I want to take a slightly different tack on what Anne Laurie posted about earlier this morning. Specifically, the lack of situational awareness, operations, and information security practiced by the President’s senior advisors, both the National Security Advisor and the Chief Strategist, when briefing him on the reported launch of the North Korean missile launch. CNN reported:
Sitting alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom he’d spent most of the day golfing, Trump took the call on a mobile phone at his table, which was set squarely in the middle of the private club’s dining area.
As Mar-a-Lago’s wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe’s evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners, who described it in detail to CNN.
Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and chief strategist Steve Bannon left their seats to huddle closer to Trump as documents were produced and phone calls were placed to officials in Washington and Tokyo.
The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents.
Even as a flurry of advisers and translators descended upon the table carrying papers and phones for their bosses to consult, dinner itself proceeded apace. Waiters cleared the wedge salads and brought along the main course as Trump and Abe continued consulting with aides.
Here’s what some of this looked like thanks to a picture from Univision reporter Enrique Acevedo and his Instagram timeline:
This photo taken from my instagram TL seems to capture one of the moments described in this @CNN piece https://t.co/czixCjPox1 pic.twitter.com/OkiAkUcWdE
— Enrique Acevedo (@Enrique_Acevedo) February 13, 2017
And from a Mar a Lago member:
@JohnJHarwood @joshtpm These Facebook Posts From a Mar-a-Lago member are Kind of concerning: pic.twitter.com/n8kaF3F6BU
— Tom Herron (@gifuoh) February 13, 2017
What we get a glimpse of here, in real time, is a major breakdown in Operations and Information Security protocols. While the former, Operations Security, often refers to the handling and dissemination of open source, unclassified information that can be bundled together to create a security problem, it is not limited to just unclassified information. The latter, Information Security, refers to the handling of both unclassified and classified information.
Operations Security is defined as:
Operations Security (OPSEC) is a systematic method used to identify, control, and protect critical information and subsequently analyze friendly actions associated with military operations and other activities. Ultimately, OPSEC is protecting your information and activities from your adversaries.
Information Security is defined as:
The system of policies, procedures, and requirements established in accordance with Reference (d) to protect information that, if subjected to unauthorized disclosure, could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the national security. The term also applies to policies, procedures, and requirements established to protect CUI, which may be withheld from release to the public in accordance with statute, regulation, or policy.
As I’ve stated here before: the President has the final say on classification/declassification and who can and cannot access classified information. If he decides that classified information needs to be shared with an allied head of state, then that information will be shared. That is not necessarily what is at issue here. Rather it is the manner in which this was done. No one, not the National Security Advisor who spent his career as a Military Intelligence officer, nor the Chief Strategist who served in the US Navy through the rank of lieutenant (O3), nor any other official with the President yesterday did anything to safeguard critical information – classified or unclassified. Rather they used their unclassified and unsecured cell phones/smart phones to illuminate the documents that the President and Prime Minister Abe were reviewing because there was insufficient lighting in the Mar a Lago dining room. Moreover, this was in full view of members of the club and their guests who were dining at Mar a Lago on Saturday night, as well as the Mar a Lago dining room staff.
Had the North Korean government conducted a missile launch/missile test while the President was hosting Prime Minister Abe at Camp David, and should the President have decided that Prime Minister Abe should be read on to the information that US intelligence had gathered on the launch, there are appropriate facilities – a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) – on site. This is not the case at Mar a Lago. And while there may be plans to install one at Mar a Lago, what was observed Saturday night shows that Information and Operations Security are not being observed by the President and his senior advisors.
dlwchico
Posting pictures of the aide that carries ‘the football’ on twitter seems like a bad idea.
http://imgur.com/Iz8xtoW
That could be an entire season of 24!
jonas
Well, at least he’s not using a private email server, amirite?
Gindy51
Bet he loved every second of being the BMOC center of attention. Look for more of this crap because it feeds his ego big time.
From what I’ve read about the photographer of the smirk picture… she’said a nice looking gal who he was flirting wth. Figures.
dmsilev
But be fair. Compared to Hillary Clinton keeping a well-secured email server in her basement, this is nothing…
albertZ
This seems to be the fall back position to cover-up all of Trump’s inadequacies as President. The President decides on classification; he is exempt from conflict of interest; he doesn’t have to release tax returns; etc. etc. Trump is peak IOKIYAR.
Adam L Silverman
@dlwchico: Pretty much the pilot episode of NCIS.
I also fixed the formatting in your comment as the hyperlink had captured the reply button.
sherparick
But the NY Times, Ron Fournier, Associated Press, and Jason Chaffetz all exclaim, bit “her emails” raised questions!
As I have been saying since 8 November 2016, we are so fucked.
Corner Stone
I think it is pretty obvious that Flynn has completely cracked.
Kropadope
@albertZ:
Experience tells me we should be careful declaring “peaks” with respect to Republicans; especially as far as hypocrisy, mendacity, and living in a god-forsaken parallel universe that somehow intersects with our own.
Corner Stone
For a mere $200K you too can have an opportunity to rub elbows with POTUS, shake hands with visiting heads of state, and take part in crowdsharing TS documents by candlelight!
Eric U.
they might as well get rid of the entire classification system with these clowns in charge. And let Snowdon come home too, why bother now?
Corner Stone
@sherparick: something something “paid protestors” something
zach
This nonchalant ignorance of basic practices has to trickle down… I’m not military but lived somewhere where I listened to a lot of armed forces network radio for a long time; the OpSec PSAs are endless (lately focusing on not being an idiot about posting stuff to social media; what might seem trivial to you could be important). Who’s going to take that seriously when the CIC is doing this?
… and I don’t even want to think about the PSAs about how important it is to report sexual misconduct up the chain of command because the military takes it so seriously.
