The President is introduced at the 25 minute mark.
Updated at 5:35 PM
Here’s the transcript from C-Span. It was compiled from uncorrected closed captioning – as in some of the seeming errors are transcription, not in what the President said.
PRESIDENT TRUMP
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I WANT TO THANK EVERYBODY, VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE. IT IS TRUE, THIS IS MY FIRST STOP OFFICIALLY. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THE SPEECHES. ALTHOUGH THEY DID TREAT ME NICELY ON THAT SPEECH YESTERDAY. [LAUGHTER] I ALWAYS CALL THEM THE DISHONEST MEDIA, BUT THEY TREATED ME NICELY. [LAUGHTER] BUT I WANTED TO SAY THERE IS NOBODY THAT FEEL STRONGER ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND THE CIA THAN DONALD TRUMP. THERE IS NOBODY. [APPLAUSE] THE WALL BEHIND ME IS VERY SPECIAL. WE HAVE BEEN TOURING FOR QUITE A WHILE. AND 29? 28, WE HAVE TO REDUCE IT. WE APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN TERMS OF SHOWING US SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL. AND YOUR WHOLE GROUP, THESE ARE SPECIAL AMAZING PEOPLE. VERY FEW PEOPLE COULD DO THE JOB YOU DO. I AM SO BEHIND YOU. I KNOW SOMETIMES YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN THE BACKEND YOU HAVE WANTED, — THE BACKING YOU HAVE WANTED. YOU ARE GOING TO GET SO MUCH BACKING, YOU ARE GOING TO SAY, “PLEASE DON’T GIVE US SO MUCH BACKING. MR. PRESIDENT, WE DON’T NEED THAT MUCH BACKING.” YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE IT. THE MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT GENERALLY SPEAKING, BUT ALL OF IT. THE MILITARY GAVE US TREMENDOUS PERCENTAGES OF VOTES. WE WERE UNBELIEVABLY SUCCESSFUL GETTING THE VOTE OF THE MILITARY. EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM VOTED FOR ME, BUT I WILL NOT ASK YOU TO RAISE YOUR HANDS. [LAUGHTER] BUT I WOULD GUARANTEE A BIG PORTION, BECAUSE WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH. [APPLAUSE] WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH. IT TOOK ABOUT 30 SECONDS TO FIGURE THAT OUT. WE KNOW, WE ARE ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH. BUT WE ARE GOING TO DO GREAT THINGS. WE HAVE BEEN FIGHTING THESE WARS FOR LONGER THAN ANY WAR WE HAVE EVER FOUGHT. WE HAVE NOT USED THE REAL ABILITIES THAT WE HAVE. WE HAVE BEEN RESTRAINED, WE HAVE TO GET RID OF ISIS. WE HAVE TO GET RID OF ISIS. WE HAVE NO CHOICE. [APPLAUSE] RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM — AND I SAID IT YESTERDAY, HAS TO BE ERADICATED OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. THIS IS EVIL. AND I CAN UNDERSTAND THE OTHER SIDE, WE CAN ALL UNDERSTAND THE OTHER SIDE. THEY CAN BE WARS BETWEEN COUNTRIES, THIS IS SOMETHING NOBODY CAN EVEN UNDERSTAND, THIS IS A LEVEL OF EVIL WE HAVEN’T SEEN. YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO IT AND YOU ARE GOING TO DO A PHENOMENAL JOB, BUT WE ARE GOING TO END IT. IT’S TIME. IT’S TIME RIGHT NOW TO END IT. YOU HAVE SOMEBODY COMING ON WHO IS EXTRAORDINARY. FOR THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS OF SECRETARY OF THIS AND SECRETARY OF THAT AND ALL THESE GREAT POSITIONS, I HAVE SEEN 5, 6, 7, EIGHT PEOPLE. AND WE HAD A GREAT TRANSITION. WE HAVE AN AMAZING TEAM OF TALENT. BY THE WAY, GENERAL FLYNN IS OVER HERE. PUT UP YOUR HAND. [APPLAUSE] AND — HE WAS THIS POLITICAL GUY WHO TURNED OUT TO BE THIS SUPERSTAR. WE DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT HIM. WE HAD SUCH A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS. WHEN I AM INTERVIEWING ALL OF THESE CANDIDATES THAT REINCE AND HIS WHOLE GROUP IS PUTTING IN FRONT, IT WENT VERY QUICKLY. AND IN THIS CASE IT WENT SO QUICKLY, BECAUSE I WOULD SEE SIX OR SEVEN OR EIGHT FOR SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. SIX OR SEVEN OR EIGHT PEOPLE FOR A CERTAIN POSITION. EVERYBODY WANTED IT. BUT I MET MIKE, AND I WAS THE ONLY GUY WANTED TO MEET. I DIDN’T WANT TO MEET ANYBODY ELSE. HE WAS APPROVED, ESSENTIALLY. WHAT THEY’RE DOING A LITTLE BIT OF POLITICAL GAMES WITH ME. HE WAS ONE OF THE THREE. LAST NIGHT, AS YOU KNOW, GENERAL MATTIS AND GENERAL KELLY GOT APPROVED. [APPLAUSE] AND MIKE WAS SUPPOSED BE IN THAT GROUP, IT WAS SUPPOSED BE THE THREE OF THEM. THEY RESPECT THAT MILITARY SENSE. POLITICAL PEOPLE, THEY ARE NOT DOING SO WELL. WE ARE GOING TO GET THEM ALL THROUGH, BUT SOME OF THEM WILL TAKE LONGER THAN OTHERS. I HAD A GROUP OF NINE DIFFERENT PEOPLE. I DIDN’T MIND CANCELING EIGHT APPOINTMENTS, THAT WASN’T THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD. I MET HIM AND I SAID HE WAS SO GOOD. NUMBER ONE OF HIS CLASS AT WEST POINT. I’M A PERSON WHO STRONGLY BELIEVES IN ACADEMICS. I HAD AN UNCLE WHO WAS A PROFESSOR AT M.I.T. WHO DID A FANTASTIC JOB SO MANY WAYS ACADEMICALLY. HE WAS AN ACADEMIC GENIUS. AND THEN THEY SAY, IS DONALD TRUMP AND INTELLECTUAL? — AN INTELLECTUAL? AND TRUST ME, I’M LIKE A SMART PERSON. [LAUGHTER] HE WAS ESSENTIALLY NUMBER ONE AT HARVARD LAW SCHOOL AND HE RAN FOR CONGRESS. AND ANOTHER THING HE DID WAS A HOME RUN. PEOPLE LIKE HIM. