Donald Trump Is SAD

Yesterday’s post saw me struggling with the concept that Donald Trump said something in a Tweet that I (Gasp! Choke!) agreed with. Well, as the saying goes, even a broken clock is right at least twice a day. So that means that out of the 1,440 minutes that happen in a single day, that leaves 1,438 minutes for Donald to say something stupid. And in that regard, he continues to deliver. 

You'll notice in the title that I call Donald "SAD". Besides being a play on his favorite way to end a negative Tweet about another person, it is also a perfect acronym for 3 of his most prevalent qualities:  

• Stupid
• Arrogant
• Divisive  

 I'm kind of proud of that one.

And nowhere is Donald Trump the most SAD than when it comes Russia.  

Earlier this week, Trump posted this on Twitter about an intelligence briefing he was due to receive about suspected Russian interference in the US election: 

The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!

The quotation marks were part of the original Tweet. Donald does love him some passive-aggressiveness. 

For the record, a U.S. official immediately refuted Trumps statement, insisting the briefing was always scheduled for Friday.  

In another tweet, Trump referenced comments made by Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who claims the source of the emails they leaked was not the Russians. Trump is using Assange's comments to further justify his refutation of US intelligence agencies that Russia was involved in any hacking or undue influence on the election. 

I should note that Assange is holed up in Ecuador's Embassy in London to avoid sex assault charges in Sweden. Maybe it's not relevant to the topic at hand. But Trump is valuing Assange's claims over the investigations of the US government, a government I am loathe to remind you Donald will be taking an oath to assume leadership of.  

I suppose it matters where Assange and Wikileaks falls as it pertains to Trump. In 2010, Trump said WikiLeaks was "disgraceful" and proposed there should be consequences for its activities. "The death penalty or something," Trump suggested. 

In addition to Assange, Donald Trump continues to speak out in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin and takes  Putin at his word about Russian hacking in the US which puts Trump at odds with... well, almost everybody. 

I bet Trump has a poster of a shirtless Putin over his bed. Where did he get this poster? Out of a recent issue of Bear Beat. It's like Tiger Beat for Russia except the fold in poster is always a shirtless Putin.    

House Speaker Paul Ryan said that when Trump is briefed, he will be "better informed." OK, fair point. But until Trump is "better informed", shouldn't he shut the fuck up? 

By the way, Ryan said of Julian Assange: "I think the guy’s a sycophant for Russia. He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security." Now, now, Paul! That's Donald's new best friend you're knocking there. 

South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said it's "disturbing" that Trump would side with Assange over the intelligence community.

However, Vice President-elect My Pants (dammit!) Mike Pence, like the good little pull string doll he is, defended Trump, citing “intelligence failures of recent years” as to why Trump is questioning the information of Russia's hacking. 

I think there is a difference between "questioning" and "complete denial".  Trump has outright refused to accept the assessment of 17 U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the election meddling. Then he furthered muddled things when this weekend he said, “I also know things that other people don’t know” when it comes to the cyber-attacks which he said he would reveal later. So far, he hasn't.  

Meanwhile, parts of the conservative world are twisted in perverse contortions to kiss Julian Assange's ass. 

Fox News’ Sean Hannity once called for Assange to be arrested. Tuesday, he was fawning over him in an interview on Hannity's TV show.  

Sarah Palin, former GOP vice presidential candidate posted this on Facebook: "To Julian Assange: I apologize. This important information that finally opened people's eyes to democrat candidates and operatives would not have been exposed were it not for Julian Assange."

As of today, President Barack Obama will receive a report from intelligence agencies that will put forth evidence of how the Kremlin, either directly or through proxies, interfered in the election using cyber-attacks and other means. 

Trump will receive a briefing on the same report after Obama. Once Trump is "better informed", what then? Will he change his stance on Russian hacking in the US? 

Or maybe during the briefing, Trump will stick his fingers in his ears going "La la la la la la la! I can't hear you!"  

Oh, poor Donald Trump. So SAD.  
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That's it for today's post. Tomorrow's post is a travelogue of sorts of for a town I've never been to but I see its people and streets almost every day. 

Until next time, remember to be good to one another.