Comments on: Report: Trump Adviser Repeatedly Interrupted Intelligence Briefing

By: Aynwrong

Aynwrong — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 19:44:00 +0000

In reply to ninjaf. Agreed. If Trump had been treated that way (and he probably should have been) the media would be bending over backwards with apologies.

By: ninjaf

ninjaf — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 16:54:00 +0000

In reply to Aynwrong.

Lauer definitely was the wrong choice but I am guessing he is someone who Trump would agree to be interviewed by. Don’t forget…they were both once NBC employees.

My biggest problem was that Lauer kept interrupting Clinton. Let. Her. Speak. Dammit! Do you know why she looks impatient and stern? Because she is constantly getting interrupt when she tries to answer a damn question. I would be annoyed, too.

By: muselet

muselet — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 15:52:00 +0000

In reply to Aynwrong.

Wrong choice, absolutely. I’m not sure what a better—for which, read “actual”—journalist could have done in the face of Trump’s firehose of lies, but yeah, Matt Lauer was out of his depth.

And you’re right to compare reaming Lauer to kicking a puppy. I don’t understand the feeling, either, but it’s real.

–alopecia

By: Aynwrong

Aynwrong — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 07:59:00 +0000

In reply to muselet. Ehh...maybe. He was still the very wrong choice for this and that was obvious beforehand. I can't explain why, but ripping Lauer feels like kicking an adorable puppy.

By: muselet

muselet — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 07:08:00 +0000

In reply to Aynwrong. Josh Marshall is willing to cut Matt Lauer some slack on his performance at the forum. –alopecia

By: muselet

muselet — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 07:02:00 +0000

In reply to muselet. ADDING … –alopecia

By: Aynwrong

Aynwrong — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:56:00 +0000

Trump was asked if he learned anything during the intelligence briefing to which he said he learned that President Obama did not follow the advice of the “experts.”

The part that struck as the most ridiculous was Trump claiming he derived this from reading people's body language. That's ridiculous even for Trump. I swear by the time this election is over Trump is going to claim to reading palms, tea leaves, entrails and the friggen Necronomicon! Lauer's failure to challenge this or at the very least laugh right in Trump's face should be a fireable offense. So should the decision to hand this job to Lauer in the first place. Matt Lauer is not guy you hand a presidential town hall to. He's the guy who interviews random members of the freaken Kardashian family.

By: muselet

muselet — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:45:00 +0000

Mike Flynn is pretty clearly cuckoo-bananas, but there’s a real problem when Chris Christie—Chris Christie, I ask you!—is the voice of reason.

I wouldn’t have watched the Commander in Chief Forum even if I had cable, in large part because the candidates aren’t running for Commander in Chief of the armed forces, they’re running for President of the United States, and there’s a huge difference between those two titles.

Donald Trump claims he could tell by “body language” that his briefers weren’t happy with the Obama administration because it didn’t follow their recommendations, which is kind of weird since briefers are trained to control their body language to prevent them from influencing policy-makers’ decisions.

Trump lies a lot, but he doesn’t lie well.

–alopecia

By: IrishGrrrl

IrishGrrrl — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 22:01:00 +0000

It’s crazy that Trump would be allowed to bring someone like Flynn into that briefing. The Intelligence Community should have the authority to say “No” to a candidate’s adviser if they represent a risk and Flynn is a breach waiting to happen.

By: Badgerite

Badgerite — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 21:49:00 +0000

The Trump Monster, as always, and as the propaganda arms of the GOP (cough, Fixed ‘news’, cough) , are continually trying to pretend that American domestic and foreign policy is a total hellscape.
I don’t suppose people who listen to them are even aware that casualty rates for the military are now way down. It isn’t that the military isn’t operating in those countries that the Bush administration took us into, it is that they are operating as an ally rather than as the primary ground force. The ground forces are the people who actually live there. Progress is slower that way. But it will be more lasting. It will be achieved by the people who live there and not imposed by an outside force. Obama is following the correct military policy in these regions.
Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld could never seem to fathom that there are more subtle and far more effective ways of achieving US policy goals other than bombing the crap out of somewhere. The Trump Monster is even worse. He just does not have a clue.