The prospect of a second Trump presidency has the intelligence community on edge

[ozimoron]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

Apparently some buildings not struck by a plane fell down too. Can you explain them?

 

Qanon alert.

[cdemundo]

30 minutes ago, Roo Island said:

Most Trumpers are older, not very educated and very racist. They blame their problems on immigrants and the deep state. Rather than taking responsibility for their own situation. They are drawn like moths to a light for information that supports their feelings.

 

Too much hated from them. Really sad.

Agreed.

I think many of them really should be very pleased with their lot in life.

I guess it is natural to look ahead and upward and have expectations that all will be better year after year.

They are told to be angry and resentful and they buy into it.

But I think the Trumpers are angry over nothing.

 

Personally when I compare my life to that of Keith Richards (millionaire, never had a job but to be a Rolling Stone) I feel a little disappointed.

But realistically I am pretty content with my lot in life, humble though it may be.

 

 

[cdemundo]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Apparently some buildings not struck by a plane fell down too. Can you explain them?

Could we please have a yawn emoji? 

Please?

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/27/2024 at 8:38 PM, Roo Island said:

Most of the leaders of the military are Republicans. Like Mueller.

That accusation got old long ago.

 

Being Republican is nothing to do with supporting Trump. Apparently many GOP hate Trump as much as any Democrat, especially those in the swamp up to their necks.

 

[Walker88]

I tried to keep this thread on topic, and because I have familiarity with the intel community, I offered some thoughts on what their thinking might be. The intel community is quite diverse (in the political sense, not woke sense). While the agency tends toward free spirits with a distaste for authority---and in particular a distaste for the absolute authority of people like putin or what trump wishes he could be---the bureau is much more mixed. Plenty of bureau folks lean liberal, but likely the majority lean right. Agency folks, at least case officers, tend to view life as a great game, albeit with a focus toward doing the needful. Bureau folks are more buttoned down.

 

Precious few in the intel community, however, who truly understand the Constitution and rule of law, aren’t concerned with what trump wants to do, and what he actually tried to do while POTUS. Because there are no LINKS, I can only offer an opinion of what trump tried to do during his tenure: absolutely weaponize both the intel community and DoJ. He was stopped by some good people, but none of those people will be around in a second term, should he somehow win. The current DoJ is bacvk to how it should be: blind in its justice. Yes, trumpers will argue, but their accusations of "weaponization" are just projection. Garland took two years plus just to appoint SC Smith, when trump's alleged crimes re 6 January were patently obvious. Certainly the Jan6 Committee and former Rep Liz Cheney (R) saw the criminality.

 

Trumpers here take great offense when anyone criticizes their cult leader, and will attack anyone who suggests trump is anything less than the Second Coming. A lot of that is directed toward me, because I provided my insight into this topic, about which I know a good deal. Trumpers are welcome to attack at will, but in the end, they have nothing but insults, and maybe some fake news they gleaned from ignorant made-up websites. The combined factual knowledge of what the intel community actually does (post 1978 Church Commission) by posters here, particularly trumpers, is zero. That is my opinion, when I read some allegations directed toward the agency. Others are welcome to their fantasies, if it makes them feel better.

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, cdemundo said:

Could we please have a yawn emoji? 

Please?

Not going to answer the question then- deflecting much?

[Tug]

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If Trump can survive the Billy tapes, he can, IMO, win against a man with 3 years of proven mental problems. Biden was basically the gray man last time, and no one really knew anything about how he would do as POTUS. The reality is not encouraging.

Yea it’s been horrible you know infrastructure drug prices stellar stock market the best performing economy on the planet….need I go on?

2 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

 

Do long posts annoy you? You admit that it's an opinion and then demand a link? Did someone pee in your weeties this morning?

I think maybe someone charted in his coffee lol 😂 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Walker88 said:

Because there are no LINKS, I can only offer an opinion of what trump tried to do during his tenure: absolutely weaponize both the intel community and DoJ.

So you are admitting that it's all just your opinion, thank you.

[Walker88]

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Apparently some buildings not struck by a plane fell down too. Can you explain them?

Oh, jeez...a truther! Are you a believer in chem trails, too? The rogue planet Nibiru?

 

Learn some physics.

 

The truther nonsense has been beaten to death. Apparently you missed it.

[cdemundo]

39 minutes ago, johng said:

You see no problem in calling for assignations ?

Putin and Trump are fair game   how about Biden and "Bibi" ?

Unintended humor, I know you meant assassinations.

 

But I am all for assignations.

 

as·sig·na·tion /ˌasiɡˈnāSH(ə)n/

noun; plural noun: assignations

1. an appointment to meet someone in secret, typically one made by lovers.

"his assignation with an older woman"

[johng]

1 minute ago, cdemundo said:

Unintended humor, I know you meant assassinations.

Yes auto spell checker  I should have followed my own advice 

on who checks the spell check checker.

[Walker88]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So you are admitting that it's all just your opinion, thank you.

Yes.

 

How can I post a LINK to things like:

 

Jared and Bannon coming to Langley 23 January 2017 and asking what the agency capabilities are and how it might be used against domestic critics? Folks in the meeting told me.

 

There is plenty of testimony, however, included in some of the indictments against trump, that he did try to weaponize the DoJ, such as hoping to appoint Clarke (an EPA specialist) as AG to halt the certification of the 2020 election. Then there is the "absolute coincidence" of both Comey and McCabe being audited in 2020 by the IRS.