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, EVERYBODY RESPECTS HIM. WHEN I TOLD PAUL RYAN I WANTED TO DO THIS, HE WAS FEELING PERSON WHO WASN’T TOTALLY THRILLED. HE SAID I DON’T WANT TO LOSE THIS GUY. BUT YOU WILL BE GETTING A TOTAL STAR, YOU ARE GOING TO BE GETTING A TOTAL GEM. HE’S A GEM. AND I JUST — [APPLAUSE] YOU’LL SEE. YOU’LL SEE, AND MANY OF YOU KNOW ANYWAY. AGAIN, WE HAVE SOME GREAT PEOPLE GOING IN. THAT THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING THAT’S GOING TO BE VERY SPECIAL. BECAUSE, IF THIS IS ONE THAT I HAD TO NAME — IF I HAD TO NAME THE MOST IMPORTANT, THIS WOULD BE ONE OF THEM. YOU DO THE JOB LIKE EVERYBODY IN THIS ROOM IS CAPABLE OF DOING, THE GENERALS ARE WONDERFUL AND THE FIGHTING IS WONDERFUL. BUT IF YOU GIVE THEM THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BOY DOES THE FIGHTING BECOME EASIER, AND BOY DO WE LOSE SO FEWER LIVES AND WIN SO QUICKLY. THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE TO DO. WE HAVE TO START WINNING AGAIN. WHEN I WAS YOUNG — AND OF COURSE I FEEL YOUNG, I FEEL A COME 30, 35, 39. — I FEEL LIKE I’M 30, 35, 39. FIVE STUNTS, SEVEN STOPS, SPEECHES IN FRONT OF 15,000, 19,000. WHEN I WAS YOUNG WE WERE ALWAYS WINNING THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY. WE WOULD WIN WITH TRADE, WE WOULD WIN WITH WARS, AND AT A CERTAIN AGE I REMEMBER HEARING FROM ONE OF MY INSTRUCTORS, THE UNITED STATES HAS NEVER LOST A WAR. AND THEN AFTER THAT IT’S LIKE WE HAVEN’T WON ANYTHING. THE OLD EXPRESSION, TO THE VICTOR BELONG THE SPOILS. YOU WOULD USE TO SAY KEEP THE OIL, I WASN’T A FAN OF IRAQ. BUT I TELL YOU, WHEN WE WERE IN, WE GOT OUT WRONG. I ALWAYS SAID IN ADDITION TO THAT, KEEP THE OIL. I SAID THAT FOR ECONOMIC REASONS. BUT IF WE KEPT THE OIL YOU PROBABLY WOULDN’T HAVE ISIS, BECAUSE THAT’S WHERE THEY MADE THE MONEY IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT OK, MAYBE WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE. THE FACT IS WE SHOULD HAVE KEPT THE OIL. I BELIEVE THAT THIS GROUP IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT GROUPS IN THIS COUNTRY TOWARD MAKING US SAFE, TOWARD MAKING US WINNERS AGAIN, TOWARD ENDING ALL OF THE PROBLEMS. WE HAVE SO MANY PROBLEMS THAT ARE INTERRELATED THAT WE DON’T NEED TO THINK OF, BUT ARE INTERRELATED TO THE KIND OF HAVOC IN FEAR THAT THIS SICK GROUP OF PEOPLE HAS CAUSED. I CAN ONLY SAY I AM WITH YOU 1000%, AND THE REASON YOU ARE MY FIRST STOP IS BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW I HAVE A RUNNING WAR WITH THE MEDIA. THEY ARE AMONG THE MOST DISHONEST HUMAN BEINGS. [APPLAUSE] AND THEY SORT OF MADE IT SOUND LIKE I HAD A FEUD WITH THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY. I WANT YOU TO KNOW, THE REASON YOU ARE MY NUMBER ONE STOP IS EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE. AND THEY UNDERSTAND THAT TOO. I WAS A CLEANING THE NUMBERS, WE DID A THING YESTERDAY, DID A SPEECH — DID EVERYBODY LIKE THE SPEECH? [APPLAUSE] WE HAD A MASSIVE FIELD OF PAPER. I GET UP THIS MORNING AND I TURN ON ONE OF THE NETWORKS AND THEY SHOW AN EMPTY FIELD. I MADE A SPEECH, I LOOKED OUT, THE FIELD LOOKED LIKE ONE MILLION, ONE POINT 5 MILLION PEOPLE. THEY SHOWED A FIELD WHERE PRACTICALLY NO PEOPLE WERE STANDING. AND THEY SAID DONALD TRUMP DID NOT DRAW WELL. IT WAS ALMOST RAINING. BUT GOD LOOKED DOWN AND SAID WE ARE NOT GOING TO RAIN ON YOUR SPEECH. WHEN I FIRST STARTED I SAID, OH NO, THE FIRST LINE I GOT HIT BY A COUPLE OF DROPS. THIS WAS TOO BAD, BUT WE WILL GO RIGHT THROUGH IT. BUT THE TRUTH IS IT STOPPED IMMEDIATELY, IT WAS AMAZING. AND THEN IT WALKED OFF AND IT POURED AFTER I LEFT. WE HAVE SOMETHING THAT’S AMAZING, BECAUSE IT LOOKED LIKE 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE. IT WENT ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT. AND BY MISTAKE I GET THIS NETWORK — AND IT SHOWED AN EMPTY FIELD AND SAID WE TO 250,000 PEOPLE. NOW THAT’S NOT BAD, BUT IT’S A LIE. WE HAD TO UNDER 50,000 PEOPLE LITERALLY — WE HAD 250,000 PEOPLE LITERALLY AROUND THE LITTLE BALL WE HAD CONSTRUCTED. THE AREA AROUND THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT WAS PACKED. I THINK THEY ARE GOING TO PAY IT BIG PRICE. HERE’S ANOTHER ONE THAT IS INTERESTING, IN THE OVAL OFFICE THERE IS A STATUE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING. I ALSO HAPPEN TO LIKE WINSTON CHURCHILL, I THINK MOST OF US LIKE CHURCHILL. REAL ALLY. AS YOU KNOW THE CHURCHILL STATUE WAS TAKEN OUT, THE BUST. AND AS YOU PROBABLY ALSO HAVE READ, THE PRIME MINISTER IS COMING OVER TO OUR COUNTRY VERY SHORTLY, AND THEY WANTED TO KNOW WHETHER I WOULD LIKE IT BACK. I SAID ABSOLUTELY. I HAVE BEEN ON THEIR COVER ABOUT 14 OR 15 TIMES. I THINK WE HAVE THE ALL-TIME RECORD IN THE HISTORY OF TIME MAGAZINE — IF TOM BRADY IS ON THE COVER, IT’S ONE TIME. I’VE BEEN ON 15 TIMES. I THINK THAT’S A RECORD THAT COULD NEVER BE BROKEN. I WILL SAY, THEY SAID — IT’S VERY INTERESTING. THEY SAID, DONALD TRUMP TOOK DOWN THE BUST, THE STATUE OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING. AND IT WAS RIGHT THERE. BUT THERE WAS A CAMERAMAN THAT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. SO TIME MAGAZINE WRITES A STORY ABOUT I TOOK DOWN — I WOULD NEVER DO THAT, BECAUSE I HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING. BUT THIS IS HOW DISHONEST THE MEDIA IS. BIG STORY, THE RETRACTION WAS WHERE? WAS IT A LINE, OR DO THEY BOTHER PUTTING IT IN? I LOVE HONESTY, I LIKE HONEST REPORTING. I WILL TELL YOU FINAL TIME, ALTHOUGH WHEN YOU LEAD IN THE THOUSANDS OF OTHER PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN TRYING TO COME IN, BECAUSE I AM COMING BACK, WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO GIVE YOU — WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GET YOU A LARGE ROOM — A LARGER ROOM. [APPLAUSE] AND MAYBE, MAYBE IT WILL BE BUILT BY SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS HOW TO BUILD, AND WE WON’T HAVE COLUMNS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? WE GET RID OF THE COLUMNS. BUT I JUST WANTED TO SAY I LOVE YOU, I RESPECT YOU, THERE IS NOBODY I RESPECT MORE, YOU ARE GOING TO DO A FANTASTIC JOB AND WE ARE TO START WINNING AGAIN AND YOU ARE GOING TO BE LEADING THE CHARGE. SO THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH, THANK YOU. I’LL BE BACK. I’LL BE BACK. THANK YOU. [APPLAUSE] (music)
Adam L Silverman
I got nothing. I’m going to walk my dogs.