Corner Stone
Considering he has spent 6 of his first 24 days at MaL, that may be a good idea. I’ll bet whoever owns that place is pretty happy!
trollhattan
@dlwchico:
Cripes, wrong on uncountable levels but for some reason I’m starting with the grins. What could be funnier?
Thru the Looking Glass...
If this wasn’t so serious, it’d make a really funny skit on SNL… but it is serious and it’s not funny…
? Martin
Since anyone can buy a membership at Mar-A-Lago, how many foreign intelligence agents were in that room?
Major Major Major Major
Eh, whatever, it’s not like those things have microphones or cameras on both sides or anything.
JPL
“Let me just say. You’re doing too much. I want one day without a CNN alert that scares the hell out of me,”
Cecily Strong
It’s not going to happen though, is it?
Corner Stone
Here’s an idea: put down the fucking salad fork and move to a somewhat more secure location. NoKo just fired a missile at one of our allies. That may be a bit more important than letting your wedge salad get to room temperature.
? Martin
@Thru the Looking Glass…: I imagine we will see this on saturday.
JPL
@Corner Stone: Next thing you know, is the owner will want a fancy room in Trump Towers, too.
? Martin
@Corner Stone: Yes, but nobody can see you Presidenting in the secure room. Photo ops > Intel ops.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan:
If he hired OJ to do it. That would be Nordberg levels of epic funny.
Adam L Silverman
@? Martin: This is a good questions. There’s an online cottage industry in tracking a private jet registered to/owned by a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin who bought the President’s previous south Florida mansion. Apparently it was at the airport in Las Vegas when the President, then a candidate was in Las Vegas. Same thing at the FT Lauderdale airport during the campaign when the President was at Mar a Lago, as well as in the British Virgin Islands when he was there. And, again, last weekend.
?eric
Adam: OT, but here is a question. Why DID Trump cave to the Chinese? what was the quid to the quo of him relenting? The Russian-nut-hugging stuff i get — blah blah blah money, oligarchs, crime lords, lending, etc. But why the fold with China so fast and easy? thanks
?eric
@? Martin: including Bannon and Flynn, at least two.
sigaba
@albertZ: All of these things fall on the voters to find accountability.
Major Major Major Major
@?eric: it’s always possible that he’s not completely insane, innumerate, and illiterate, is my read on the situation.
?eric
@Major Major Major Major: so then you think he was really worried that “asians” are smarter than whites?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@? Martin: No doubt… and it probably will be funny… but if this is how Trump and his inner circle intend to deal w/ national security issues, heaven help us all…
Miss Bianca
At this point, the fallback gibe “But her EMAILS!” is starting to turn to ashes in my mouth. it’s so insultingly obvious that none of these clowns give a shit about national security unless they can turn into a noose to hang around some Democrat’s neck that I just feel like choking the living shit out of something right now.
Pamoya
@? Martin: Exactly. Even cheaper, how many of the wait-staff are foreign agents? If there weren’t any yet, there surely will be now.
? Martin
@Adam L Silverman: It seems to me that any country that runs a foreign intelligence operation would jump at the chance to put someone inside Camp David for $14K per year – and would have bought that membership the moment Trump looked like the nominee if not earlier.
JPL
@?eric: Mother Jones wrote an article a few months back, and it appears that Trump owes hundreds of millions to the Bank of China. I don’t know if that had anything to do with his flip flop though.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@?eric:
Because Trump is a bully which also means he’s a coward… one has to ask… under REAL pressure, will Trump fold quicker than a cheap suitcase?
It would be irresponsible to not speculate…
? Martin
@Pamoya: Since they hire primarily H-2B visas, fuck, it could be all of them.
Pamoya
I just got a picture in my head of a mad-cap comedy of errors-type movie set at Mar-a-Lago where literally all of the staff are spies from different countries.
Emma
@Miss Bianca: Same here. I wish people will stop, it makes my blood pressure ratchet up every time.
gene108
The biggest problem I have with Mar-a-Lago, is for a $200k membership, folks should be getting better grub than a fucking ice-berg lettuce wedge, with blue cheese dressing.
WTF? This is 2017, not 1977. We have much better food options today.
Thoroughly ashamed out President is feeding foreign dignitaries that crap. It’s a national embarrassment.
Corner Stone
@Pamoya: But what govt would waste the time? RUS, China and Israel all have everything already. Govts in MENA are too busy trying not to have their own heads chopped off.
What third rate foreign govt would actually give enough of a shit to put anyone in place?
Brachiator
We have a president who doesn’t know or care about security protocols. He is a businessman running the government like a business. He is in his comfort zone, in his Florida pleasure palace, and he wants his friends and guests to see what a big deal he is, doing president like stuff and dazzling the rubes.
His supporters probably are impressed with him getting right down to business in reaction to North Korea. And again, many of them see protocol and procedure as a lot of unnecessary fluff.
And some people, without regard to ideology, may look on Trump favorably here, comparing him with Dubya looking like a deer caught in headlights after the 9/11 attack.
@jonas:
As president, he could probably get away with it. A President Clinton might get away with it as well. Who knows. Besides, we know that double standards, triple standards, quadruple standards are applied to her. She is unfairly criticized for anything and everything by her asswipe enemies.
But we are also in a Bizarro universe where Trump is not held to any standards, largely because his supporters are as stupid as he is, and the Republican leadership will cover for him like the craven muthafuckers that they are.
Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)
@dlwchico: Good lordt, Mr. DeAgazio is just as stupid and smarmy as I think someone who would be dumb enough to buy a Mar a Lago membership would be.
Major Major Major Major
@Miss Bianca: I heard somewhere that somebody had spoken to a Utah republican voter who only JUST NOW realized that Chaffetz was a hack on a partisan witch hunt the whole time, because he wouldn’t investigate Trump or the Yemen thing. I was not impressed by this person’s intellect needless to say, but I’ll take it.
JPL
@gene108: It’s a national embarrassment, that Trump is the president.
?eric
@Thru the Looking Glass…: i get that, but what exactly was he frightened of? that is the part i dont get.
