeping an eye out on Greg Abbott’s plan to totally subvert the Constitution and all the judicial precedents that have accumulated over 241 years. What Abbott and his posse are going for is the Bill of Rights outside of 2 and 10.
Good points, but now what? We know what’s going on, or at least a lot of it, but with limited power in Congress, what else can we do that we aren’t doing already? There’s massive groundswell against Trump; groups are moving forward in big numbers to shore up resistance and they’re calling their representatives and organizing in their districts.
What next? We can gear up for local elections and keep putting pressure on those in power. We can donate to local causes and Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. That’s what I’m doing. But what else?
That’s a question I’ve been brooding about ever since Inauguration Week when I saw the media driving more distraction that actually served to legitimize Trump’s regime. And failed to state clearly lies as lies.
What to do. Well, there are any number of political actions going on in the streets almost everywhere. More of these in red states helps. Rev. Barber is conducting his MLKonJ annual “Martin Luther King on Jones Street” rally at the state legislative building (it’s on Jones Street in Raleigh) this Saturday. People all over the state have chartered busses to avoid the traffic tie up. In 2014, there were 80,000 in downtown Raleigh. Turning out large numbers in the streets to make it clear that they are the opposition and outnumbering the Tea Party marches of 2009-2010 by factors of 10 start to change the narrative.
I don’t generally pass on chain emails, but this one through a Facebook friend seemed worth thinking about:
And persist. This is going to be an eight-year or more resistance even if the current opposition to Trump is successful in taking power in legislatures, governors offices, Congress and the Presidency by 2024. (I don’t necessarily count the Democratic Party in that opposition on principled grounds quite yet; still seem to be squabbling over lost spoils. The opposition is identified by what they succeed at doing.)
And look after setting up local institutions that could provide relief if Trump sends policy spinning off into a calamity. There is a lot of work to do. Local agriculture and clean and sufficient supplies of water are two areas that should not be taken for granted. Government infrastructure no longer can be taken for granted as being there because “no politician would take down a water system”. Rick Snyder did.
You know about the report that Gorsuch in a meeting with WSen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said he felt Trump’s crack about the “so-called judge” was “demoralizing” and “disheartening”.
They’re just eating it up. And Jeff Flake said “”I don’t think it was calculated to do that, but I think the effect of that will make them realize he’s an independent guy.”
Well I think it was very much calculated to do that, as well as to get the meme out to federal judges that they really ought to be feeling demoralized and disheartened. This is a slightly more genteel form of Trump psychological warfare.
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/donald-trump-neil-gorsuch-judge-234812
Indeed. Do not underrate Trump’s subtlety at revenge.
The coming irony is when it is a GOP Judicial Watch judge that gets dissed.
I rather like the Facebook list, though non-violence and respect for others needs to be really clear in demonstrations. The right is having a field day with the protests in Berkeley, and often protest movements get drawn into police confrontations that serve to make the movement unpopular.
We need to generate leadership – something Occupy failed to do – and something the left in Vermont did in the 70’s.
Yes, well done (and, as I’ve said before, you’re always very smart, well-informed and exhausively circumspect), but there’s a problem with this kind of speculative interior monologue, whenever it’s done: it imbues the subject with a self-awareness that isn’t there.
I mean, yes, I get it: that’s part of the point — it’s an ironic framework where you can imagine someone saying “I don’t even know about Civil Rights!” or “I’m an idiot!” or whatever — but as perceptive as it is, there’s a way it can build an imaginary, elaborat cardhouse that people struggle to knock over, when the real target is much simpler.
I mean, the simple reality behind everything you’re saying is that Trump does not understand the Presidency on a conceptual level. He could not repeat back to you what the three branches of government are or what they do — he could not define “rule of law” or “conflict of interest” even slightly. He simply thinks that he’s “in charge” — he doesn’t understand why he’s still being criticized, since the election is over (as Conway said the other day). He really is that ignorant.