Trentrunner
LOL “We were interviewing for Secretary of Dis…or Secretary of Dat…”
Klassy.
debbie
The President is a sociopath. A couple of days ago he condemned as know-nothings, and then today, he’s all “I back you up totally, no one backs you up like I do. I back you up so much, you’ll get sick of me backing you up?”
Emerald
Please don’t call him “President.” He isn’t. It is becoming ever more likely that he conspired with a hostile foreign power to steal our election and subvert our democracy.
He is as illegitimate as John Lewis says he is, so don’t ever call him “President.”
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: One of my former bosses refers to him as completely transactional. He’ll say or do whatever is necessary to get whoever he’s trying to close the deal with to agree to close.
Trentrunner
Wow. Spicer is about to give a briefing, and they’ve set up Trump inauguration crowd pics, from Trump-flattering angles.
Some serious disinformation is about to happen, folks. Such thin fucking skin on these people.
pamelabrown53
Thanks for the link in real time, Adam. However, I hope you’ll provide us with some analysis once it’s over. I appreciate your sharing of your expertise.
Jeffro
I wonder who put him up to it? Bannon? Pence? Kushner? Priebus?
They know they’re in grave danger with what’s out there…a lame attempt to snow the IC while standing in front of the memorial wall is offensive.
Adam L Silverman
@Emerald: Regardless of my personal feelings, or even my professional concerns, over interference in the election by Russia. Unless or until that evidence is brought forward and a case made, he is the President. And if you expect anyone, regardless of party or ideology, to refer to a President they didn’t support as President, then you extend the courtesy. As someone once remarked to me: “courtesy costs you nothing”. I think that is a good guide for behavior. As is: “be nice, until it is time to not be nice”.
Calouste
@Emerald: I prefer “Unimpeached Traitor”.
Jeffro
Pence re: Trump “I’ve never met a greater strategic thinker”
Truly, the mind boggles…
“I’ve never met anyone with a greater heart for those who sacrifice to protect this country…”
And what is up with that weird WWF-style intro music?
dr. bloor
I’m not watching that shit. Emerging consensus on twitter is that he brought his band of sycophants to cheer and applaud. For those of you with stronger stomachs, what say you?
Sam
I wonder who showed up, it being the 3 day weekend and all. Oh I’m sure they 24/7 but I bet there is a skeleton crew on this weekend
Adam L Silverman
@pamelabrown53: I’ve seen clips so far, but honestly I don’t know what to say. Its basically what the President has done when unscripted, and sometimes scripted, since he became a candidate in the Summer of 2015. Its tailored to the room a bit, but its basically the same thing he always does and is the same combination of themes.
Suzanne
@Adam L Silverman: Is there any protocol for what happens if it’s proven that the Russians are manipulating the election? Just impeachment? This is so weird.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: It was supposed to coincide with him swearing in Mike Pompeo as Director of Central Intelligence. Senator Schumer held up the vote. They decided to go ahead without the swearing in. This is not uncommon. My understanding/remembrance is that President Obama did something similar shortly after the inauguration. The audience is likely whoever had the weekend watch shifts and those assigned to supervise them.
p.a.
@Adam L Silverman: To a hammer all problems look like nails.
Adam L Silverman
@Sam: Its the weekend watch.
Adam L Silverman
@Suzanne: I’m not a lawyer. I have no idea what charges the CI prosecutors might try to bring. Largely because we’re in unchartered territory if this plays out that charges need to be brought.
Jeffro
OMG…”sometimes you haven’t gotten the backing that you’ve wanted…you’re going to have it…you’re going to have so much backing, you’re going to say ‘Mr. President’, that’s enough backing…” (not making that up)
“We were so successful with the military and intelligence voters…I bet almost everyone in this room voted for me but I’m not going to ask you to raise your hands…”
“We’ve been restrained (in fighting ISIS)…’radical Islamic terrorism’…has to be eradicated off the face of the earth…”
Adam L Silverman
@p.a.: Yes, yes they do.
glory b
Cspan played the speech, didn’t stop for comments after, and is now back at the march, just crowd shots.
Now chanting, “Black Lives Matter,” “Not my president,” and “Fired up, ready to go.”
Roger Moore
@Trentrunner:
Is is just thin skin, or do they recognize that they’re fundamentally illegitimate and cling to anything that paints them as having popular support?
Jeffro
“Most cabinet positions, I looked at 6, 7, 8 people…but here, I met Mike Pompeo, and I didn’t want anyone else…”
re: Pompeo “people respect that military sense…the political people, they aren’t doing so well, but the military ones are”
And the comments about him being an intellectual, “I’m, like, a smart person”…I’m dyin’…
zhena gogolia
@Trentrunner:
Until they get control (and I mean total control) of all the television stations, it isn’t going to work very well. It took Putin a few years.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
True, but it’s not hard to guess at the general outlines of where this is going with respect to Manafort, Page, and Stone at a minimum. And after that, it’s what did Trump & Pence know, and when did they know it?
catclub
@Jeffro:
I am convinced he will ask every day “Why can’t we hit ISIS with a nuke to show we mean business?” With any luck they will convince him why not.
Trentrunner
@Roger Moore: You are more correct.
Shalimar
@Jeffro: Sounds like someone whose great idea for fighting ISIS is to use nukes. He knows it will work, and all those generals who won’t recommend it are just wimps anyway.