Corner Stone
@Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire): I think you meant to say HOLY MOLY !!!
Ruckus
@JPL:
He wouldn’t sell what little that passes for a soul for a few bucks….. Would he? Wouldn’t he?
In his world every fucking thing is for sale, the bid just has to look reasonable to him, not even be astronomical. For him, the art of the deal is to get something for his bank account or that can further leverage his net worth. That is his only concern in life. He doesn’t even have to be wealthy, just appear wealthy. And look now, he has an entire nation to sell.
Adam L Silverman
@?eric: The Bank of China, which is owned by the PRC, owns a large amount of his debt. They hold the note on Trump Tower.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@?eric: Perhaps they could possibly release information about his financial dealings w/ them that would make him look bad or even put him in serious trouble w/ the whole emoluments issue…
And then there’s always the possibility that Trump is just a blowhard and a coward…
Adam L Silverman
@? Martin: You mean Mar a Lago, right? Camp David does not have a membership one can purchase to stay there.
bemused
The whole setup, Abe and Rump parties seated among Mar-A-Lago guests/members was ripe for trouble. No control over photo taking when Rump took call on North Korea missile launch.
I gotta say the photo of Trump looking dreamily at woman taking his pic was disturbing. He looked like a wistful kid that wanted be permitted to leave the grownup table.
I hope Sean Spicer doesn’t replaced as press secretary. I haven’t laughed much for months but awesome Melissa McCarthy sendups of Spicer has given me great joy.
Calming Influence
He can’t be completely surrounded by sycophants. How can we encourage non-Kool-aid drinking onlookers to shout “Your doing it wrong, Donny!” whenever he pulls this kind of shit?
Adam L Silverman
@gene108: This type of menu item is likely based on what he ate at the steakhouses he went to with his father growing up and learning the business.
Brachiator
@Pamoya:
That would actually be quite funny.
ruemara
I don’t necessarily think we’re all gonna die, but I do think we’re in for some stunning military failures and losses, thanks to President Kompromat and his clown car of Russian handlers. And it was completely avoidable
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: yet.
Major Major Major Major
@Calming Influence: isn’t that what everybody was telling me Mattis is supposed to be for?
@Brachiator: sounds like an episode of Archer.
SRW1
‘My Pet Goat’ moments come in all forms and shapes.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: “Iceberg wedge salad” has been a hip and trendy thing for a few years now. Don’t know if it’s “ironic” or “retro” or “throwback” or how you classify this hipster shit, but it’s there now, not just a bad memory of 1977.
The Thin Black Duke
@ruemara: Some people (OK, white people) won’t give a damn until the inevitable disaster affects them personally, and with this moron in the White House, that day is going to come sooner, not later.
LAC
You can see this as a breakdown of known protocols or , as his dumb shit followers would argue, a refreshing change of pace and BENGAZI!!!!
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: If Mattis publicly condemns Trump, he’ll be gone. I’m not sure what happens, if he privately criticizes him, though.
Ruckus
@gene108:
That’s your biggest worry, that he feeds his expensive diners crap?
Good one though, you’ve captured his lame ass exactly in one comment. Charge a lot, sell crap, all the while attempting to make it look a little less than the crap it is. Notice that there are none of the actually wealthy there, only people like him that need to display what little class they have, thinking that it makes them somehow worth more than the average homeless person sleeping on the street. I’ve met some of those folks on the street, I’d rather be friends with them than anyone who hangs with the shitgibbon.
Fester Addams
@Major Major Major Major:
He’s been quoted saying he doesn’t trust computers; if you want to keep something secret, “use a courtier.” Those phones you’re using as flashlights to read classified documents in the club dining room? THEY ARE COMPUTERS.
vickie feminist
@? Martin: Camp David staff are US military and watched fairly closely. Used to work for ARMY in mental health and got to evaluate a Navy cook.
Re OPSEC, this is such a mockery of EVEN the most basic guidelines!!!!!
albertZ
Security failings and blue cheese dressing. Just the tip of the iceberg…
DavidTC
@Brachiator:
And they all know they’re spies, but can’t rat each other out, and they even end up having to cover for and fix the masses of the North Korea one, who’s a dumbass.
Mike in NC
@gene108: I read a while back that at the new Trump Hotel (Old Post Office) in DC, a salad costs on average $59. Maybe if you want a couple of shrimp in it, that will run you a bit more.
scav
@Fester Addams: Could we call them very low orbit spy satellite adjuncts?
Miss Bianca
@Major Major Major Major: I guess I could take this moment to say, “better late than never”, but I fear that at some point “late” awakenings on the part of the electorate will just be TOO late for American democracy.
ruemara
@The Thin Black Duke: Precisely why I’m glad Tangerine Twitler is razing their benefits faster than mine.
Calming Influence
@gene108: Iceberg lettuce? Hell, Abe’s just lucky he didn’t get KFC.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
His idea of security protocols is all those NDAs.
Mike in NC
@Adam L Silverman: But that could easily be rectified…
Ruckus
@vickie feminist:
Was in the service a long time ago but was very much briefed on what my Top Secret clearance meant and what it’s limitations and demands were. Nothing about this post falls under those guidelines. Nothing.
scav
@DavidTC: I think there should also be a sub-plot where there is so little of actual political import going on that many of them start working for Vanity Fair, TMZ or Playboy because the money is better and the events more plentiful on the ground. Moonlighting treble agents.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Adam L Silverman:
Trump doesn’t do rustic or outdoorsy, so I can’t envision his lard ass at Camp David. In fact, maybe we can go through an administration without him learning about it – if he sees it, he’ll pull down the trees and put up a bunch of tacky rich white people shit.
momus
Might this be Kabuki theater? Or does US intelligence need a new classification — “Sensitive, DO NOT tell this President.”
Major Major Major Major
@JPL: This is an example of something you could mention in private. I’m not too sure I buy the whole Mattis argument in general though.
