Trump’s bunker blindness and what might be the bar for impeachment in the Senate
The Washington Post is out with a look at how Trump and his staff and allies are weathering Mueller’s storm clouds:
Rather than building a war room to manage the intersecting crises as past administrations have done, the Trump White House is understaffed, stuck in a bunker mentality and largely resigned to a plan to wing it. Political and communications operatives are mostly taking their cues from the president and letting him drive the message with his spontaneous broadsides.
“A war room? You serious?” one former White House official said when asked about internal preparations. “They’ve never had one, will never have one. They don’t know how to do one.” …
The president has been telling friends that he believes the special counsel is flailing and has found nothing meaningful. “It’s all games and trying to connect dots that don’t really make sense,” one friend said in describing Trump’s view of Mueller’s progress. “Trump is angry, but he’s not really worried.”
The report also outlines what it might take to convince GOP senators to get behind impeachment:
For now, Republicans on Capitol Hill are still inclined to stand by Trump and give the president the benefit of the doubt. But one pro-Trump senator said privately that a breaking point would be if Mueller documents conspiracy with Russians.
“Then they’ve lost me,” said the senator, noting that several Republican lawmakers have been willing to publicly break with Trump when they believe it is in their interests — as many did over Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s role in the brutal killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. …
Another possible breaking point could come if Trump pardons his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who has elicited the president’s sympathy as he sits in solitary confinement in a Virginia prison following the collapse of his plea agreement with Mueller’s team, White House aides and Republican lawmakers said. Trump advisers said they understand that a pardon of Manafort could be difficult to defend and could prompt rebukes from Republican allies.
oIovoIo on December 9th, 2018 at 20:40 UTC »
Tangentially related: if you have company-issued devices (potentially even security applications that allow you to access the company network) you really should assume your company has the ability to monitor your communications and activity - (potentially even monitor your geolocation).
If that is news to you, I would recommend reading up on it and paying more attention to the types of things that get slipped into your employment agreements when those get updated.
SUND3VlL on December 9th, 2018 at 18:23 UTC »
I think a burner phone that is completely disconnected from someone’s real life is a good business model. It won’t be long until people have two online identities.
boogup on December 9th, 2018 at 17:47 UTC »
Oh, you feel like you're constantly being watched? How interesting... Edit: Thanks so much for the gold!