Jeffro
Jesus he’s still talking about his big rally crowds…
“When I was young, we would always win with things in this country…we used to win…I had a professor a long time ago who said the US had never lost a war…to the victor belong the spoils, it’s why we should have kept the oil [in Iraq]…the fact is, we should have kept the oil”
“I have a running war with the media…they are among the most dishonest human beings on earth…they made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community…”
ah, I get it now…this is all about creating sound bites for Fox News…
“I gave a speech to like a million, million-and-a-half people and the media showed an empty field? They made it sound like there was no one there. Even the rain held off, it stopped immediately and was sunny…it poured after I left…
(!!!)
Vince
I shouldn’t be shocked anymore by this but it continues to astound me how much of a narcissist he is. Talking with the CIA, introducing the new head of the CIA, and he goes on a long-winded rant about how many times he’s been on the cover of TIme. And, it seemed he talked most about his crowd at the inauguration. All the media is lying about the crowd; from his vantage point there were at least 1.5M people there and “like, I’m a really smart guy” so he would know.
Iowa Old Lady
@zhena gogolia: I cannot believe you’re actually watching that. Your brain cells are dying, you know that, right?
ETA: Whoops. That was meant for Jeffro at #24. I don’t know what happened there.
Jeffro
@catclub: @Shalimar:
I’ve raised that very specter a few times before…he’ll threaten it, or worse, do it. Jesus.
sukabi
@Jeffro: just a guess…but setting up on front of the wall is a not so subtle ..”Cross me and you could end up on the wall too.”
JDM
You remember how they always used to say in America, anyone can grow up to be president? Turns out it’s true, even losers can do it. And you don’t even have to grow up.
Mike in NC
I don’t know what day it was or even the exact year, but one time George H. W. Bush attended some event at the CIA and friends I knew who worked there were told be there for it.
Jeffro
“I like honesty…I like honest reporting…”
to the IC: “I love you, I respect you, we’re going to start winning again, and you’re going to be leading the charge…I’ll be back…”
What an absolutely deranged wacko. But good that the lack of inaugural crowds is bugging him…wait until he sees the turnout today! ;)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Jeffro:
Why are they so obsessed with these ISIS clowns? I always think it’s some excuse but they equate these twits with the NAZIS.
Jeffro
@sukabi: Eh, I don’t know about that, it’s probably traditional…Adam would know.
MomSense
@Emerald:
Presidon’t grab my pu_sy!
Shalimar
@Jeffro: Yeah, I was saying the same thing a year ago. Hope he’s just blowing hot air and has no plan at all, because the only possible plan he could have with no military background that he would be sure was more effective than what we were doing would be nukes.
Emerald
@Adam L Silverman:
Adam, I respect you completely and value your opinion massively, but it is time not to be nice.
I called Bush the Lesser “President” for precisely the reasons you give. I will not do so for this malignant atrocity.
Jeffro
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: They’re obsessed with ISIS because a) a terrorist attack, however remote, is something that can actually touch them in their lofty perches; and b) painting The Enemy as The Crazy, Bloodthirsty, Enemy is an attempt to rally support, while also justifying anything they want to do (like waterboarding, or ‘just one nuke’)
Elmo
@catclub: Serious question for Dr. Silverman: what would happen if he did? Assuming the order were followed, and the world sees a mushroom cloud over the Levant, what does global reaction from the member states of the UN look like?
Sanctions?
Article 7 resolutions?
Efforts at regime change?
I take it as read that there would be an explosion of global terrorism, and we would find out right quick if Iran can make a bomb in 90 days; what I’m really wondering is the reaction of France, Germany, the U.K., China, Indonesia, India, etc.
Jeffro
@Shalimar: Well yeah, and the fact that he was specifically asking “why can’t we use the nukes?” at one of his first national security briefings this past summer…true…
Jeffro
meanwhile, here is the header at Fox News dot com:
“PROTESTS GO INTO OVERTIME: Celeb-studded march bashes Trump despite president’s call for unity”
Because we are the dividers, you see…(!!)
The other headlines and segments will really set your teeth on edge – this is not a service I can provide every day, folks! =)
But oh what a life it must be inside the bubble…
Canarian
@catclub: I believe the whole quote (which starts somewhere around 33:47) is: “We have not used the real abilities that we have. We have been restrained. We have to get rid of ISIS… Radical Islamic terrorism has to be eradicated off the face of the Earth…” The only abilities we have that we have not used are nukes. Sane people have “restrained” their use. So, I agree. I think he really is talking about using nuclear weapons. Please, somebody, tell me I’m wrong!
ericblair
@JDM:
I’m pretty sure there are a good number of people who told themselves, hey, the black feller did it for eight years, how hard could it be?
Hoodie
@Vince: The guy is not within six sigma of normal, which makes me wonder what he will do with such a massive security apparatus at his disposal. Maybe a sociopath can act rationally in such circumstances; after all, some of the best investors are borderline personalities and maybe that’s why he has a rep as a dealmaker. But being president is not like being a dealmaker. It’s more like being a surgeon in a triage unit; you have to decide who lives and who dies. That’s where he’s likely to cross the line into barbarism, and there are plenty who will follow him there.
Major Major Major Major
@Jeffro: not to mention the protests are just led by those traitorous celebrities. Shut up and sing!
Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.
@dr. bloor: It’s also consistent with Narcissistic Personality Disorder: they have basically negative self-esteem and as a result need *constant* outside attention and validation; and if someone fails to provide that, that person gets demonized, regardless of if they are family, friends, or someone else who should be listened to. As a result, over the course of their lives they become master manipulators, because without other people’s approval their self-image will implode. This is also consistent with him being a classic bullshitter: he says whatever he thinks the room wants to hear – he says one thing to the Heritage Foundation, and the exact opposite to the NYT Editorial Board. Put him in a room of people who hate the CIA tomorrow and he’ll resume bashing the shit out of them.
Retr2327
@Emerald: pretty much what I was about to say. But I would add this: after 8 years of not respecting our President, the time to be nice to this A hole expired some while back. . .
paul borrusch
@Adam L Silverman: Who could possibly write this stuff and think is worthy of television coverage? What the hell did he say that was noteworthy? Argh.
misterpuff
OK the Drumpster is 70 years old, 10 years older than me. Born directly after the war, the cutting edge of the Baby Boom.
The propaganda at the time was how nukes were going to change the world. World Peace enforced by assured extinction. Limitless energy and power for the wonderful atom. Tactical combat nukes. Nukes to dig canals and mine mines. The missile race was the foundation and the prop of the Cold War.
Now stop listening and learning about “school stuff’, science and history. Skip dangers of radioactivity, accidental nuclear weapons use, nonproliferation and change from East-West Cold War chess to asymmetric combat.
50 years later, nukes still sound good.