@Miss Bianca: I’ll take better late than never right now, we can sort out the rest later.
@Fester Addams: More troubling is that nobody ELSE seemed aware of this.
Calming Influence
@bemused: The photo reminds me of Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Fester Addams
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m thinking that White House INFOSEC guy had to be relieved of his duties simply because his head exploded.
Brachiator
@albertZ:
Heh. I saw what you did there.
SiubhanDuinne
@albertZ:
You stop that RIGHT NOW!
? Martin
@Adam L Silverman:
Correct. Trump obviously means to use Mar a Lago in place of Camp David. Put another way, if Camp David did have a membership one could purchase, who would be most interested in doing so and why?
Corner Stone
@Fester Addams:
Well shit. I had no idea that’s what they were actually for. Obviously I have been doing this all wrong these long years.
Cacti
Breaking: Cole’s buddy Greenwald has completely changed his tune on a certain topic now that a white Republican is back in office:
Cheryl Rofer
I’ve been discussing this on Twitter.
Apparently there is no SCIF at Mar-a-Lago or at the gilded New York penthouse. Not clear whether they have portable SCIFs there.
Is Mar-a-Lago swept for bugs? Have they checked out lines of sight for possible surveillance? Are waiters and staff vetted for security?
The carrier of the nuclear football rotates among the services. Carriers have been photographed before, but the voluntary photo with a guest seems to be new and poor judgment. I wouldn’t be surprised if the carrier is counseled or reprimanded.
ETA: Stephen Schwartz (@AtomicAnalyst) keeps track of photos of the football and has been posting comment on Twitter.
Gin & Tonic
I’m so freaking old I can remember when the left mistrusted the CIA/NSA and the right mistrusted the Russians.
JPL
@Major Major Major Major: Wasn’t Reince touted as the adult in the room, also?
elm
@Cheryl Rofer: Surely Air Force 1 has facilities to handle top-secret security meetings and surely that’s near the US President at all times, right?
Spanky
@Adam L Silverman:
Get back to me once summer tourist season starts heating up and we’ll see about that.
Calming Influence
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah. Maybe Mattis hasn’t been out of the military long enough to act independently. We should have some sort of rule about that…
ruemara
@Cacti: Ah, Greenwald and yes, I do think he’s a bigot. But, Cole has been roasting him for his obvious flipflop on this. If Katherine Van De HufflePuffle doesn’t stop posting odes to GG in my TL, I’m going to start mocking her own compromised views of Russia mercilessly.
bemused
@Calming Influence:
Omg yes!
Mary G
The most disrespectful thing in that CNN article is him dragging Abe (saying “Come on, Shinzo”) over to that wedding reception. The guy is there on serious business and I’m sure the Japanese people feel less than honored that our president is dragging their prime minister over to schmooze with some paying customers of his private business.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@?eric:
Look at how cozy Abe is with Trump and Japan was on Trump’s enemies list. Trump is easy to manipulate.
Cheryl Rofer
@? Martin: See this tweet:
https://twitter.com/relevantorgans/status/831188408340844545
Parody account.
lamh36
Justin Trudeau meeting with President Agent Orange (h/t Busta Rhymes)
notice how Justin keeps his hand high and tight like…naw ma dude…you ain’t pulling that handshake shit with me
https://twitter.com/ABC/status/831171027845554176
https://twitter.com/tommyxtopher/status/831189542963142657
Boatboy_srq
I cannot tell whether I’m watching a national trainwreck of cosmic proportions or political satire a la Ruthless People. Even the lines can be reused: seeing that first photo, the one thing in my head is Judge Reinhold shouting “Look at the smile on that a##hole!”
scav
My mind went here, in a vain leap for somewhere and when where similar breaches seemed to keep occurring and even were seemingly taken seriously (meaning, there were at least consequences, sometimes).
‘Cover up your papers’: New notice by Number 10’s front door warns politicians after succession of photo leaks.
Boatboy_srq
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: You assume tRump even remembers being rough with them.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@DavidTC: We should draft that as a group.Paging Mustang Bobby and Miss Bianca, among others. It could be hilarious. Crowd sourced comic writing.
SiubhanDuinne
I would just love to be able to listen in on some of the recent conversations in the Obama and Clinton households.
Cheryl Rofer
@elm: Air Force One would be at an airport nearby. Adam might know which one. Might be a place to have a classified convo if the president could drag himself away from his club.
ChrisB
@eric: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Trump caved on the One China policy at about the time that North Korea fired that missile. The missile launch was expected in February or March and if we wanted to have any chance of speaking fruitfully, or at all, with China about it, Trump needed to recant.
Major Major Major Major
@Calming Influence: Hmmmmmmm.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
Matt R Allen @MattRAllen 2h
@ggreenwald if you were head of the NSA, would you hold back info from Trump?
Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald 1h
@MattRAllen No. I don’t believe unelected intelligence officials should go rogue and undermine the elected government.
The Moar You Know
I have to sit through training every goddamn year that tells me to avoid doing stupid shit like this – training that I’ve always felt was equivalent to “training” people to not stick a fork in their eye – but damn, I guess there really are people that stupid about handling classified info. Too bad that the guy who is “that stupid” is in charge of it all.
BUT, HER EMAILS
Chisel it on the fucking White House, so that the future generations will know what brought America to its knees.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: O RLY?
pseudonymous in nc
@Brachiator:
Exactly this. Remember the ticket scalper who was bankrolling the fake foundation? This is the presidency as big-ticket performance.
It’s like a JG Ballard novel where nouveau-riche fuckers with bad plastic surgery pay to live in a private resort with the guarantee of an up-close-and-personal on nuclear armageddon.
Major Major Major Major
@The Moar You Know: @The Moar You Know: To be fair, he did say ‘officials’. Saint Edward was just an IT guy.
