Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Monday, January 23, 2017

Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek...


explains the egregious folly of Trump's disgraceful speech in front of the Memorial Wall of Honor at the CIA on Saturday and why his behavior was so disrespectful and, as the former director of the CIA said, shameful. It is unimaginable to me and anyone who understands what the Wall means that Trump could have desecrated it the way he did.

But Trump's never about anything unless it's about himself and his glory.

Here's Eichenwald talking about the disgrace that is the fool in the White House:


"I am going to try to explain why there is so much outrage in the intelligence agencies about what Trump did on Saturday in his CIA speech. 

Imagine having a campaign rally at the National Cemetery. Or a cocktail fundraiser amid the grave markers of US soldiers in Normandy. This "event'' Trump held, purportedly to greet CIA employees, was in the Memorial Wall room, where 117 CIA employees who died in service to our country are honored. Many more have died, and it takes special approval to receive a star on the wall or be listed in the book, called the Book of Honor. Many of the names of the fallen will never be known, because their identities have to be kept secret even in death. Rarely is that room used for anything, but when it is, solemn nature of it is recognized. GW Bush was, I believe the first president to hold an event there in 2001, but it was exceedingly respectful and in keeping with the meaning of the room. 

The second major event was an appearance by Obama after the killing of Bin Laden, when he went to the CIA to thank the ppl there for their often anonymous sacrifices that led to that success in the fight against terrorism. Again, solemn and fitting with the meaning of the room. Both Bush and Obama paid deep homage to those honored in the book and by the stars. CIA employees listened respectfully, but did not turn the events into rallies. 

Then, Trump. 

He has the audacity to bring people from his team to cheer for him and sit in the front rows. I can't imagine CIA employees cheering and whooping it up at Memorial Wall. It would be like screaming "BOO-yah!" at a funeral . Trump made a single, over-the-shoulder mention of the stars. But he spent most of his time griping about the media, bragging about the number of times he had been on the cover of Time Magazine, and complaining that everyone was lying about numbers at his inauguration and all the while, his professional cheerleaders who couldn't find their way to the CIA bathroom are sitting there, cheering for the many who apparently needs applause everywhere he goes. 

It was an abomination, perhaps the most disrespectful thing I have ever seen done by any president in that kind of place. 

I felt sure we would hear from former director Brennan pretty fast. Why? Because one of those stars on the wall belongs to a close friend of his who died in service of this country. And he knows who all the others are as well. For him, I'm sure, it was like watching someone having a picnic on the graves in the National Cemetery. And then the same Trump staff that was too lazy or stupid to do the advance work on the CIA trip, so that they knew the meaning of the wall, go on TV to attack Brennan as a partisan hack for wanting a room of such enormous meaning to be treated with the solemnity it deserves. 

And that is an important element here. I actually don't blame Trump for this horror show on Saturday. Few people outside of government know the meaning of the wall. That was his staff's job, and they clearly had no idea what they were sending Trump to do. No sane person would agree to send a cheering squad. They are incompetent. Worse, they are arrogant, and respond to others pointing out their undeniable errors by attacking and whining. 

No, anger at the dishonoring of patriots who died is not partisan. You don't want criticism? Do your jobs better and when you screw up, like you did by turninga  most solemn place in intel world as a rah-rah location, just admit it, apologize, and move on."

8 comments:

Infidel753 said...

Trump wouldn't know solemnity if it walked up and did a great big golden shower all over him. This is the kind of guy who would hold some vulgar event at the National Cemetery and then wonder why everybody was making a fuss. The Devil knows what kind of staff he's got. The people who let Kellyanne Conway out in that outfit are capable of anything.

As Trump's vulgarities and desecrations multiply endlessly, we'll at least have the entertainment value of watching the right-wingnuts (including those who comment here) gamely try to defend, make excuses, and/or change the subject, until one by one they just can't take it any more, and lapse into embarrassed silence or belatedly turn against this disgusting and ludicrous man.

Shaw Kenawe said...

From Talking Points Memo:

Former CIA director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Monday that he was "concerned" about President Donald Trump's Saturday remarks at the CIA and suggested that Trump should spend less time "embellishing himself."

"I was concerned about the remarks that he made at the CIA in front of that wall," Panetta said in an interview on CNN's “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

He described the CIA Memorial Wall that Trump spoke in front of, which commemorates employees killed in the line of duty, as "hallowed ground" and compared it to Arlington Cemetery.

"I think to go off and start talking about the press, talking about how many people were at the inauguration, I just think that frankly that was not appropriate," Panetta said. "I just think that the President needs to understand that he is president of the United States now. He's not just a candidate. He doesn't have to spend time embellishing himself or what he did."

In his Saturday remarks at the agency, which were intended to thank the intelligence community, Trump talked about himself, his inauguration crowd, the dishonest media and how great his party was.

On Saturday night, former CIA Director John Brennan's spokesman wrote that he was "deeply saddened and angered at Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandizement."

Top Trump staffers were quick to fire back on Sunday, suggesting that Brennan was "bitter" and saying he "sounded like a partisan political hack."

Panetta said Monday that he would express "some of the same concerns" as Brennan.

"I just got the impression when he was speaking there that somehow he forgot that he was president of the United States," Panetta said. "That was not the appropriate place to start whining about what was happening in terms of numbers at the inauguration and what have you."


Shaw Kenawe said...

Infidel753, the wingnuts who voted for Trump, like him, have no sense of embarrassment or shame. They're as vulgar as he is.

Anonymous said...

Infidel, you wrote,of of our new OberFuhrer,

"This disgusting and ludicrous man."

That is no-lie genius. I am stealing it.

Putting it on t-shirts..man. Now I gotta draw
a wide horse's behind with a funny-looking
orange toupee on top, with loud, gaseous
emissions coming out from under it......lol

Les Carpenter said...

Shaw, I know some very decent people who voted for Trump. They are far from vulgar. They did did not like Trump, but, for whatever reason they simply liked the alternative less.

It is hard for me to understand how decent people I know, who also were critical of Trump on several counts, could overlook so much. But that does not mean they are vulgar. Ill informed or misguided, but not vulgar.

The fringe, maybe the 37%, you could be right.

Shaw Kenawe said...



RN, "The fringe, maybe the 37%, you could be right."

Yes. Agreed.

But I don't understand people who saw what Trump was and still voted for him. His behavior in front of the Memorial Wall at the CIA was vulgar. As Eichenwald said, it would be like someone joking around and having a party at Arlington National Cemetary.

Les Carpenter said...

This has been puzzling for me as well. I have thought about it since the person with the opportunity to win big, HRC, lost the EC and the election.

I've concluded that the lion share of responsibility rests with the DNC and HRC. Too much was taken for granted. The lack of focus and effort in the heartland and the three key states she lost by 77K votes are why Trump is president today.

As my son said, had Bernie received the nomination he would be president and not Trump. There is a lesson for the DNC.

Will the DNC review its failure in both scenarios above and learn from them? My guess is no. It remains to be seen.

Anonymous said...

"Short fingered vulgarian" is still one of the best descriptions of Trump I've seen