Colbert, based on report - State Dept. intel briefers have developed a narcissim workaround to his notoriously short attention span, peppering his name in as many paragraphs as possible, insuring he reads THOSE. Pretty soon, briefings (Russian tanks in Ukraine!) will be written on his mirror.
Not all leaks are alike.
Take the *PRESSURE-GATE*, obstruction admission to Russian Spies in the Oval Office. That isn't the same kind of leak as the controversial blown Israeli intel. He is hypocritical for gleefully LOVING Wikileaks when they hurt his opponent, now the Sissy In Chief is whining about all the unfair meanies.
The leak about passing a state secret so sensitive that we hadn't even shared it with our allies is another type. Dershowitz took the Trump party line - news is fake, leaks are real (that should have been a song on Talking Heads Remain In Light). But he seemed to be ignorant of the fact that by passing it to the Russians, the intel could have found its way to the wrong people anyway, through their ally Iran. So there may have been no damage Trump himself hadn't already done. But among our allies, if Trump's growing rep as a Putin Puppet has a chilling effect on the free flow of intel, that makes ALL Americans less safe, a bipartisan risk, as it were. There was a progression in the wake of the news from Puppet apologists about NatSec intel impact from nothing > something but irrelevant > something relevant but minimal impact. To compound it, McMaster used a strange argument which was consonant with the WH overarching disinfoprop communications strategy, narrative and messaging by way of PR spin. LDB - LIE. DEFLECT. BLAME. His first damage control press conference denied things the NYTimes article hadn't claimed. Like saying, regarding the claim DT said he loves peanut butter, he did not say he hates chocolate, I was in the room, didn't happen, fake news??? WTH??? Philip Mudd was one of the top people in the FBI AND CIA and immediately said - "Stop playing us for fools!" And he tried to parse his words to hide the fact that Trump blurted out enough method (HOW) for the Russians to be able to reverse engineer sources (WHO). THAN McMaster later said Trump didn't even know the source, as if ignorance was a good thing and reassuring. Than the next morning Trump stepped on his own message anyway (recurring theme), saying he could do whatever he wanted. He can also take a dump on the OO desk, but that doesn't mean he should. WHY did he do it? Was it part of a rational and coherent foreign policy, or impulsive and out of control?
The hallmark of Trump and the tone he sets for spox, is not that they lie (all politicians do to some degree), but they spew non-fact based nonsense so easily disproved, like the baseless, ridiculous biggest inaugural crowd ever claim. Than petulantly acting out by forcing Spicer to defend the indefensible (visual evidence clearly refutes Trump's claim for any non-MAGA brainwashed), just because his boss is a narcissistic child. Same with the absurd 4 million illegal voters, because he is empty-headedly parroting some Infowars conspiracy theory. Now, little more than a 100 days into the admin., after burning through their credibility capital like an arsonist with a supercharged flame thrower, they wonder why nobody believes them. SERIOUSLY? Again, not just the lies, but the stupidity of them, and utter, absolute, total contempt for the intelligence of the American populace in expecting the stupidity would be viewed credibly.
A perfect example was the swirling vortex of a half dozen BS pretexts for firing Comey. As pointed out elsewhere (article that Comey was fired for being taller than Trump), the most rational was one of the last, that it was a cause-based termination. IF ONLY THEY HAD THOUGHT OF IT FIRST. Than Trump blurts out the real reason to Holt and Kislayak, which sounds criminally obstruction of justice motivated.
Dont get fooled by the, there's no there there rank Kremlin propaganda. There is a there there. Flynn = demonstrably *THERE*. Ds are called overwrought, but R's sound that way about the Trump/Russian coordination investigation when they say SHUT IT DOWN NOW, there is no proof. That is sort of what an investigation is for. There was just news that the Trump campaign had 18 undisclosed Russian contacts, and that is just what we know about. As Steven Hall noted (ran CIA Russian Operations), this is why investigations are important. It is delusional to willfully ignore a pattern of Kremlin-y weirdoness in the Trump campaign and admin. inner circle. Manafort was on the take for Putin in the Ukraine and probably is getting sent up for Russian Mafia money laundering. Flynn lied about Kislayak and talking about lifting sanctions and was caught ON TRANSCRIPT. Sessions lied (perjured?) about undisclosed visits with Russians, recused/usrecused than was complicit in the COMEY-GATE obstruction. And what business would an AG have with the Russians in the first place? R's have permission to employ critical thinking with their brain. Kushner lied about Russian contacts and never should have received a clearance except for nepotism. Now he is a "person of interest" in one of the ongoing investigations (FBI?), extending the Russian scandal and controversy directly into the WH. Nunes obstructed the House Intel Committee investigation with the idiotic charade where the WH gave him intel to pretend to give to them. Trump fired Comey and admitted it was to stop the investigation, textbook obstruction.
Michael Hayden is a former CIA/NSA Director, far from a lib#### snowflake meltdown, correctly warned against Trump's worst authoritarian impulses dating back to last Summer as a spokesperson for the co-signed TRUMP IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER circulated letter. Fareed Zakaria has called Trump a master of BS, and a recent Boy Who Cried Wolf Administration article had an intriguing and provocative premise that the same signature trait that fueled his rise (see Birtherism - BS) could become the agent of his demise. Few believe him or his spox anymore, and how can they be blamed for the serial pathological pattern of lies of the admin.?
Approaching 100% of Trump's problems are of the self-inflicted/self-destructive kind. Despite all the venom directed at him, Obama tried to help Trump by warning against Flynn and was ignored. Yates warned them and it was ignored for 18 days, and only than because the WaPo story broke. For all we know, Flynn would still be in the WH as an asset so compromised the Russian spies bragged about him, presenting a security risk to 300+ million Americans. That is unconscionable and monstrous whether due to heinous judgement or the Malignant NPD, fragile ego failure to ever admit mistake.
Assange is a Putin Puppet and WL is a Kremlin front and mouthpiece. Anybody who doubts it is challenged to find examples criticizing Putin's Balkan incursions, disruption of US/Euro elections and murdering journalists/dissidents. Does anybody think if he spoke the truth in Russia he wouldn't be vulnerable to a Mocha Poloniumcino or slipping on a banana peel out an open fourth floor window?
We must do whatever Putin wants no matter what is rank Kremlin propaganda. A non-negotiable minimum standard of discussing changes going forward is to stop hybrid warfare "little green men" paramilitary incursions of adjacent countries, stop hacking elections and murdering political opponents. The hold hands and fight ISIS together for freedom is more BS. You can tell because Mattis (maybe the single greatest gift of the admin.) and McMaster have to frequently correct Trump's ignorant or compromised Putin Puppet views. They have used precision guided munitions on hospitals, killing the sick, elderly, women and children, and are one of the biggest causes of the catastrophic Syrian refugee crisis tragedy. That serves their goals in further destabilizing Euro politics, nurturing hateful populist ethnonationalist movements as a political wedge to shatter NATO unity.
Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame on the bombshell news that Deputy AG Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Mueller to investigate Trump Russian coordination to interfere/influence election (paraphrased) - America can rejoice, the tyrant has been restrained, the rule of law has been restored.