Humboldtblue
Speaking of security, remember angry white supremacist-Breitbart-flunky-guy who pulled a gun on protestors in Portland last year? He took a chance on a bench trial, not jury, and was convicted anyway.
Miss Bianca
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): IKR? It’s a brilliant set-up – little bit of “Get Smart”, little bit of “Dr. Strangelove”.
You totally need to focus on the staff’s-eye view. The temp waiters who are there as spies for the DNC and those who are there as spies for foreign countries. HILARITY ENSUES as the race is on for “who gets the drinks trays set-ups before they all run out when President Trump schedules the next State dinner at Mar-a-Lago?”
Cacti
@The Moar You Know:
One of the front pagers (you know who you are) should regale us with a tale of what great and good people Greenwald, Assange, Snowden, et al. are again.
pseudonymous in nc
And he’s going to “summer” either at the Westchester property (Seven Springs) or the winery near Charlottesville. If we make it as far as summer.
Van Buren
And when they realize the extent of the clusterfuckery they unite forces.
Corner Stone
@pseudonymous in nc: I always forget. Was Gatsby actually rich?
Kay
But the cable news multi-millionaires pursued the bullshit Benghazi scandal for 2 years! Jake Tapper led the effort!
I’m shocked that they aren’t gravely concerned about national security under this lunatic they all promoted. What gives with this? Will there have to be a disaster before Trump is held accountable?
Let’s see the same zeal and energy they used to pursue The Email Story applied to Trump.
Corner Stone
@Van Buren:
“The Seven Times I Helped Save the World From Nuclear Holocaust”
– A memoir of a Russian Spy at Mar a Lago
SiubhanDuinne
@pseudonymous in nc:
Wait, what? No, I don’t. But honestly, things fly by so fast and with such frequency these days, I could easily have seen something and just shoved it to one side.
Mnemosyne
@?eric:
My totally inexpert opinion: his son and son-in-law told him how much money they have invested there.
Immanentize
So y’all know we had another foot plus of snow up here near Boston — Overheard my son talking to a friend in San Fran last night — “I’m like Ed — I’m Snowden.”
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Miss Bianca: So you’re jotting notes? then? You have my email ? – this has potential.
? Martin
Adam,
You may want to look into the antifa/black bloc/BAMN groups here in CA. My sense is that they are at risk of becoming mainstream with millennials who are so opposed to Trump and so frustrated with the lack of valid political options (Congress, etc.) that they are increasingly open to violent action to defend minority populations. I would occasionally hear a student mention them in years past, and I hear it constantly now. I know what happens when movements achieve a kind of cultural critical mass.
bemused senior
@Brachiator: Don’t forget that the White House staff ARE using a private email server.
Kay
If anyone in federal law enforcement ever does their job and investigates Trump, do Joe and Mika have to testify?
They’re not considered “journalists” are they? Because THAT’S embarrassing. They’re celebrities.
Immanentize
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): You might want to add in when casting the fact that a bunch of the seasonal help come from other countries — young beauties from Sweden, from the Caribbean, from — Russia?”
Immanentize
@Kay: Journalists do not have (m)any legal protections from testifying.
Mnemosyne
@Cacti:
Gee, that’s a shock. Hoocouldaknowed!
Major Major Major Major
@? Martin: In the Bay Area, in my (old millennial) circles, they’re already more or less mainstream.
chris
@?eric: Erik Prince is deeply involved with the Chinese and has offices in Hong Kong and Beijing. He’s also on the fringes of the administration so I can’t help but wonder… /tinfoil hat
Kay
Can we hire a contractor to do the job we’re paying federal law enforcement to do? We can start a GoFundMe. Surely someone wants to do this job they’re not doing. We’ll be paying twice for the same work but that’s okay.
Better be quick. Some innocent person or persons are going to pay for this reckless incompetence and it isn’t going to be Joe Scarborough.
Cacti
@Immanentize:
This.
There’s no privileged relationship between a journalist and a source at the Federal level.
A journalist can be subpoenaed and jailed for contempt if they refuse to identify a source.
zhena gogolia
@Pamoya:
But Peter Sellers is no longer with us.
Mnemosyne
@Immanentize:
To get maximum financing from Hollywood, make sure to write a large and heroic part for an up-and-coming young actor from China. It’ll sell better that way.
zhena gogolia
@bemused:
She is so brilliant. This has actually made me want to go see one of her movies.
Calming Influence
@The Moar You Know:
That’s going on a sign next time I take to the streets. Thanks.
DCJ
@Calming Influence: Donald…. the genital cuff.
Betty Cracker
@? Martin: I heard them mentioned on some program on NPR yesterday afternoon.
trollhattan
@Humboldtblue:
Bet he’s kicking himself now, considering an Oregon jury exonerated the entire shitgaggle of Bundys. Sucks to be you, guntotinasshole.
PaulW
Here’s the terrifying thing:
A lot of Trump voters still backed him KNOWING he would pull shit like this.
THEY KNEW.
There is a subset of voters who wanted the incompetence because they already view government as corrupt and useless. The faster it collapses the faster they get their Randian Libertarian Utopia.
There is another subset of voters who wanted the incompetence because they knew it would PISS LIBERALS OFF. The coal-rolling of America as it were.
If there are any other sets of Trump voters who bought all in to Trump as a force of chaos, let me know. But I bet they’re out there.
And people wonder why the NSA isn’t sharing data with the Trump White House? GEE, WONDER WHY…
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
Yes, it is going to take a monumental disaster.
Put it like this – there is only one cabinet member I’d rate as highly qualified for his post (Mattis). Kelly is marginally qualified, but sort of nuts. Chao would have been qualified for Labor, but they handed her a post where she really has no active history, so she is another marginal. Rick Perry is too stupid to be malevolent and too weak to do a lot of damage, so he is marginal.
The remainder are UNSAT.
trollhattan
@PaulW:
This. The next reformed Trump voter I meet will be the first. “He’s just saying that to rev up the base” has become “He’s just doing what he promised.” They LOVE his every move and LOVE his spokesdemons.
