Intelligence and the Lack Thereof

So now Donald Trump, who, as he frequently reminds us, knows more than everybody about everything, has publicly rebuked and humiliated his own hand-picked intelligence chiefs after they contradicted pretty much everything he has been saying about key foreign-policy issues (Isis, Iran, North Korea) during open Senate testimony. And this from someone who reportedly doesn’t even read most of his daily intelligence briefings, and gets most of his talking points from Fox and Friends et al, as well as directly from Putin and Kim Jong-un! Of course this reaction is mostly ego related; how dare these lackeys publicly contradict our all-knowing supreme leader and his magic gut! This just reinforces the extreme danger of having a president who ignores the conclusions of our own intelligence agencies when they contradict his political whims, personal biases or ulterior motives. Sadly, Donald Trump is actually probably the greatest single threat to our national security! We have been lucky so far in that there have been no real new international or domestic crises that have required major presidential action based on our intelligence services’ findings. However, this perilous disconnect between the salesman/con artist-in-chief and his intelligence services clearly makes us less safe, for example reducing the efforts against Russian interference in our elections, jeopardizing our efforts for North Korean denuclearization and probably also our fight against Isis and other Islamic terrorism abroad. And incredible as it may seem, some congressional Republicans including Mitch McConnell of all people are finally growing a spine and speaking out against some of Trump’s foreign policy decisions, at least related to troop withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile we have learned about yet ANOTHER short private meeting between Trump and Putin at a previous foreign economic summit with only Melania and a Russian interpreter present! 

We are almost a week into the three week race to get some mutually acceptable border security deal through Congress, and all bets are off at this point. Even if a deal can be struck between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, it is an open question whether Trump will go along without getting everything he wants. Hard to believe he would have the political guts to do another disastrous shutdown; he would more likely go to the national emergency route, which would certainly be challenged in court. Stay tuned!