This is why we need thoughtful, intelligent, compassionate peoples as our leaders, not narcissistic blowhards.
Jerzy Russian
@Iowa Old Lady: Well, Mrs. Gogolia’s brain cells are also decaying by the transitive property, as are mine now.
Ruckus
@Emerald:
Not trying to put words in his mouth but Adam has a career to think about, he works in this area, and playing nice doesn’t mean you don’t do everything in your power to change the situation, you just smile while doing it. Look at the picture of President Obama and Michelle at the inauguration from a post yesterday, he’s smiling and talking to drumpf and she’s standing back, and for sure not smiling. He’s the very polished politician and she’s not. It’s great that she’s not but it’s also great that he is.
ETA Said this before but I worked in professional sports and I had to learn to do this as well. I didn’t learn it as well as Adam, nor anywhere near as well as President Obama but it is a learned response. It keeps the world from blowing up as often, to at least act in public like you aren’t completely pissed.
Gravenstone
@Jeffro:
Okay, that snippet produced a literal fucking /facepalm
This imbecile is not well, not remotely well. You can smell the fucking flop sweat through the monitor. At some level he is acutely aware that his prick is in the pickle slicer, and the consequences terrify him.
Mnemosyne
@Jeffro:
Great, we elected Fredo Corleone as president.
Gravenstone
@sukabi: I don’t think Trump is that calculating. Bannon, et al., however …
Ruckus
@ericblair:
how hard could it be? I believe 16 of them found out.
p.a.
re: nukes (and any other issues of course, but things that go boom is kind of a biggie). Is a narcissist likely to surround himself with people willing to say ‘no’? Is he willing to take ‘no’ for an answer? Especially when he is President and sure as hell seems to think Pres= Emperor.
Jay Noble
@Adam L Silverman: I love it. Trump quotes Bane from Batman and Adam uses Dalton from Road House.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: I believe Fredo had some perception of his own limitations.
Timurid
@Adam L Silverman:
Is there any way to charge a sitting president other than impeachment? I’m not aware of any.
The inter-agency investigation may have already failed, even if Trump does nothing to impede it, because they could not find conclusive evidence before 1/20. They could have just indicted President-Elect Trump. Now it may not matter how big of a smoking gun shows up. They could bring out one of the 18″ naval rifles off of the IJNS Yamato, still red hot from rapid firing during the Battle of Pee Pee Gulf, covered from end to end with Donald Trump’s fingerprints and Russian hookers’ lipstick and drop it in front of the Capitol… and the response of the Republican caucus would be, “Yes… and your point is?” Then the only people who could punish him would be the voters in 2018 and 2020, assuming those elections aren’t too compromised.
Shell
Isn’t this from the first episode of “The Young Pope”
liberal
@Timurid: I think impeachment is the only option. Maybe treason? Latter is too high a bar anyway.
liberal
@Timurid: There’s alsovthat Con’l amendment for incapacitation.
liberal
@Gravenstone: yes; he literally has a mental health issue.
Adam L Silverman
I’ve just added the transcript up top for those that would prefer to read it. Its from C-Span and is from the uncorrected close captioning of the speech/remarks.
lgerard
Is totally like, um, his favorite word?
I imagine more then a few people in that room felt chills run down their spines.
Adam L Silverman
@Iowa Old Lady: Gremlins from the Kremlin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoKKeckrE1w
Steeplejack (tablet)
Sean Spicer about to speak.
ChrisB
Wow, the first thing Spicer does is to condemn the dishonest media for misreporting the huuuuge amount of his inaugural attendance. Horrible and horrifying.
Adam L Silverman
@sukabi: @Jeffro: Every time I’ve seen the President do a speech to the CIA where reporters are present this is where its done. Its the lobby – the rest of the building is a Secure Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).
ChrisB
And no questions taken.
dm
@Adam L Silverman: Who knew that Woody Allen’s inauguration speech from Bananas would be so prophetic?
Adam L Silverman
@Shalimar: Actually there’s a lot of room between what we’re doing – leading a 91 nation coalition that conducts air strikes, uses conventional forces to train and assist (logistical, planning) the Iraqi Forces and select Syrian rebel forces, and the use of Special Forces – US and Coalition – for direct action against ISIL and a nuclear strike.
mothra
A speech worthy of a man who lives in a van down by the river.
donnah
From Robert Reich’s Facebook page:
“I had breakfast recently with a friend who’s a former Republican member of Congress. Here’s what he said:
Him: Trump is no Republican. He’s just a big fat ego.
Me: Then why didn’t you speak out against him during the campaign?
Him: You kidding? I was surrounded by Trump voters. I’d have been shot.
Me: So what now? What are your former Republican colleagues going to do?
Him (smirking): They’ll play along for a while.
Me: A while?
Him: They’ll get as much as they want – tax cuts galore, deregulation, military buildup, slash all those poverty programs, and then get to work on Social Security and Medicare – and blame him. And he’s such a fool he’ll want to take credit for everything.
Me: And then what?
Him (laughing): They like Pence.
Me: What do you mean?
Him: Pence is their guy. They all think Trump is out of his mind.
Me: So what?
Him: So the moment Trump does something really dumb – steps over the line – violates the law in a big stupid clumsy way … and you know he will …
Me: They impeach him?
Him: You bet. They pull the trigger.”
yikes
D58826
@ChrisB: It’s going to be a long 4 years. They actually had a press briefing to complain about the bust of ML:K and the numbers at the mall yesterday. The entire administration is unterathered from reality
Adam L Silverman
@Emerald: I’m a professional. That means I’m polite, but firm. Being courteous is not the same thing as giving unearned respect. There is a time and place for sharp elbows.
liberal
@donnah: the moment they impeach is very easy to predict: When most R voters turn on him.
Adam L Silverman
@Elmo: I think the US would become quickly isolated, except, perhaps, from Russia. The US would become a pariah. Our 91 state coalition would immediately dissolve. The other four out of the Five Eyes allies would abandon us. It would not be good. And that’s not counting the economic fallout, so to speak. The price of oil would immediately spike. As would transhipment of a lot of goods.
pat
Thank you, Adam. I just read the transcript and my gob is smacked. If this were happening in a movie you’d expect the scene to be broken up by the staff from the asylum rushing in to take back an escaped inmate.
My god how can this continue for 4 years?
jonas
This man has brain damage. The press should start asking whether he was dropped on his head as a kid or, or may have been more recently struck by an errant golf ball or something at one of his country clubs.
Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)
I had to stop listening.
I am ashamed to have served in the military. The military will get what they deserve when they are dying on the streets of Tehran over some bullshit, just like they were complaining about deployment cycles to Afghanistan and Iraq (Iraq over some bullshit, too). If someone is in the military and they can’t see this fascist shit for what it is, then we have no hope, ladies and gentlemen. I know we don’t really know how many military members voted for is dictator, but I know a ton of them did.
