February 11, 2018: Of Course - Russia Interfered in the Last Election

 

2/11/18: In Congressional testimony, the heads of six U.S. intelligence agencies assure lawmakers that the Russians meddled in the last election. 

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“Frankly, the United States is under attack.” 

Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence

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Dan Coats, head of National Intelligence, is emphatic. Of course, the Russian interfered! He warns they’ll try again. “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives that its past efforts have been successful and views the 2018 midterm U.S. elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations. Frankly, the United States is under attack.” 

Committee members ask F.B.I. Director Wray, one of the witnesses, about recent White House explanations for the delay in firing Rob Porter (see: 2/9/18). Trump officials have been claiming they could not act because Porter’s background check was incomplete. Wray says the Agency completed a preliminary check last March. They submitted a full report last July. Someone working for the president asked for follow-up info in November 2017. This was supplied. 

Porter kept working at the White House. 

Porter continued to handle highly-classified material despite lacking the requisite security clearance. 

When the story broke (the free press doing what the free press does best) everyone working in the White House appeared baffled. 

Press Secretary Pinocchio Sanders insisted top officials did the best they could, knowing what they knew. “The process for the background was ongoing,” she told reporters, “and the White House had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check.”  The whole truth, Pinocchio said, only came out a few hours before Porter was fired.

Rob Porter's ex-wife.

 

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WHITE HOUSE speech writer David Sorensen also gets canned after his ex-wife accuses him of domestic abuse. On this bleak day for Trump & Co., she appears on TV to make clear she had no wish to speak publicly. But she had to make her case. Her husband had thrown her into walls. He put a lighted cigarette out on the back of her hand. He drove over her foot with a car. 

Drain that swamp!

July 20, 2018: FBI Director Wray and DNI Dan Coats Undercut Trump

 

7/20/18: F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray has already undercut Trump at the Aspen Security Forum (see: 7/18/18). Now Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats takes a shot. 

 

Coats is laughing at Trump. 

At this point, four days after Trump sat down privately to chat with his pal Vladimir, the White House still hasn’t briefed top administration officials or military leaders on any agreements the two men might have made. Mr. Coats is answering questions from Andrea Mitchell, a reporter for MSNBC, in front of a large audience, when news breaks. Press Secretary Pinocchio announces, via Twitter, that Putin will be invited to the White House this fall. Coats’s reaction is telling, and we learn later that White House aides feel Coats is laughing at Trump. 

That’s because he is – and like Wray, on Wednesday – almost daring the president to fire him.

 

 

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary James Mattis makes it clear in a statement what our country’s biggest problem is in Europe. 

It isn’t NATO. 

Russia should suffer consequences for its aggressive, destabilizing behavior and its illegal occupation of Ukraine. The fundamental question we must ask ourselves is do we wish to strengthen our partners in key regions or leave them with no other option than to turn to Russia, thereby undermining a once in a generation opportunity to more closely align nations with the U.S. vision [emphasis added] for global security and stability.

 

No one knows yet what Putin and Trump talked about during their private meeting in Helsinki. We do know this. They both agree the free press is a giant pain in the ass for dictators. 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: In January 2019 we learn that our president has been confiscating translator’s notes from his meetings with Putin. Other top administration officials still don’t know what has been said.

 

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WE LEARN IN PASSING that Mueller has issued a subpoena for Kristin Davis, 41, formerly known as the “Manhattan Madam.” Ms. Davis operated a high-priced prostitution ring and ran an abortive campaign for governor of New York in 2010. Since then she has worked for Roger Stone. 

That is, not counting the twenty-four months she spent behind bars, starting in 2013, for illegally peddling prescription pills. 

These are the kinds of people who orbit the Trump sun.

January 29, 2019: Heads of U.S. Intelligence Disagree with President Trump

 

1/29/19: The six heads of U.S. intelligence, representing 17 agencies, testify publicly before a Senate panel. If the 42-page report compiled by experts is seen as representing a grade card of Trump’s first two years in office, the best you can say is Twitter Thumbs has an “incomplete.” 

Depending on your grip on reality, you might go as high as a “C.” Diplomacy is always hard, no matter the president. As a former history teacher this blogger might suggest it’s almost impossible for anyone to score higher than a “B” in an always chaotic, complex world. If you’re paying close attention, however, you might give Trump an “F,” in part because he continues to insist he deserves an “A+.” Delusion in diplomacy is always a danger. 

Director Dan Coats.

 

ISIS not defeated; North Korea still has all its nukes. 

Has ISIS been defeated, as Trump claims? Director of U.S. National Intelligence Dan Coats, picked by Trump for the job, disagrees. “While ISIS is nearing territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria,” he told a Senate panel, “the group has returned to its guerrilla warfare roots while continuing to plot attacks and direct its supporters worldwide. ISIS is intent on resurging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria.” 

“We must keep our eyes on ISIS,” Coats said. 

Trump had claimed, earlier this month, that the problem of a nuclear North Korea was also essentially solved. “Now, I say this: North Korea, we’re doing very well [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted],” he told gathered reporters. “And again, no rockets. There’s no rockets. There’s no anything. We’re doing very well.” 

Coats disagreed: 

We currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD [weapons of mass destruction] capabilities, and is unlikely to completely give up its nuclear weapons and production capabilities because its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime survival. Our assessment is bolstered by our observations of some activity that is inconsistent with full denuclearization.

 

There have been reports the North Koreans are building new missile launching sites even as they “negotiate.” 