And, like so many ignorant businesspeople (and we’ve all dealt with this), he thinks he’s brilliant — he thinks that wealth and success mean that the ideas are his. He thinks he wrote those books (as Jane Mayer discovered as part of her New Yorker Tony Schwartz reporting). He thinks his “ideas” are why he’s famous. He doesn’t understand when he’s being made fun of; he doesn’t have the sophistication for that.
So, yes, certain institutions (like, say, the other Republican candidates in the primaries, or the GOP congress today) are folding before him, that’s not about him, it’s about their intrinsic weakness. And, yes, liberal bulwarks are being attacked and overcome, but that’s a conservative wave that’s grown out of the Obama years, corporatism etc.
I am reminded of these lyrics from Looking East by Jackson Browne:
“Where the search for the truth is conducted with a wink and a nod
And where power and position are equated with the grace of God
These times are famine for the soul while for the senses it’s a feast
From the edge of my country, as far as you see, looking east”
I see you left coasters are still praying for an overactive San Andreas fault that will split you out beyond the territorial limit.
We are talking about a guy whose lack of self-awareness about conventional politics got him elected by the electoral college as President of the United States of America, inaugurated by a Supreme Court Justice, and occupying the role of President in a network of established norms and rules that go on outside of his understanding of them. I don’t think he glided through Wharton’s school of real estate solely on being legacy student (was he?).
We are talking about a guy who commands and gets obedience from the bureaucratic players that are his direct reports. That includes Pence. We should be paying more attention to what they are doing. And less to the distractions that the Precious Snowflake in Chief tosses to Mz. Kellyanne to divert attention from seizure of power of any number of fronts.
If you’ve ever worked for this type of boss, you understand that inability to articulate exactly what he want in other than immediate orders does not mean that what he wants is not translatable to conventional management practices. You also understand that all actions can be interrupted to undertake the immediacy of a completely different action. Arbitrariness is a part of the feeling of power that he demands. Not having to have to repeat himself is his demand; in return, he is impatient with having things repeated to him. It is taken as an allegation that he was not listening the first time (which quite well may be true).
But still the government has to run; the direct reports have to determine what they will do from day to day.
Understanding the Presidency on a conceptual level never has been a requirement for office. That’s why there is continuity in the institution’s civil service staff.
All right, but that just gets us back into the same tactical examination of the White House that obtained under Reagan and George W. Bush (the first two Republican absentee-figurehead presidents), wherein we all have to figure out, is this James Baker we’re hearing? Is it Cheney? Is it the military or congress leading him around?
But it’s different, because the trend that stars with Reagan (who had no real agenda at all; he occupied the Presidency like it was the Elks Club, making speeches when necessary and being amiable, but eventually had an important conversation or two with Gorbachev) and continues with Bush (who had his own Freudian ideas about Iraq) continues with Trump. The figurehead with his own agenda is dangerous — von Papen etc. learned this about Hitler when they thought they’d “hired him” (to capture his mass movement) and he ended up calling the shots.
What I’m saying is, Trump is important to understand, not as a conventional President with a legislative/managerial agenda (there is none) or as a crafty behind-the-scenes Wizard of Oz/Senator Palpatine creating a diversion while enacting a dark agenda (like I’m accusing you of portraying him as), or a a mere figurehead to be ignored…but as something new: a trivial, petty, ignorant man who nonetheless is running the show.
So the focusing on his tantrums, fixations, short attention span, feuds etc. (which wouldn’t be relevant with Reagan) are crucial; they’re steering the policy.
No this not Kremlinology about whose thoughts Trump is spouting, it looking at what is Pence doing for the team in action, what is Mattis actually doing, what is Sessions actually doing, what is …each cabinet member actually doing. Because my suspicion is that Trump has delegated broad powers so that he does not have to make “insignificant decisions”.