Eural Joiner
“There is another subset of voters who wanted the incompetence because they knew it would PISS LIBERALS OFF.”
Every single conservative I argue with – that’s the beginning and end of it. They hate us more than the country’s existential enemies.
Major Major Major Major
@Eural Joiner:
Half the leftists I argue with, too.
MomSense
This is not normal, not competent, not remotely acceptable.
We all know this is completely fucked up and yet the Republicans who should do something about it won’t. All for tax cuts and to take health insurance away from millions of us lowly moochers?
At one point is it the responsibility of anyone who has ever taken the oath down to the Notary Public level to do something??
Are we all just going to watch this happen?
rikyrah
@?eric:
1. He owes the Chinese.
2. You mess with China, you mess with the United States of Wal-Mart.
rikyrah
@Miss Bianca:
me too. Come sit by me.
debbie
@Humboldtblue:
Hmm, 120 rounds seems kinda high for self-defense.
MomSense
@Pamoya:
Like Fawlty Towers meets Pink Panther and The Birdcage. Hank Azaria was freakin hilarious in that movie.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@MomSense: Maybe, but it took two years for events to catch up to Nixon.
Origuy
Get Wes Anderson to produce The Florida Spy Resort. He did a great job with The Grand Budapest Hotel.
AlbertZ
And WTF…first issues with White House light switches. Now using cell phones to shine light on classified documents. These Trump folks have some serious illumination problems. The metaphors write themselves.
lollipopguild
@MomSense: The same thing happened with Nixon, There has to be a certain level of awareness/anger with the general public that is transmitted to our GOP elected officials before something will happen. How bad it has to get remains to be seen but i am guessing that it will have to be a 9/11 type of disaster that is obviously trumps fault for us to get rid of him. God bless us everyone.
Mnemosyne
@Eural Joiner:
Yep. And they don’t care if Trump gets mocked, because they know the important thing is that they’re in power and we aren’t.
patrick II
There is no doubt Kim Jung Un saw these pictures on the internet and is laughing his ass off about now.
Citizen Alan
@Mary G:
I just had an epiphany. The Trump Administration is actually the Americanuzed remake of King Ralph, except with Sacha Baron Cohen in a fat suit and bad toupee as the absolute worst caricature of an ugly American somehow elevated to the presidency.
AlbertZ
OT/open thread. Just stumbled on this and it made me laugh Gold Celo Green photoshopped into pictures of Trump
Mike in NC
@Origuy: Jerry Lewis is still around and about the right size to play Trump.
chris
Unsecured phones? What could go wrong?
MomSense
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: @lollipopguild:
I’m worried that type of event is exactly what they want.
MomSense
@patrick II:
If he had any self awareness he would be so happy that 45 has replaced him as most ridiculous world leader (who could end the world).
Citizen_X
From Trump’s point of view, what’s the worst that can happen? Yes, we could be attacked, which could lead to a lot of American civilian or service people deaths. At which point, they will be off to the races, pulling out every war and authoritarian, dissent-stomping trick that they’ve fantasized about. The media and half of the country would give them a pass on it all, because WE WERE ATTACKED! (“Have you forgotten the Reichstag???”)
Am I wrong?
bemused
@zhena gogolia:
We, husband & I, are big fans. She can be so over the top but when it’s working brilliantly, she just kills me.
ruemara
@Citizen_X: No. Which is why we should be rattle the GOP’s cages on this. And calling it out to the press.
Ruckus
@lollipopguild:
Nixon had to brought to the light of day and then had to reach critical mass.
The Republican shitgibbon has been in the spotlight and critical mass is closer and easier to reach these days. Some might say that he is nearly half way there already.
Also do not forget that there were Nixon supporters up until the end.
Brachiator
@patrick II:
Shit, Kim Jung Un is jealous, wants to arrange his own photo op in one of his pleasure palaces, with his generals and lackeys all around him.
bemused
@PaulW:
I think pissing off liberals is the main driver even if they don’t want to admit it to themselves. Unless they are in the .01%, if you asked them what they think they have “won” and describe how their lives are going to be so much better with prez FUBAR, I doubt they’d have a coherent answer.
NotMax
It’s been less than a month. Slowly, slowly, they’re working their way up to becoming novices.
Svensker
@gene108:
This is driving me crazy, you guys! Don’t you know that wedge salads are VERY HIP now? And with stuff like blue cheese dressing, extra hip. Seriously. I mean, I don’t want to eat them, because I grew up on them and didn’t like them then. But, this is an actual thing. It’s not because 45 is old.
Svensker
@Adam L Silverman: As 45 would say, WRONG. See my previous post.
Svensker
@Gin & Tonic: Thank you!
Mike in DC
@NotMax:
In just 5 more terms, they can even achieve competence.
ItinerantPedant
@Corner Stone: TS/SCI information with, I would guess, Code Word clearance information.
Basically, anything classified up tonTS/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information is a “password protected network”; within the limits of Need To Know rationalizations, if you have TS/SCI you can see it.
Code Word clearance is like “permission based” network security. You have to be individually added to the distro list, the presumption being whatever is in there is Nunya until and unless you are read in.
bemused
Iceberg lettuce has no flavor at all but people like to use something blah to dump a shit load of dressing on, imo.
lollipopguild
@Citizen_X: @MomSense: Yes trump and company could be hoping for a terrorist attack that would allow them to declare national martial law. and many in the GOP would support him all the way. If they truly want to destroy democracy in our country there is nothing we can do, right? We need to take back the Senate and the House and keep fighting. We need to channel Churchill from spring 1940-We will never surrender.
Ruckus
@Mike in DC:
Surely you jest. Don’t they have to first achieve some level of humanity?
Cacti
@lollipopguild:
I wouldn’t put a false flag terrorist attack past this bunch.