As for the intelligence community, what Cantaloupe Caligula is basically saying is, COINTELPRO. The IC, law enforcement, and the military will be used against citizens, just you watch.
I hate this man and his stupid ass face, and he cannot die fast enough for me. Everyone who consigned his fuckery can go, too. I’m a Debbie Downer, and that’s how I feel.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
Forgot about all due respect.
The one saying that absolutely means the exact opposite of what the individual words mean.
Also the really dense morons had no clue of that.
I found that just not saying anything kept me out of more trouble than using it. The smart ones could still tell by your expression though.
Shalimar
@donnah: All talk. They didn’t have the guts to speak out against him during the campaign, they aren’t going to have the guts to impeach him when he does something stupid. They think they will, but they won’t. Trump’s popularity has to get below 50% with the Republican base before they will do it.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay Noble: I used to be the lead bouncer at a very large nightclub when in grad school.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I’ve never had to use that one, largely because it telegraphs that there’s no respect. I tend to use “Sir/Ma’am, if I may?”.
D58826
@Trentrunner: To be fair and give der Fuhrer a very small benefit of the doubt. From the podium it probably did look like a large crowd. Unlikely that he could see whither the crowd was 4 blocks long or 40. The photos from the top of the Washington monument show a more complete picture. We also have the ‘man in the street’ images – mostly empty metro trains, very little pedestrian traffic, street vendors saying that sales were poor. And of course there were the images of the empty reviewing stands along the parade route.
from the google –
So Trump’s numbers are on the low end of the normal range. But that won’t satisfy his ego so we will have these absurd press briefings to argue about how huge the crowd was. (sigh)
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack (tablet): They may want to switch Sean Spicer to decaf. Just a thought…
Shalimar
@Adam L Silverman: You have considerable training and expertise, and know what you’re talking about. Trump knows as much as any other idiot sitting on a barstool after 5 too many. Generals are losing. He can do it better.
Adam L Silverman
@donnah: I didn’t need Secretary Reich to tell me this.
Adam L Silverman
@pat: It can’t.
zhena gogolia
OMG all I did was scroll quickly through that transcript up there and I think my brain is going to explode.
Wapiti
@donnah:
1) I’ll believe it when I see it.
2) If they do impeach him, I hope they take it all the way to its conclusion, even if he resigns. Cut him off from the government teat.
clay
Welp, I just read the transcript. What the ever-lovin’ fuck? It’s the same bullshit he spewed during the campaign? Does he really think it’s going to work on a room full of intelligence professionals?
(Adam, please tell me this bullshit won’t work on a room full of intelligence professonals.)
I mean, they all saw the pictures of the inauguration; they know how empty the Mall was. They know the shit he’s said about the IC. “So much backing” indeed. These guys aren’t rubes from Nowhere, Michigan… right?
Ryan
OMG, just got to Trump. Whoever chose the music should be demoted to the mail room.
ellie
Wait, that’s a joke, right?
Adam L Silverman
@jonas: His father had Alzheimers, which is often hereditary. I hope he doesn’t have it and he just talks in tangents (I do that some times).
Adam L Silverman
@clay: I’m sure he has some that support him and some that don’t. Like every other group in the US.
Ryan
Are we sick of all the winning yet?
PaulW
it doesn’t help that the whole thing is in CAPS LOCK.
It reads like a bad Facebook diatribe and I can’t make out half the sentences.
Pogonip
@Adam L Silverman: “Be polite, be professional, be prepared to kill everyone you meet.” ?
Emerald
@Adam L Silverman:
I do understand your point. Fortunately I’m retired (sort of) and do not have to observe such niceties.
Sam
@Adam L Silverman:
Yeah just making a point – not the best time if you want a large audience as opposed to a backdrop. And to use that backdrop to complain about his crowd size is an obscenity
Pogonip
@Adam L Silverman: Me too! Everyone knows that “With all due respect, sir…” means “Listen, butthead…”
I like “Have we considered that…” as well. Usually, if you have to use that, “we” is too fucking stupid to have considered anything; I always enjoy watching the surprise flood across Boss Idiot’s face.
A pity we have to trade ways to talk to idiots in authority. Whatever happened to the meritocracy that was supposed to eliminate that problem?
PaulW
@donnah:
This has its bads and its goods.
On the bad side, the whole nation is still screwed because the Far Right Republicans enact their agenda and demolish the entire New Deal progressive government we knew and loved since 1933.
On the good side, the Republicans will face utter civil war. The voting base backed Trump and they’re not going to take to having him booted out, no matter how damaging the scandal that the GOP will hit Trump with. The voters didn’t vote for Pence, after all, and HE’S not that popular outside of the establishment circles.
The other problem with this scenario is that for Impeachment to work, the Republicans in the Senate HAVE to get enough Democrats to play along (the GOP does not have enough 2/3rds of the vote). And while the Dems have no love for Trump, they sure as hell won’t do that SONOFABITCH McConnell any favors.
Most likely scenario is the 25th Amendment route where the Cabinet and Joint Chiefs declare him unfit and make Pence acting Prez. That STILL creates the civil war problem because Trump won’t be fully removed from office (he will just lose the power to perform the day-to-day functions) and he’ll still use his position to mess with Pence’s authority and ability to rally the party to him.
Svensker
@Canarian:
Don’t forget torture. They love that stuff and are really pissed that O said no.
Mary G
I could only read part of it before my head was going to explode. Someone who watched it tell me it wasn’t the CIA people doing all the applauding, but a claque of flunkies like he brought to his press conference. One of the signs I saw at our little local march today just said “UGH,” and I thought that was very appropriate.
Mike in NC
@Mary G: Recall that events involving George W. Bush were carefully staged and scripted so he would never have to face anything but a friendly crowd. (Except for the Iraqi guy who threw a shoe at him.) We’ll see the same thing with Trump, whose entire business career kept him isolated by his wealth and surrounded by sycophants. He’ll be having meetings with Sessions about suppressing stuff like what we had today. Putin is his role model.
stinger
I read the whole thing. Unbelievabubble. He seemed to confuse Time Magazine with the Times of London, if I followed that part correctly. “Bust of Churchill…the Prime Minister is coming for a visit… they had me on their cover 15 times.” The Times doesn’t have a “cover”, and shortly after that gibberish, he was clearly talking/complaining about Time Magazine. So who knows?
This, after the literate and erudite My President, is too much to take. I’ll not be reading any of his speeches again soon.
Jeffro
@pat: it was tough to watch the whole thing
cynthia ackerman
@Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire):
So right.
The worst for me was him bragging about how to “lose fewer lives” in the same breath as “maybe we’ll get another chance” to KEEP THE OIL.
FSM help us, but especially those who keep us safe.
