Tuesday, April 24, 2018

In preparation for phone calls with foreign leaders State Department staff have to provide Trump with memos dumbed down to the level of Dick and Jane books for early readers.

Courtesy of The New Yorker:  

Before a phone call to a foreign leader, American Presidents are normally supplied with talking points prepared by staffers at the National Security Council, which is housed in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the White House. Because conversations between heads of state can range widely, such materials are usually very detailed. But Trump, as a senior Administration official recently put it, is “not a voracious reader.” 

The National Security Council has a comparatively lean budget—approximately twelve million dollars—and so its staff consists largely of career professionals on loan from the State Department, the Pentagon, and other agencies. When Trump assumed office, N.S.C. staffers initially generated memos for him that resembled those produced for his predecessors: multi-page explications of policy and strategy. But “an edict came down,” a former staffer told me: “ ‘Thin it out.’ ” The staff dutifully trimmed the memos to a single page. “But then word comes back: ‘This is still too much.’ ” A senior Trump aide explained to the staffers that the President is “a visual person,” and asked them to express points “pictorially.” 

“By the time I left, we had these cards,” the former staffer said. They are long and narrow, made of heavy stock, and emblazoned with the words “the white house” at the top. Trump receives a thick briefing book every night, but nobody harbors the illusion that he reads it. Current and former officials told me that filling out a card is the best way to raise an issue with him in writing. Everything that needs to be conveyed to the President must be boiled down, the former staffer said, to “two or three points, with the syntactical complexity of ‘See Jane run.’ ”

This. Guy. Is. Leading. Your. Country. 

It is not enough that Trump is an unqualified arrogant racist asshole, who is not so secretly working for the Kremlin.

He is also incredibly stupid on a level that makes George W. Bush look like a Mensa member in good standing.

Every word he speaks reveals his ignorance, while his tweets reveal his immaturity and pettiness.

To call Donald Trump the Toddler-in-Chief is now considered an insult to toddlers.

I know we are supposed to treat Trump voters like they are not the dumbest people on the planet, but that becomes near impossible with every revelation about the guy they chose over perhaps the most qualified person to ever make a run for the White House.

They had the same information that we had, and yet they could not see the obvious.

Perhaps if we had written it down for them on memo cards with the syntactical complexity of "See Jane run" it might have helped them to understand the obvious.

Or not, because let's face it some people are dumb to the bone.

39 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Why would he read, or have any curiosity to do so, when he believes he exists inherently?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:52 AM

    I feel as if we are living in the Twilight Zone. Isn't is strange and surreal to have an individual like Trump represent the American people on the world stage? The U.S. used to command respect but now it is considered to be some kind of horrible place where an insane joker can be elected President.

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    1. Anonymous8:18 AM

      For Spring Break, we traveled to Canada. It was disturbing how many Canadians gingerly approached us to ask what is going on in America. At the same time, it was heartening to be able to let them know that the majority of Americans do not support the idiot in the WH.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:13 AM

      Yes it feels like we are held hostage by a con artist asshole. He is a disgrace and embarrassment. I love when a foreign leader is here and reporters ask trump sensitive questions that bother him deeply, his face looks like ass with large butthole and bright red. And the foreign leader does not know what to say or do but smile and laugh at him.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:43 PM

      Trump is a laughing-stock among our allies. The smart ones will figures out ways to flatter him and get what they want and work with "underlings" on important matters -- if they can still find intelligent, ethical ones. I fear most of them have either resigned or been fired. For the world, it is now a waiting game -- no treaties will be signed with confidence they will be upheld until this Bozo is gone.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous1:01 PM

      Another thing occurring is in regard to our allies. Australia is now working more w/China than the USA.

      That is ONLY the beginning if we don't get rid of Trump post haste - i.e. impeachment (treason/traitor would be the proven reasons).

      Delete
  3. Anonymous7:06 AM

    Our first instincts are to call out the ignorance of the above. However, remember what Comey wrote: He said that Trump is smart in a very intuitive way. That means that he operates differently than most. If we only think of him as that ignorant or stupid, do we miss what is going on? There are better ways to handle this.

    Yes, maybe like you work with a child, but handle it better anyway. PS I am not a Trump fan. There is something insidious about this man.

    10 cats

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That was the same defense used for Sarah Palin, over and over again.

      "She's not stupid" people said, "she's actually manipulating the media and her critics."