Ruckus
@Svensker:
It’s because he wants to be hip and doesn’t have a fucking clue?
I live in an area that is trying very hard to be hip and never will be. It’s fun walking down the sidewalk, seeing all the people who want to be hip, will pay way too much for others to think they are, and all the time they haven’t a clue.
NotMax
@lollipopguild
The even more relevant snippet from that speech:
middlelee
@Svensker: Back in the 1950s they were served with bottled French dressing.
Corner Stone
Damn! Who is that hottie?!
Corner Stone
What a fucking disgrace this buffoon is POTUS. FUCK!
Miss Bianca
Is our Republican Senators learning? Behold the response I got from Sen. Cory Gardner when I emailed him about the EO on the travel ban:
Dear Ms. Bianca,
Thank you for contacting me regarding the President’s executive order establishing a travel ban for nationals of certain countries. I appreciate you taking the time to write. It is an honor to serve you in the United States Senate and I hope you will continue to write with your thoughts and ideas on moving our country forward.
On January 27, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order suspending visas and immigration from seven countries for a 90 day period, during which time the Administration will conduct a review of its current immigration vetting process. Additionally, the executive order suspends the entry of refugees to the U.S. for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely.
The United States is a proud country of immigrants, and a bedrock for those abroad who seek protection from persecution. There is no doubt that the United States faces a threat from radical terror, and we must continue to review and strengthen our vetting processes for immigrants and refugees. However, I oppose this overly broad travel ban issued by this Administration. Moving forward, I believe this nation must engage in a productive discussion on how to improve our broken immigration system and bolster our national security. I urge the Administration to take immediate steps to fix this executive order.
Should any legislation regarding the travel ban come before me on the Senate Floor, I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind. Again, thank you for contacting me, and do not hesitate to do so again when an issue is important to you.
Sincerely,
Corner Stone
Prime Minister Trudeau is looking like he would rather be drawing some Doonesbury cartoons about right now.
? Martin
@Major Major Major Major: They were not mainstream here in SoCal, but I’m seeing/hearing a LOT more about them. It’s a bit concerning. And if they’re growing in interest here, I can only imagine what they’re seeing up north.
Corner Stone
Trudeau has a much higher pitched voice than I would have imagined.
NotMax
@middlelee
True that. Blue cheese (never bleu, mind you) dressing was considered weird and exotic. Roquefort? Fuhgeddaboutit.
Making a proper tossed salad is rocket science.
/close British culinary humor
Calouste
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Chao was Deputy Secretary of Transportation under Bush I, and has worked in the department for a number of years previous to that. Of course that’s 25 years ago now.
ETA: I think Mattis is just in it for the grift, see his involvement with Theranos.
patroclus
@Adam L Silverman: Bank of China is only partially owned by PRC state entities – it has conducted some of the largest market capitalizations ever over the past decade and its ownership is now mostly held by private investors. And the shares still held by the state are owned by the People’s Bank of China, which is the central bank, akin to the Federal Reserve System and CIC, the Chinese investment arm. It is probably more accurate to say now that BOC is “controlled” and partially owned by the Chinese central bank and investment entities. This is the case with all the Big 4 Chinese banks – BOC, ICBC, ABC, CCB and the Bank of Communications.
Brachiator
@PaulW:
You might be right about this. If government is the problem, then its destruction is the answer. Doesn’t Trump’s man Bannon believe something like this?
Perhaps. But this wouldn’t this apply to liberals and conservatives who think politics is just a game, and people who would not be affected by its collapse, or believe they would not be affected? Because otherwise, who would give a shit whether you or anyone else were pissed off?
Boatboy_srq
@Svensker: Don’t forget the FlorDUH factor. Produce is hard to keep there, even if it’s easy to grow. Plus half the attendees probably grew up with iceberg and don’t know better.
Iowa Old Lady
IMHO, a disaster that damaged Trump would have to be more like Katrina than 9/11, ie domestic and clearly handled incompetently from the top. People rallied around Bush after 9/11. Katrina left them gobsmacked. Of course, suspicions had been building so that may just have been timing.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Don’t know if anyone has brought this up, but the labels like “Secret” and “Top Secret” have legal definitions in terms of how much damage they do if revealed.
Yeah, the “president” may be the classification authority, but when he, through sheer stupidity, releases info which professionals have judged would cause “serious f-ing damage” if released (pretty sure the F bomb is in the statute), then HE IS DOING SERIOUS F-ING DAMAGE TO THE COUNTRY.
Iowa Old Lady
Also, I see someone finally told Trump that Canada is part of NAFTA.
J R in WV
This guy (The Donald) has his entire ego (and super-ego and id) all bound up in his self-image as super-successful billionaire business executive CEO TV Star. The fact that all his wealth is borrowed money, hundreds of millions of dollars in debt borrowed from Deutsch-Bank, the Russian oligarchs, and the Chinese People’s Army banking empire is now obvious to nearly everyone.
But The Donald cannot admit that he is just a credit fraud, instead of a self-made billionaire.
So these entities who loaned him the money, that funds the jet planes, the mansions, the Trump Towers, they can control him totally, instantly, but telling him they will call a huge loan, and he will be bankrupt. He will do anything for Russia, for China, all they have to do is lift that letter that calls in a loan, and he folds into a sweaty pile of tears.
We are so screwed.
celticdragonchick
@Adam L Silverman: What is the registration/tail number?
NMgal
Y’all see this? I ran across it via the GOS.
Busted on Twitter by a U.S. senator (probably one of his staff, but still). And my senator to boot! Thanks, Martin!
WASF
Jeffro
@Ruckus:
There are still Nixon supporters today – quite a few of them, in fact. He was railroaded, don’t you know?
Librarian
I don’t want to seem nitpicky, but I really hate this morphing of the phrase “head of state” into meaning “government leader”. The prime minister of Japan, and almost every other country with that office, is not a head of state.