Gina Haspel, Director of the C.I.A. was asked about Iran, the country Trump would most like to bomb. Here’s how The Times of Israel sums up her testimony: 

Iran is still abiding by the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal despite the US pullout from the multinational agreement, CIA chief Gina Haspel said Tuesday.

 

“At the moment technically they are in compliance” with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Haspel told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

 

“I think the most recent information is the Iranians are considering taking steps that would lessen their adherence to JCPOA as they seek to pressure the European to come through with the investment and trade benefits that Iran hoped to gain from the deal,” she said.

 

Or you might put it this way. Iran still has zero nukes, just as Obama hoped would be true when he and leaders of Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia negotiated the JCPOA deal. 

 

The best news Trump hears all day. 

Now that Trump has pulled out of the deal, the Iranians are restive. The danger is clear. With little to lose, they may decide to void the JCPOA and start working toward gaining nuclear weapons, themselves. Iran may become a bigger problem than ever. North Korea still has all its nukes. The President of the United States believes he’s the best deal maker in the history of our country. 

Last, but not least, F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray says he expects the Russians to interfere in the 2020 election. 

This is the best news the president hears all day.

January 30, 2019: Even President Trump's Spiritual Advisor Is after the Loot

 

1/30/19: In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Sarah Sanders makes it clear that if her boss is having trouble here on earth there’s no cause for worry. He has one celestial Fan. “I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times,” she tells her CBN hosts, “and I think that He wanted Donald Trump to become president [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted], and that’s why he’s there.” 

Apparently, God likes to play pranks.

Unlike Eric Trump (see below), this Democrat does the dirty work himself.

The blogger begins repointing his main chimney

 

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“God lays claim to all firsts. So when you keep for yourself something that belongs to God you are desecrating what is to be consecrated to God.”  

Rev. Paula White, asking listeners to send cash

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Another Trump fan made it clear this week that we should not take chances when it comes to His wrath. God, I mean. Not Trump. 

Paula White, described as “the president’s spiritual adviser,” and the woman who delivered the invocation at his Inauguration, believes her supporters should, if they want God to bless them, pony up the dough. 

$$$$$

 

“Each January,” she wrote in a missive to fans, “I put God first and honor Him with the first of our substance by sowing a first fruits offering of one month’s pay. That is a big sacrifice,” she admitted. “But it is a seed for the harvest I am believing for in the coming year. And God always provides!” (Certainly, God will always provide for White – so long as her followers fall for her shtick.) 

The results, White promised, would be “miraculous,” whether her followers sowed a month’s pay, a week’s pay, or a day’s. “First Fruits has impacted my life personally and the lives of countless others!” she wrote. “First Fruits is more than just an offering … it’s a principle.” 

Best of all, if you sent Ms. White $75 or more (and hopefully one-twelfth of what you were going to earn in 2019) you would get one of her books. Also: a Paula White calendar! Or you could NOT give and risk God’s fury. “God lays claim to all firsts,” White insisted. “So when you keep for yourself something that belongs to God you are desecrating what is to be consecrated to God.”  

I think she meant you should send her a fat check before God zapped you with a lightning bolt or sent locusts to eat all your crops.

 

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Good wages, health care and a pension of some kind. 

ERIC TRUMP, son of President Twitter Thumbs, wraps another day with an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show. 

We report, as they say at Fox News…that the president is great…that Democrats are bath scum…and you decide we’re right. 

Boiling down Eric’s message to its essence, we learn Democrats have been “radicalized.” They’re a bunch of “socialists.” If they aren’t stopped, the U.S.A. is going to end up like Venezuela. 

The Democrats, he insists, don’t want law and order. They want to tax people to death. They want to get businesses out of this country. They want to let all the criminals in Mexico come waltzing across the border. They want to bankrupt the system through free healthcare for all. “America’s about hard-working people,” Eric assures Hannity. “America’s about capitalism. America’s the greatest country in the world because people work for that American dream.”

 

Speaking as a typical Democrat, I can say that Eric is a jerk. 

I can also say with absolute confidence that our side has no desire to destroy the American dream. In fact, as a liberal – not a socialist – I believe all workers deserve good wages, health care and a pension of some kind. 

Unlike the Trump Organization, I do not hire the undocumented to do all the hardest work around my house. And if I did, I wouldn’t be a hypocrite and vilify immigrants at every turn. (See: 1/27/19.)

 

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ERIC ISN’T THE ONLY TRUMP fired up today. Dad is furious after his top intelligence officials called into question several of his claims. 

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel both warned, in the words of Politico, that 

the Islamic State remains a forceful presence in Iraq and Syria, that North Korea is not likely to give up its nuclear weapons, and that Iran is not yet seeking a nuclear weapon. They also warned about foreign interference in U.S. elections, and declined to classify the migrant crisis on the southern border a security crisis as Trump has previously claimed.

 

This infuriated Dad and he responded with Twitter rage. “The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran,” he fumed. “They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but a source of potential danger and conflict.” 

Trump also had the red ass over the comments by his intelligence chiefs about North Korea, insisting angrily in another tweet, “North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S.” 

As for Coats and Haspel, the president grumbled, “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!”

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (4/24/21): In the last half of his administration, we now know, Trump fails to bring Iran to the table for a better nuclear deal than the one he ripped up. North Korea gives up exactly zero nuclear weapons. Again: Diplomacy proves to be bitch. Trump leaves his successor with the same mess he whined about inheriting when he took over. Diplomacy, the Golfing Leader of the Free World finds out, is much harder than it looks.