Thursday, March 16, 2017

The White House is consumed with paranoia.

Courtesy of Politico:  

A culture of paranoia is consuming the Trump administration, with staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies — inside their own government. 

In interviews, nearly a dozen White House aides and federal agency staffers described a litany of suspicions: that rival factions in the administration are trying to embarrass them, that civil servants opposed to President Donald Trump are trying to undermine him, and even that a “deep state” of career military and intelligence officials is out to destroy them.

Aides are going to great lengths to protect themselves. They’re turning off work-issued smartphones and putting them in drawers when they arrive home from work out of fear that they could be used to eavesdrop. They’re staying mum in meetings out of concern that their comments could be leaked to the press by foes. 

Many are using encrypted apps that automatically delete messages once they’ve been read, or are leaving their personal cellphones at home in case their bosses initiate phone checks of the sort that press secretary Sean Spicer deployed last month to try to identify leakers on his team. 

It’s an environment of fear that has hamstrung the routine functioning of the executive branch. Senior advisers are spending much of their time trying to protect turf, key positions have remained vacant due to a reluctance to hire people deemed insufficiently loyal, and Trump’s ambitious agenda has been eclipsed by headlines surrounding his unproven claim that former President Barack Obama tapped his phone lines at Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

I had written before about Spicey's paranoia concerning leaks, which resulted in him conducting spur of the moment "phone checks," but clearly this paranoia has now spread and deepened. 

In other words the Trump White House is grinding to a complete stand still.

Hard to see that as bad news.

45 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:18 PM

    I don't see how Spicer's phone checks were legal or constitutional. Can anyone here explain how he got away with that crap?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:10 PM

      He got away with it because instead of standing firm and saying "no" these people made the decisions to keep their paychecks instead of their constitutional rights in tact. Most of the people working in the WH are not rich, ndo not come from family money, they have mortgages and rent payments to meeet. They live the life of an average American worker where, without a union, cannot go without a paycheck for more than 2 weeks without losing everything they have.

      Delete
    2. Because it was hand over their phones or be fired. Sue? Surely you jest, Shirley. In a Trump court? The Nazis would simply trump up some other fault justifying the termination. It's how slime slides.

      Delete
  2. Is "the House" yellow from everyone peeing their britches?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:27 PM

      How is that Russian RACKET working out? Geneva says... the Birthright Owner is...

      Delete
    2. Anonymous3:46 PM

      Sarah Palin?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous4:56 PM

      Lol 346 if she was we would know about it! She's sounding like she got a piece of silver and got kicked to the curb by Donny Brook. We will see how long she's going to be quiet. Taking bets now.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous7:27 PM

      It didn't take long for her to jump into her preachy thong and scream from her shouty page.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous9:07 AM

      Didn't she resign over something about all That?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous2:26 PM

    Politico needs to step up their game as there are so many spelling errors and repeated parts of paragraphs that there seems to be little or no editing prior to things going to press.

    This has been happening more frequently and I have to wonder if they've laid off staff.

    It doesn't help their credibility when their pieces are always rife with the most basic of errors. I have trouble paying attention to any of their content when I'm basically in "red pen mode".

    I can't think that I'm alone in noticing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:12 PM

      And I can't imagine that anyone would concentrate on spelling errors over the context of this article.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous4:24 PM

      Sorry, 3:12pm. I support 2:26pm. Details and accuracy matters. Period. Stop trying to justify sloppiness.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous4:33 AM

      Yes 3:12, they're right.
      Don't be a part of the further dumbing down of America.

      Delete
  4. Can't wait for mid-term elections when this condition metastasizes to all GOP campaigns.

    Hopefully this will turn into a combination of a "Game of Thrones" level of political bloodbath ignited by a "Goodfellas" level of paranoia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:40 PM

      Me too. I would like to see mitch face, ryan face, and many others not elected.

      Delete
  5. "staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies — inside their own government."
    -----------------------------
    Well, if anyone would know all about enemies within their own government, it would be members of the traitorous trump regime.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Certainly everyone here has heard it, but I can't help repeating it: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you." That has never been so true!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:49 PM

      Ja!

      That would be right up there with:
      "He knows he's not crazy, because the voices tell me."

      Delete
  7. none of this can remotely be construed as good for the country...Anyone who even contemplated for a moment that trump (so-called president)had the capability of governing was being very naive

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous3:53 PM


    The Complete Public Tax Returns of Donald J. Trump: Everything We Know About Our President's Staggering and Sprawling Wealth Paperback – March 15, 2017

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520842058/ref=?tag=natdee-20

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lead by example....what the hell happened to that? I hope the employees currently loyal to Trump see the writing on the wall.

    I do not know what it takes for the GOP fathers to act but they better remember that Trump is the GOP. You own this guy...and all of his paranoia.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous4:15 PM

    Paranoia doesn't mean that they aren't out to getcha. Many are out to dethrone dRUMpf.

    Will he be dumped if he cannot fill key positions? Let's hope so...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4:24 PM

    Racking up the felonies

    Isn't that right Screechy?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:57 PM

      She thinks she hàs the world by the tail right now. Shrug. What's new?

      Delete
  12. Anonymous5:02 PM

    Trump's 2005 tax forms raise new questions
    Rachel Maddow looks at how the revelation of Donald Trump's 2005 1040 tax for raises new questions about Donald Trump's finances, and challenges Trump to release more if he claims 2005 was a typical filing.

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The 2005 tax return is a red herring.

      https://medium.com/@corykuklick/listen-can-we-please-not-do-this-shit-4a6aae538e8f#.cs6w4qlv4

      Delete
  13. Anonymous5:04 PM

    You know what would make Trump's needy, ego-masturbation "You love ME!" tours seem so small? Obama doing just one.

    https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/842192867917365248

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obama's would be a "thank you" tour, full of community organizing, social programs, donations to various charities supporting the social safety net, etc.