Jeffro
@PaulW: @Brachiator:
I think there are only a few who knew Trumpov would be such a colossal fuck-up…most of his base wants him to undo everything Obama and/or stick it to the libs and set their world to whites, er, I mean rights again.
It’s only the folks like Ryan, McConnell, Rubio who were dying to do the bidding of the Randians and reduce the government to a shell of its former self. Hopefully they understand now that the loon we’re calling “President” is beyond incompetent, and that his incompetence can affect their ability to carry out the Randian agenda…if not get us all killed.
gvg
Hey, I like iceberg lettuce. in fact I hate all the good lettuces and most vegetables. I have bland taste and all the others taste bitter. However I do admit I know I am odd and that fancy restaurants, not to mention diplomatic visits should serve something better. Its really odd how pathetic the Trump properties are.
I just can’t get over how amazingly clueless he and his staff are. And has he heard the stories about the IC holding back info?
One of the news stories has one of Trumps claimed friend blaming Priebus for all the problems. I would say that Trump was too big a problem for any chief of staff to handle.
Gin & Tonic
@celticdragonchick: M-KATE.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Jeffro:
Hell, there are more than just a few Hitler supporters still out there…
Adam L Silverman
@celticdragonchick: Here you go:
https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch/status/831076060599025668
Kropadope
@Thru the Looking Glass…: I’d like to see the overlap between these groups, as well as between those two groups and Trump supporters.
Adam L Silverman
@NMgal: Saw that last week.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Kropadope: Like a Venn diagram? I can imagine what it would look like…
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Iowa Old Lady: Yeah, but did they tell him Canada is NOT part of the US?
Kropadope
@Thru the Looking Glass…: A circle slightly blurred around the edges?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Kropadope: Or concentric circles, like you get on a target…
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
Some of the Tea Party types and Neo-Trumpians hate the political system, and loved it that Trump appeared to be taking it to the Republicans as much as to the Democrats. So, they got excited when Trump declared the Iraq War to be a Republican failure. They also saw Trump as their hero for bragging that he was going to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it because they saw him as sticking it to foot dragging Chamber of Commerce Republicans.
So yeah, these yahoos love it that Trump is rolling back Obama’s accomplishments. But they also want bad GOP policy rolled back as well.
I thought that Bannon was also some kind of anarcho libertarian conservative. But it’s hard to tell the right wing buttholes by their ideology without a souvenir program.
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
Another version of this got moderated. Not sure what the offending word was.
Agree that the base wants to roll back Obama. But they also see Trump as sticking it to the mainstream GOP as well. And they are loving it.
ETA: Ah, I think the issue was with some of my ID info.
Jacel
@Corner Stone: Whether Jay Gatsby was really rich has been a matter of debate. Most likely Gatsby’s party lifestyle was to provide a front for Meyer Wolfsheim’s criminal endeavors involving more than just bootlegging, and was bankrolled by Wolfsheim.
I seem to recall Ezra Klein exploring this subject over a decade ago in one of his pre-Vox blogs. But here‘s a good recent treatment of the question.
Sandia Blanca
More brainstorming on the movie to be made of this fiasco: suggest as a possible title, “It’s a Sad, Sad, Sad, Sad World.”
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Sandia Blanca:
???
psychobroad
@Brachiator: I know, imagine Peter Sellers in a movie like that. Makes me smile just thinking of it!
Joyce H
Huh! So the ‘iceberg wedge’ with ‘bleu cheese dressing’ is now Ironically Hip? When I saw that mention in the CNN article, I had an immediate flashback to my childhood in the Midwest. After church on Sunday, we’d go for a midday dinner at the Holiday Inn. The HEIGHT of sophistication, I tellya! Shrimp cocktail!
But… that was in a small town in the middle of soy bean country. In 1965.
Amaranthine RBG
@gene108:
That’s back “in” again, believe it or not.
It was on menu up at Meadowood in St. Helena a couple of weeks ago.
Next up, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, probably.
Amaranthine RBG
HOT TAKE:
They came to Mar A Lago for a Classy Dinner. Little did the guests know that their host would call on them to propose solutions to an international military crisis … Next week on [Insert title here – something other than Apprentice since there are copyright problems with that …]
Joyce H
@Amaranthine RBG:
Half a canned pear, on a leaf of iceberg, topped with cottage cheese. Can’t get more Ironic than that!
Amaranthine RBG
@Joyce H:
My mom made that, but with a canned pineapple ring instead of the pear.
Ahead of her time, I tell ya.
TheronWare
So what are your thoughts on North Korea Mr. President? Uh, could you pass the rolls please?
Mike in DC
@Adam L Silverman:
Adam, do you know anything about Malcolm Nance and John Schindler? They seem to have a bit of a feud going.
Miss Bianca
@Amaranthine RBG: OK, you got me with that one.
scav
Juicy little details on multiple fronts. From the Guard: Missile crisis by candlelight: Trump’s use of Mar-a-Lago raises security questions
and from the Palm Beach Post thing cited
and further down
Slicing and serving iceberg lettuce wedges, way too tricky for local ‘merkans to handle.
AxelFoley
@Cacti: Well, well…
Tehanu
@Corner Stone:
If I remember right, Nick said that Gatsby was the only person in the whole rich (or pretend-rich) crowd who was actually worth anything as a human being.
Bill Arnold
@Adam L Silverman:
Here’s another:
https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/donald-trump-meet-russian-oligarch-today-media-blacked/1491/
Given the continued flow of Trump-Admin-Russia-connection material, I’ve been starting (past few weeks) to worry seriously about an attempt to hold onto power via a full-up false flag “terrorist” operation (maybe on something that compromises the communications infrastructure, like the grid or internet, to disrupt non-official communications), planned and implemented incompetently, and then a subsequent attempt to impose a national emergency.
I hate that Trump deliberately pushes buttons to make so many of us worse people. Coming close to being tempted to hate the man himself.