      Did that turn out to be true?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:29 AM

      This doesnt make any sense.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:50 AM

      How about the Ted Baxter of presidents? Works for me!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous8:00 AM

      Plus, I don't think Comey can really judge character. Look how he chose a lady with excellent taste in pantsuits over a madman. Even when she told us that if Donald won, it would be the end of the world as we know it. She was right.
      Donald is obviously an ignoramus.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous8:17 AM

      I wouldn’t call Trump intelligent intellectually, but he is definitely a good liar. That means he at least has some emotional intelligence and can easily manipulate people.

      Or.., he’s just so bold and blatant that most of us just can’t believe what we’re seeing. I don’t believe for one second that he won the election fairly.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous9:14 AM

      Sarah Palin is another form of con artist, not smart at all, just a con.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous11:37 AM

      $P CONan:
      https://crooksandliars.com/2018/04/nicolle-wallace-conan-sarah-palin-was

      Delete
    8. Anonymous12:57 PM

      So, so true about the Palin clan, 9:14 AM. Just ask any Alaskan! Sarah, Todd and Bristol are con artists to the max!

      Delete
  4. Anonymous7:54 AM

    On Rachel Maddow I saw that the John Bolton was part of an organization called Gateheads whose premise is that the white people are a dying breed and that's why they are so anti-Islamic.
    I am an Native American, and to me the white people have always been on top and there's always been plenty of them.
    But I did notice that their religion is designed to make us feel like we have to bow down to them in the name of God.
    Also, Donald is trying to do away with our free healthcare. Another treaty to be broken. But I must speak to my fellow Natives and say it's time we take back our former religions, and healthcare system that we once had before we were told they were things of the devil. Here they just wanted to get us use to their system and then use it against us. Hmmmm.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Anonymous10:42 AM

      Yes you are right. It is time to remove their religion from the currency, buildings, constitution, bill of rights etc. It is confusing when one screams separation of church and state. The argument of this country being founded by the Christian religion only is false, there were several religions and the native American religion without the UK influence is real and true even today.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:55 PM

      If you watch and listen to the Republicans in Congress and in the White House, most of them do NOT practice their faiths and Christianity. Most of them are pure evil w/black souls and Hell and Satan await them....should they really believe the teachings of their particular faiths.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous2:38 PM

      Legally, Native Americans are birthright owners of the USA.
      You have to file for it now.
      I think a crew of Blue Bloods is needed in the White house.
      Just as its needed elsewhere.
      Often, the white, old, rich peoples think they know whats best. Turns out, they don't.
      The damages they have caused.
      Paybacks a bitch greedy folks

      Delete
    4. They're trying to do away with EVERYONE'S healthcare. You're just first because you're low hanging fruit. This administration is not only stupid and cruel but also lazy. They always start with the easy stuff and in secret so no one notices until it's pretty blatant and all but complete.

      https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-health-insurance-cheaper-awful_us_5ada23eee4b04090e551e366

      "The American health care system is an expensive, sprawling mess. The Republican Party’s brightest idea for how to fix it? Make health insurance worse.

      Here’s what the GOP has in mind: Weakened protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Skimpier benefits that leave out coverage for important medical needs. Less protection from financial harm due to illness. And a number of actions designed to make the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges less stable for the millions of Americans who use them.

      GOP officials at the federal and state levels have proposed and undertaken a variety of new policies they say will make health insurance more affordable. During the seven-plus years between President Barack Obama’s signing of the health care reform law in 2010 and the collapse of the repeal attempt last year, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans also promised over and over that they would repeal and replace the federal law with something better.

      They didn’t. It turns out that’s not because they didn’t have any ideas. It’s because their best idea is … crappier health insurance."

      Delete
    5. Anonymous4:34 PM

      That is the part I do not understand, 7:54. I go often to PowWows, and each time there is a big Xtian religious thingamajig going on. The Xtians are the ones who scr*wed the First People, and yet, here they worship them. :(

      Delete
    6. Anonymous4:59 PM

      Christianity, and other evil religions, have killed thousand of indigenous cultures worldwide, don't feel like yours is the first, or the last. Hell, they kill each other too even though they proclaim to believe in the same sky fairy.

      Religions/Cults are terrible things meant only to give men power through imaginary tales and "gods". It's a sick world but as soon as we abolish all religion the world might have a chance to heal.