      In other words, it wouldn't be about *him*, it would be about the people.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous5:17 PM

    On one hand, the dysfunction means they aren't able to implement a lot of their dangerous agenda.

    On the other hand, if there is a natural disaster or terror attack, we have a completely unprepared and incompetent administration that will be unable to respond appropriately.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous5:19 PM


    4 Million People Watched Rachel Maddow’s Trump Taxes Episode

    It was the most popular show on cable Tuesday.

    ...But for a cable news show, it’s quite good. In fact, according to Adalian, it beat out everything else on cable on Tuesday.

    Maddow is currently enjoying the most successful period of her career. She pulled in the highest ratings of her nine-year stint at MSNBC last month, averaging 2.3 million viewers per episode. Maddow has credited her recent success on the decision to start covering “only what [people in the Trump administration] do rather than what they say.”

    The MSNBC host faced some blowback after the episode for “burying the lede” with her typical 20-minute opening monologue, and then only producing two pages of a 2005 federal tax return when she did reveal the documents, which the Trump administration said were accurate even before the show aired.

    Maddow later told The Associated Press that if anyone was disappointed with the episode, it was because they overhyped it, not her.

    “Because I have information about the president doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a scandal,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s damning information. If other people leapt to that conclusion without me indicating that it was, that hype is external to what we did.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rachel-maddow-trump-taxes_us_58c890b2e4b01c029d7742d3?a6hl7e7ad5wnx9a4i&

    ReplyDelete
  16. WA Skeptic5:21 PM

    @anonymous 5:04--Mr. Obama wouldn't need to do more than go out for coffee and he'd have people filling the streets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:30 AM

      "...filling the streets."
      And applauding! And begging, "Please don't leave us!"

      Delete
  17. Anonymous5:22 PM

    Ewwww...lol!

    Queer performance artist Abel Azcona has taken his critique of Donald Trump to the next level: by tattooing the words of the president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” in a circle around his anus.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/make-america-great-again-anus-tattoo_us_58cac967e4b0ec9d29d9bba0?l;afjdkls;fj&

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:44 PM

      Crazy, je needs to buy a gun, he can now.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous5:23 PM


    House Passes Bill To Help Vets With Mental Illness Buy Guns

    Objections that 20 veterans a day kill themselves, mostly with guns, did not stop the measure.

    ...There are an estimated 174,000 veterans who have been added to the background check system for many different reasons. The VA estimated in 2015 that about 19,000 of those people suffer from schizophrenia, 15,000 have severe post-traumatic stress, 11,000 suffer from dementia, about 5,000 are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and 4,000 are severely depressed.

    The bill, dubbed the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, stops the VA from referring any of those veterans to the background check system. It passed 240 to 175, on a nearly party-line vote.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/house-bill-vets-guns_us_58cab9d5e4b00705db4ce565?fcr&

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:40 PM

      So this is going to help by giving them easier access to killing themselves?

      Delete
    2. More like the Veteran's Genocide Act.

      They are out to thin the herd. They've decided the old, the poor, the mentally fragile and "losers" should be culled. Many of their decisions have that in mind. Death panels on many different levels.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous5:25 PM


    Trump’s ‘Wiretap’ Claims Are A Return To Those Old Birther Instincts

    Only this time, he’s managed to waste the time of important government officials.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-wiretap-claims_us_58caf2bee4b0be71dcf2dff0?22l&

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:43 PM

      Only this time, he’s managed to waste the time of important government officials.
      ===============
      What about wasting our tax money??

      No money for feeding kids in school because they are being compassionate for taxpayers, but little donnie has no qualms about spending if he can further his conspiracies.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:48 PM

      http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/cnn-editor-trump-was-like-a-3rd-grader-trying-to-squirm-out-of-a-lie-in-fox-wiretap-interview/

      Delete
    3. Anonymous4:28 AM

      Exactly, @7:48!
      How much of our tax paying dollars have already gone to investigate this LIE dRumpf told?

      Delete
  20. Anonymous7:36 PM

    Gee orange turd is so unfit to be leader. Just a total idiot! Just impeach the fatty. Just a liar!!!!
    We in govt jobs don't even lie, and this pos orangutang is a liar.
    We need a decent leader!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous7:41 PM

    Screw,you all>
    https://thinkprogress.org/trump-health-care-admission-dd759907622f#.qhayeb89x

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous8:06 PM

    Little donnie is finding out that he can no longer LIE as if he is a private citizen!
    ==================

    Congress' wiretap slap leaves White House fuming

    Trump suffered his second congressional rebuke in two days.

    President Donald Trump suffered the second bipartisan rebuke from Congress over his wiretapping claims in two days — and left it to his embattled spokesman, Sean Spicer, to explain that the president didn’t actually mean what he wrote.......

    ..... As part of its investigation, the House panel has asked the Justice Department to turn over any evidence to support Trump’s claim, including possible warrant applications. The committee has given the department a firm deadline of next Monday, when Comey is scheduled to testify, to provide the documents.

    "If the committee does not receive a response by then, the committee will ask for this information during the March 20 hearing and may resort to a compulsory process if our questions continue to go unanswered," said Jack Langer, a spokesman for the House intelligence panel.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/senate-intelligence-leaders-no-indications-of-trump-tower-surveillance-236138

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous2:27 AM

    I CAN!!!

    This is horrible! While I'm grateful our domestic policy is not being destroyed, is our White House stable enough to respond to threats effectively??

    ReplyDelete

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