“Very, very few people could do the job you people do and I want you to know I am so behind you,” Trump said, to cheers and loud applause from about 400 officers who packed the building’s atrium to hear him speak.Īhead of his inauguration, Trump had harshly criticized intelligence officials after they concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed hackers to breach Democratic emails to try to boost Trump’s presidential election campaign. Next, he can sit down with the FBI who have sought warrants to monitor his team for the same reason.Trump made no mention of Russia during his remarks, which included praise for his nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo, a pledge to fight Islamic State and a rant against the media, which he said invented his feud with intelligence agencies. Second postscript: The DNC's statement on Trump's speech was notable: "After he finished ranting about crowd sizes on the National Mall, I hope President Trump sat down for an interview with the CIA to help with their investigation into his team's possible collusion with the Kremlin to win the election. ![]() WIN!" What matters in the president's mind, of course, is whether he received applause at a well-attended appearance. Postscript: In a tweet yesterday, Trump added, "Had a great meeting at CIA Headquarters yesterday, packed house, paid great respect to Wall, long standing ovations, amazing people. ![]() It sounded a bit like Nixon on the Oval Office audio recordings that were eventually released to the public, but at least in his case, Nixon had the sense to make ridiculous comments in private, not in front of cameras and a CIA audience. But, okay, maybe we'll have another chance."Really? Putting aside the fact that pillaging is a war crime, when exactly might we have "another chance" to steal another country's oil supplies?Taken together, on the first full day of the Trump era, the new president stood in front of a memorial to fallen officials, whined bitterly about journalists, lied about his inauguration, bragged about his suspect intellect, and hinted at a possible future invasion.I don't think there's ever been a presidential speech quite like this one. "The old expression, to the victor belong the spoils. ![]() He even credited God for preventing rain at his inauguration, despite the fact that it rained at his inauguration.And then the new president suggested Americans might need to prepare themselves for another war in the Middle East."If we kept the oil, we wouldn't have had ISIS in the first place," Trump argued. Trump pretended he hadn't feuded with the intelligence community for months. ![]() I'm, like, a smart person."In a relatively brief appearance, he whined incessantly about journalists who told the truth about his inaugural crowd size. "They say, 'Is Donald Trump an intellectual?'" the president asked, quoting no one in particular. Watching the speech was surreal, as if the lines between the actual president of the United States and a satirical caricature were effectively blurred out of existence.In remarks that were supposed to be about the CIA and the intelligence community, Trump found it difficult to stop talking about himself.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |