Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

 

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CNN Called Out For Misleading Coverage Of Sarah Sanders On Trump & 'N-Word'

 

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[Michael Scally MD]

It will not be surprising if, in the next few weeks, Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that the president never had the intention of pulling the security clearances of the former director of the CIA and the former director of national intelligence. With the deadpan mendacity that she has raised from a mere survival skill in this White House to an art form, she will insist that it is all a hoax planted by the Amazon-driven Washington Post. But even if (as is often the case) President Donald Trump backs down when confronted with serious resistance, those threats will have told us some things worth knowing.

The first, and least consequential, has to do with the psyche of a president who does not understand what motivates those who retain their “tickets,” in the argot of the establishment. The highest level of security clearances results from a very long process—a year or more in most cases—of investigation, and requires periodic reinvestigations. When senior officials keep their clearances (often held by federally funded research and development centers such as the Rand Corporation or the Institute for Defense Analyses) after leaving office, it is to allow them to consult with former colleagues. Much of that work is pro bono publico: The current incumbents of high offices want to tap the wisdom accumulated during the course of 30 years spent in increasingly difficult administrative positions (for career people), or during even a few years in crucial decision-making jobs (for political appointees).

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This, then, is the product of malice, but also of an ignorance and a sheer incompetence that are both a danger and an insurance against Trump’s success. There are other ways to mess with people who have clearances, which is why I let mine lapse shortly after the election. Trump is too incurious to figure them out, and the bureaucracy is too resistant to go along with them. The president’s instinct is to project his own venality on others. When he accuses former officials of monetizing public service, it is because that is precisely what he has attempted to do. He is likely to do more dumb things of this kind, in the same way that he reacted to criticism of his lovefest with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki by inviting the Russian dictator to visit Washington during a bitter fall campaign season.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[xy5jn0]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]