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 I hope that they discussed some important matters like what to do about the fact that Yemen has rescinded their cooperation in fighting against the al-Qaeda cell our country attacked on January 29th.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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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.
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… Read more »
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.… Read more »
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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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.
it imbues the subject with a self-awareness that isn’t there. 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… Read more »
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)… Read more »
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… Read more »
“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.
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. 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… Read more »
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… Read more »
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. The Obama administration made a priority of deporting people who were deemed a threat to public or national safety, had ties to criminal gangs, or had committed serious felony offenses or a series of misdemeanor crimes. Ms. Rayos did not fit any of these criteria, which is why she was allowed… Read more »
Meanwhile, the view from Germany: http://newsletter1.spiegel.de/l/17462540/c/1-3gkw-5n8mxr-11vm Since Jan. 20, Trump and Bannon have together mounted an attack against the institutions of democracy. Surrounding by a tiny circle of confidants, Trump has started a revolution. The aim is to make America great again, as it once was, when there were more borders, women were obedient and the country was strong and feared — at least as Bannon sees it. This new old America has taken shape in an alarmingly clear way during the past two weeks. The contours of the presidency are clearer and the methods more visible. Trump is neither… Read more »
If only Comrade Donnie could nationalize retail. Then his little darlings could sell all the merch they wanted.