The out-of-context attack on Yemen and the propaganda that treated a story of an attack on a Saudi vessel as an attack on a US vessel were what Mattis did. The hamhanded and draconian detention of visitors with papers from seven countries was what the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the Customs and Border Patrol did. What we are looking for are members of the regime who have the standing to tell Trump no to a lame-brained scheme. More importantly, those who wil tell him no to a clear violation of the Constitution.
Until then, treat him as a dictator who has not yet decided to use his full police state powers and seeks a period of normalization before the disorienting strike.
The theatrics steer policy only to the extent that he has obedient followers in the chain of command who never ever push back on Trump himself. And always go out and do exactly what they are told to do. Most of what the theatrics do is distract the press and the opposition.
“But it’s different, because the trend that stars with Reagan (who had no real agenda at all; he occupied the Presidency like it was the Elks Club”
This is just so wrong: Reagan was an ideologue of the first order. I read stuff like this about Reagan over and over again in the 80’s.
The similarity in the reaction to Trump and to Reagan is remarkable.
Did you mean Obama instead of Trump here?
I cannot agree with you more – most of what has been written since Trump came to prominence has proven ineffective. Trump is very good at making what should be policy arguments which Dems would win on the merits into personality arguments.
This is the part that scares me most of all.
Trump’s numbers show amazing polarization. This is from yougov, which is a little bit worse for Trump than others, but the cross-tabs still give a rough idea of the state of play.
Here are the approval numbers:
The polarization is amazing. It is worth noting though that Gallup has found those calling themselves Democrats has declined since the election. In any event at this point Trump splits independents and mostly holds the GOP base.
Trump has pursued, with the exception of trade issues, a hard right Presidency. He is not viewed that way yet, particularly among independents.
Taking Trump down means, I think, requires two things:
In any event thus far what I am seeing is the same people writing the same things that they did before that election.
To your point, I do not think Democrats have really figured out how to beat Trump yet.
Bush’s lowest approval I’ve ever seen was 22% in a CBS/NYT poll taken in January 2009. 57% of Republicans approved of him. Gallup in March 2008 had Bush at 73% approval among Republicans. Basically, expect 75-80% of Republicans to stick with him until financial catastrophe. The only thing amazing about the polarization is how unpopular Trump began.
AND, Trump is 50/50 in the suburbs.
What does that even mean? There’s no context. What should he be in the suburbs compared to other presidents?
About that timeline….
Sometime **prior** to 10:51 am, Trump got the news about Nordstrom, and I’m willing to bet it wasn’t a topic covered in the daily intelligence briefing.
Either someone felt it was important to take the time to inform the President of the United States that Nordstrom was dropping his daughter’s clothing line or…
He was scrolling through his twitter feeds.
Yeah, I think so too. Such a busy, busy man.
“Reagan (who had no real agenda at all; he occupied the Presidency like it was the Elks Club, making speeches when necessary and being amiable … “
Reagan had an agenda, all right. It wasn’t his own, but one he adopted. In his earlier life he was a New Dealer, but after the war, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, he was led more to the right by his experiences in labor conflicts and by the Cold War FBI. Starting around 1954 his career (which he eagerly pursued, so clearly it WAS his agenda) was to act as a corporate flak and to be paid handsomely for it, starting at General Electric and moving ever to the right. He did indeed occupy the presidency like it was the Elks Club, making speeches and being amiable, which is why even a B-movie actor makes an excellent corporate flak. His agenda was to be a spokesman for their agenda.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/01/ronald_reagan_s_conservative_conver
sion_as_spokesman_for_general_electric.html
He can’t focus on anything. Of course, maybe he is focusing on “Security” by deporting mothers who have children who are US citizens, and said mothers have been here since they were 14. They’re the real threat:
She Showed Up Yearly to Meet Immigration Agents. Now They’re Deporting Her.
Meanwhile, the view from Germany:
http://newsletter1.spiegel.de/l/17462540/c/1-3gkw-5n8mxr-11vm
If only Comrade Donnie could nationalize retail. Then his little darlings could sell all the merch they wanted.