Jeffro
@PaulW: if they go 25th amendment that Republican Civil War is going to be off the hook
Immanentize
Christ on a cracker (not Betty)
He is talking about agents killed. It must be reduced.
This has finally sent me over the edge.
p.a.
@PaulW: They’ll love Pence when they are told to love Pence and when they see what a good ole lib-basher he is. They’ll help bury tRump when they’re told he’s a perv traitor to the Conservative Cause, and a closet lieberal. The Party will see to it when/if it becomes advantageous. They’ll Ernst Rohm him, just not literally. And the Rethug canaille will lap it up.
Karen
Didn’t he say he wanted to remove parts of the CIA which matches the desire to gut the CIA and FBI? If not, what did he want to remove then? I tried reading further but it was too much word vomit to go through.
notoriousJRT
@Adam L Silverman:
ABC Trump.
mai naem mobile
Yeah, so as Hilz was saying and Bill Maher said, Lumpy ain’t changing. He’s a little man with little hands with a massive inferiority complex.
This man,the presidency will not make.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m going with TOTALLY UNHINGED. I was listening to a brief excerpt where, after lying and telling the CIA he had always supported them, he launched into a whine-rant regarding the media’s lying about attendance at the Inauguration. Seriously? This man’s a total fruit-cake.
mai naem mobile
@Jeffro: i saw the clips of Obama smiling at the inauguration and was wondering whu hw was all smiles. Everybody else was all serious or scowling. I am beginning to think Obama kind of saw this Frankenstein monster Lumpys GOP handlers and enablers were going to try to have to control or face the consequences. Yeah, reality has a way of slapping you hard.
Van Buren
@Wapiti: I’m with you. He will not be impeached, as there will never be a media shitstorm demanding it. We will get bothsidesdoit no matter what he does. Our only hope is he goes the William Henry Harrison route. Poetic justice would be that he refuses treatment from the official physician in favor of his personal quack.
Mike in NC
@mai naem mobile: Mr. Obama must be sitting in Palm Springs tonight, sipping a beer and quietly laughing at the imbecile who is in way over his gold-plated head.
cmorenc
@Adam L Silverman:
A similar critique was also made of Bill Clinton – except Clinton was much better at hiding it in a cloud of schmoozy charm and sharp intellect, assisted by Clinton’s astonishing ability to make whomever he was speaking to 1 on 1 feel like the most important person in the world to Bill, while giving the impression he mostly agreed with that person.. However, Clinton often did not necessarily tell the same thing to the next person that he said to this person, which is one reason he acquired a rep as being a bit slippery even among his partisans.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Jeffro: “You’re wrong. Just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it.”
Also, bask in the ignominy that is your wrongitude.
https://mobile.twitter.com/MgniM/status/822939877817860096/photo/1
cmorenc
@Adam L Silverman:
If this isn’t the time to not be nice wrt Trump, when the Hell would that be? The disrespect for Trump is deeply personal, and not for the office of President – rather, it’s because a man of such terrible character – based on what we incontrovertibly know about him completely aside from what we we only suspect so far (though with good reason) – disgraces the office.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mike in NC:
And maybe thinking of McConnell and Ryan (for a second or two): “Be careful what you wish for, motherfuckers. How you like me now?”
James Powell
I will never forgive the assholes and morons who put this piece of shit in the White House.
SiubhanDuinne
Just catching up over wine and supper, after the Met Opera this afternoon and following all the marches here and elsewhere.
This — well, I tried to listen to the video, lasted maybe two minutes, and could.not.stand.another.second. But I did read through the transcript, and ohmygod, everyone who said he’d become more presidential once he won the primaries/secured the nomination/won the election/named his cabinet/was inaugurated, is just flat fucking out of their MINDS.
Eighteen months ago, this kind of speech might have been laugh-and-point funny. But he is, whether we like it or not, the Fucking President of the Fucking United States of Fucking America, and he’s maundering on about crowd sizes and who voted for him and what a smart person he is??
COME FUCKING.ON.
These remarks make word salad look like a standing crown rib.
WASF
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike in NC:
Hard to tell if you’re referring to “We Shall Overcomb” himself, or the Trump Tower Toilet.
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
Where the Hell did you find that? And the first comment on the clip was how terrifyingly appropo it is today!
The speech transcript is pretty amazing. Incoherent to quite an amazing degree; terrifying too. I can read anything, and I couldn’t read more than bits and pieces of that. Others pulled out separate meaning-free bits, all I could do was look at it and shiver.
WASF… not just us, everyone, everywhere.
Suffragete City elftx
Thread may be dead but…
“Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes. Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.”
I think he’s poking him on purpose as well as being correct to be angry.
J R in WV
@PaulW:
I don’t know if someone has already responded with this, but if you read the whole 25th, you find that after the VP and a majority of the Cabinet [ETA: pretty sure the joint chiefs don’t have anything to do with this, just the VP and the “principle officers of the executive”.] declares that the President is not capable of exercising his duties, when the President declares to Mitch and Paul that “Yes, I am so able to be President!!! I’m the Best President Evah!!!!” – then within 48 hours both houses of Congress shall assemble and can determine, “by two-thirds vote of both houses” that the President is unable. At which point Mike Dence will be president.
Easier to impeach in the House, that’s up to the House Rules, but then, “When the President of the United States is tried the Chief Justice shall preside; And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.” Emphasis added.
Note the members present. They could have some Rs not present if all the Dems were solid votes, OR all the Dems could stay home and let the Rs deal with it. Or not.
amk
gud gawd. what a fucking word salad of same old bs.
and it’s in all caps.
ADAM, YOU’RE FIRED.
Truegster
The f-ing columns man!! Do you people even understand that Trump will have bigger rooms built by people who don’t use columns? Finally, a leader who notices what’s going on with room columns.
Reading that was exhausting and it wasn’t because of the all caps.
yoda854
Read this part, but substitute “fucking” for “backing”. This is what this moronic imbecile meant to say to CIA and what truly will happen if CIA does not fully submit to him:
“I am so behind you and I know maybe sometimes you haven’t gotten the backing that you’ve wanted and you’re going to get so much backing,” Trump told the intel community with whom he has feuded. “Maybe you’ll say, ‘don’t give us so much backing. Mr. President, please, we don’t need that much backing,’ But you’re going to have that, and I think everybody in this room knows it.”
J R in WV
@Suffragete City elftx:
Who would have ever thought that I could ever be deeply moved in my agreement with anything former CIA Director Brenner could say?
Where did you find that quote?
The moon is green cheese!
Tripod
@SiubhanDuinne:
getting rid of the columns….. uh….. I bet his dip shit handlers wanted a wide angle shot of the audience.
Desmo
My sense is Obama has probably savored more than one beer and is laughing his ass off, knowing how totally in-over-his head Trump (and team) are. They are going to be on the phone to him in a week: “Um, would you consider accepting a consultant position? Fully confidential, of course.”