      Fight the evil, don't believe in any of it and ask others to think for themselves. We will win this war one day.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous4:04 AM

      Ancient peoples invented gods because there was no science yet to explain the natural world. Then as people advanced, leaders recognized that perpetraing religion is a great way to control the masses. Then it became cultural. I'm continually surrised at how many smart people believe in a sky fairy. Hell - I was one of them well into adulthood. Indoctrination is hard to break free and my waking up happened only by chance. I kid you not - I saw something on Craigslist about a video, I watched it while the kids were napping and my entire worldview changed. One investigation led to another for me and now I see that religion is a scam.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous9:05 AM

    Journalist and reporters need to get very aggressive and corner these idiots and fire questions at them like in rapid order. Notice how trump gets angry and ruffled when reporters ask questions. Rattle his cage, hit him hard, he cant take it. Flip him out. And do the same with all his swamp people.

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  6. Anonymous9:08 AM

    Trump is not intelligent he is a above average con artist. But he has reached the end of his game. The world is on him like flies on shit. He will never live through what is coming his way for the rest of his miserable lying life. He is finished, over and out.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Anonymous9:28 AM

      or we as Americans are just dumber than Trump.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:31 AM

      I really hope you’re right.

      Delete
    3. He has reached the highest level of his incompetence. He can't hide it any more. Unfortunately those close enough to him to recognize it are either enablers working to hide it or low level employees who can't say anything.

      Of course, they can quit. Which they are doing in record numbers.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous10:10 AM

    Pictorial explaination? I bet he reads at a first grade level,his vocabulary is preschool level.

    And who translates the "big people"words the foreigners are using so that little donnie understands what is being said

    Oh right,no need because he knows everything.

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    1. Anonymous4:39 PM

      His first 30,000 words as 'president' were at 4.6 grade lee, the lowest amongst the last ten Presidents. In the meantime, though, I believe his vocabulary has gone down to somewhere amongst third grade level. He is SICK, and the GOP refuses to do anything, because he is still a useful idiot. Remember, they wanted for YEARS to have the tax 'reform' they just pushed through last December (and are now asking the Dems to help them fix, because they realized they f_cked up).

      Delete
  8. Anonymous10:31 AM

    You can bet old dotard has used the KGB tactic of offering prostitutes and entertainment to the republican party members and filmed it to bribe, extort and threaten them into submission and disclosures. Dotard Donnie knows how do it and its been done to him by the Russians. He is such a nasty dirty liar dragging everyone down to his nasty dirty swamp.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:18 PM

    Hahahahahahahahahaha!! Dumb down for the idiot in chief!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous12:50 PM

    Some of the photos (as the one above!) of Trump that will remain throughout history will match his mental state and idiocy. He looks goofy, which is the exact way he portrays himself.

    Hardly a statesman!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous1:44 PM

    Big people $hiT:
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43885027

    '"It won't be so easy for them to restart," Mr Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday when a journalist asked him about the possibility of Iran relaunching its nuclear programme if the deal is scrapped.
    "They're not going to be restarting anything. They restart it they're going to have big problems, bigger than they've ever had before."'
    "On Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened "severe consequences" if the US withdrew from the deal.
    Mr Trump said on Tuesday: "If Iran threatens us in any way, they will pay a price like few countries have ever paid.""
    GLOWing $AnD?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Randall2:58 PM

    Oh come on...
    we all know that there is a large contingent of stupid, racist people in this country. We all went to school with some of them. You remember: think back to damn near any classroom you shared with more than 10 kids...
    some of them were stupid, admit it.
    Some of them were mean, admit it - you know it's true.
    And some of them were stupid, racist assholes that you were a little scared of - and you know it.

    And if you can't remember looking around and seeing those stupid, racist jerks that you know damn well you were smarter than, then
    ...maybe it was YOU.

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  13. Anonymous4:25 PM

    I said it many times, I'll say it again:

    USE FLANNELBOARDS!

    HE'S TOTALLY ILLITERATE!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:54 PM

    America obviously has the President she deserves. Exceptionalism my ass, America is TRUMP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:35 PM

      You are so wrong.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous3:57 AM

    Yes, don't insult toddlers. Drumpf has nothing over a smart toddler. My son was advanced in language and spoke in three word sentences really early. He also liked picture books.
    Every day this gets more and more dangerous.
    "E Pluribus Unum" needs to be replaced with
    "Whatum the Fuckus" as our national motto.

    ReplyDelete

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