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: I’m a cartoon connyswaur!
Debbie1
@Gravenstone: “His prick is in the pickle slicer.” His what?! I just have two reactions to this: Eww! and Moar!
p.a.
Way too late but: I’m at the Y 2 hrs/day and I’ve still got too much backing…
Mart
Remember back in the day the media said this guy will drive the neocons crazy, he is such an isolationist! And now folks are asking is he just talking about torture, or does this crazy fucker want to use nukes? I was so encouraged by the nasty women today. Now I am depressed again. Fun times.
Momofsam
One of my favorite signs from Boston today said hey Donald I think I found your inaugural crowd.
Adam L Silverman
@Suffragete City elftx: Director Brennan is right to be offended. I was offended trying to explain it to someone on the way to dinner. Even if he meant “we’re going to make it so that fewer stars have to go on this wall”, what he said: “we’re going to reduce them” is outrageous. You can’t reduce those stars. Twenty-nine of those stars have no name on them. Every one of those stars represents an American who didn’t come home. Some of the people that those stars represent and what they did on behalf of Americans are, in some cases, completely unknown to some of their own family members. There are Americans that do not know that one of those stars represents a loved one and they will never know. Even if that loved one was brought home and buried. Because if that person and their work was acknowledged, other’s lives would be at risk.
I’ve had the honor and privilege to serve in Joint billets, both full time and temporary, with analysts from the Agency. They deserve better than this.
And, I’m one of the people that when I was deployed, and if I’m deployed again, does a job that mixes being an analyst and a collector of information, as well as a couple of other jobs. When I was originally doing ops work for the Army three of my counterparts did not make it back. Another was blowed up, but he and several teammates survived with minor injuries – though he has PTS as a result. Another took some shrapnel. But all of their families know. All of them got someone back to care for or to bury.
Moreover, in regard to my team, I was in charge of the research and analysis. It was my job to ask my teammates, my friends to go into harm’s way with me or into harms way for me. Had something bad happened, even just an MRAP roll over because of a vehicle accident, it was on me. I was responsible. Fortunately everyone ultimately deployed home, at different times, in one piece. Had they not, it was on me.
The combination of ignorance and arrogance on display today at Langley is almost unfathomable.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: Again? Didn’t we do that yesterday.
Adam L Silverman
@Tripod: Can’t take pictures of those folks faces. Or anything that would identify them.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: but today, it’s all in all caps. big diff. I really mean it this time.
Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)
@donnah: This made me very very angry. If it were possible to reach thru the internet to the guy talking to Reich I’d be shaking him by the shoulders, then slapping him across his face a few times shouting “Wake the fnuckup and smell the end of the Republic you fnucking moron, you’re selling out the country for party and dooming your grandchildren, if they survive the flooding, to feel shame for you forever!”
Suffragete City elftx
@J R in WV: Brennan’s statement was posted on the twitter machine by some reporter.
amk
@donnah: what a fucking sociopath. and with so much greed.
Suffragete City elftx
@Adam L Silverman:
I have no response Adam other than you are right and I had to step away a minute to compose myself after reading what you wrote.
This is all so fucking sad.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Decades ago I had a Marine sargent buddy who could no longer take the toll of sending his squad members, or as he said, his friends, up hills on suicide missions. He related the movie Hamburger Hill to me almost scene by scene, yrs before it was made or even written. And that was about the Army. And he didn’t write it and wasn’t listed as a consultant. He wasn’t crazy or pissed off or even wanted out of the Marines, he just couldn’t do it any longer.
workworkwork
@efgoldman: Or, instead of telling your superior that they’re wrong, you simply say, “That turns out not to be the case….”
Fifteen years in Higher Ed, folks.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruckus: Tracking. You can only do that stuff for so long. Usually about the time you can’t you’ve moved up and out. Unfortunately for any conflict that lasts more than a few years this doesn’t happen as quickly as it should.
29 of those stars have no names. The other ones do. The explanations in the book below the stars doesn’t provide a lot of information. The first star on that wall was for a person who’s family wasn’t notified of the CIA officer’s death for 50 years! If no one on the President’s team prepped him properly: shame on them. If they did and he didn’t internalize it and retain the information: shame on him.
akryan
That is A1 fucking crazy. He can’t give one speech without petty lies and grievances. He’s insane.
Captain C
I give this speech, on first perusal, .55 Time Cubes.
jmw
@Adam L Silverman: Where does ‘that stuff’ end? It seems like people advance from company/battalion onwards. I have zero experience with this but am trying to figure out if there’s some level of abstraction where the feeling of intense personal responsibility becomes subsidiary to the mission (whatever that may be.)
Or are leaders that cannot separate the two able to put themselves out of running for higher command?
Captain C
@Captain C: After reading more thoroughly, .59 Time Cubes plus now I’m wondering just how cognitively impaired he is.
Adam L Silverman
@jmw: Its different for everyone. But with prolonged conflicts you get the same folks rotating back in over and over and over again – just at higher ranks each time. Eventually they’ll wind up in the Generating Force for a while or for good. When they’re in those kind of billets it stops – at least for a while.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
Which is why us laymen, who don’t know the ins and outs but have a sense of how this crap would play with people who have devoted their careers to this service, understand that this cannot stand, and can’t wait until the IC helps this particular charlatan off of the world stage.
Captain C
@Adam L Silverman: He fits Harry G. Frankfurt’s definition of “Bullshiter” to a T:
Captain C
@Jeffro:
I can actually believe that with regard to Pence believing it.
Captain C
@Mnemosyne: I was just thinking that he pretends to be a combination of Sonny and Michael, but secretly fears that he’s Fredo.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: As I’ve written several times: this will not end well. For anyone. More’s the pity.
Adam L Silverman
@Captain C: It is what it is.
jmw
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks I guess I am also making a pretty big jump from the original description the purview of an NCO vs commissioned officers (though the few platoon and company leaders that I’ve spoken to had the same concerns.)
I just wonder how one goes from company/battalion to regiment/brigade and if the weight is the same.
Adam L Silverman
I don’t think it ever goes away. I know the generals I served as the Cultural Advisor at USAWC were very concerned about Soldier’s trying to and/or actually committing suicide. Same for sexual assault. I watched one of the Commandants I served get visibly, physically upset when speaking with those he gathered into a working group to deal with some of these issues. And all he was running was a schoolhouse. Of course I’d have gone and done cultural operations for that guy in Hell if he needed me to, so…
jmw
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks, it’s nice to know that the concern is wide reaching. As I said I don’t have any real world experience with this and my shallow understanding is based upon a few college classmates that did ROTC mainly for financial reasons. The volunteer military is a great thing IMO but has the downside of shielding people like me (computation biologist) from contact with the vast majority of the people actually doing the fighting in our name for the last 16 years.
Vanacker
@Canarian: It could be submarines…