 

Of course anyone can Google Jared and his visit to the Russian Embassy in DC in December 2016, and the reporting that came out of that.

[Lacessit]

20 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

When someone posts something about their career on this forum I'm always in mind of the western guy I met in BKK who claimed to be the Dali Llama, before asking me for a donation.

If I wanted to I could easily make up a career as a space entrepreneur with companies sending rockets to the moon.

Some of us have authentic and fulfilling careers. Others have jobs they hate. It's not a big leap to understand those people would then become envious, and try to drag down the others to their level.

[Gecko123]

2 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

It reflects poorly on you that you don't recognize the part of walkers post the other poster was referring to and which I responded. See below.............. 

 

"I also would be willing to bet that should trump travel internationally, not a single host nation or their security would bend over backwards to protect trump. Nobody likes him (save perhaps for putin and Kim Jong-un), and nobody respects him. Take him out in London or Berlin or Paris or Tokyo---oh well, stuff happens. All host governments and all liaison intelligence services are of the same view: a world without trump is instantly a better world."

 

It's entirely plausible that Western democratic governments have come to see Trump as an existential threat. Just look at what Trump has done to undermine trust and respect for Western institutions and values, (the judiciary, the scientific community, the press, law enforcement, intelligence services, election integrity, the rule of law, the balance of power between the president, congress and the courts, NATO.

 

Or how much damage he is has done to the US social fabric: (stoking racial tensions, encouragement of right wing militia groups (Proud Boys, Three Percenters, his remarks following Charlottesville), the threatening of political violence and civil war, stoking political polarization, disrespect for science and scientists (covid & climate change), income inequality (created by tax policies which overwhelmingly favored the wealthy), rollbacks in environmental protections, affirmative action programs and reproductive rights (all of which have disproportionally impacted lower income communities), and a general breakdown in political discourse caused by constant lying, and an unwillingness to agree on a set of facts.

 

Or how Trump has repeatedly cozied up to authoritarian leaders (Putin, Kim, bin Salman, Orban).

 

That Western alliance governments and intelligence services have come to view Trump as a threat should come as a surprise to no one. 

[Walker88]

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Deflecting, as usual, when you haven't anything worthwhile to post.

57,300 posts. Still waiting for worthwhile.

 

I have to admit your Truther post was funny, so there's that.

[sirineou]

16 minutes ago, cdemundo said:

You would think but...

He has a solid core of dyed in the wool followers, then those who are voting against Biden, those who are voting against any kind of liberal/leftist agenda, then the culture war voters who think Trump will bring back the 1950s.

 

I thought as you do the first time he ran but he won of course.

So did I , the first time, and as such I could be wrong again, and who knows there could be another Comey type surprise a week before the election. 

So you could be right.

But there are significantly more registered Democrats than republicans. Without looking it up right now I think about 3 million. So I guess as you also seem to imply it might come down to motivation  and voter turnout .   

 

[sirineou]

2 hours ago, Dolf said:

I agree with all of that.

I am sure you would. 

[johng]

13 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Apparently some buildings not struck by a plane fell down too. Can you explain them?

 

3 steel framed buildings collapsed into their own footprint something that had never happened before to 1 building  let alone 3 in the same day..

I remember watching on tv latter that day and thinking  how "lucky" it was they fell straight down like that and not off to one side.

[Dolf]

1 minute ago, sirineou said:

I am sure you would. 

Is it not true?

[Dolf]

5 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

 

It's entirely plausible that Western democratic governments have come to see Trump as an existential threat. Just look at what Trump has done to undermine trust and respect for Western institutions and values, (the judiciary, the scientific community, the press, law enforcement, intelligence services, election integrity, the rule of law, the balance of power between the president, congress and the courts, NATO.

 

Or how much damage he is has done to US social fabric: (stoking racial tensions, encouragement of right wing militia groups (Proud Boys, Three Percenters), the threatening of political violence and civil war, stoking political polarization, disrespect for science and scientists: (COVID & climate change), income inequality (created by tax policies which overwhelmingly favored the wealthy), rollbacks in environmental protections, affirmative action programs and reproductive rights all of which have disproportionally impacted lower income communities, and a breakdown in political discourse caused by constant lying, and an unwillingness to agree on a set of facts.

 

Or how Trump has repeatedly cozied up to authoritarian leaders (Putin, Kim, bin Salman, Orban).

 

Western alliance governments and intelligence services viewing Trump as a threat should come as a surprise to no one. 

The CIA, FBI are crooks. Have been since the start. Do some reading.

[sirineou]

5 minutes ago, Dolf said:

Is it not true?

yes it is

 

[johng]

7 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

Or how Trump has repeatedly cozied up to authoritarian leaders (Putin, Kim, bin Salman, Orban).

Or it could be described as trying to open dialogue.

 

Who was it that said he would make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" state ?

[thaibeachlovers]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Some of us have authentic and fulfilling careers. Others have jobs they hate. It's not a big leap to understand those people would then become envious, and try to drag down the others to their level.

I certainly had an authentic career in nursing, but I tried to use it for information purposes on AN, and not when trying to prove geopolitical strategy without any actual proof other than my opinion. So I might describe the result of a prostate operation, but I wouldn't use it to prove that Trump was a Russian lackey. On the one hand the side effects of a prostate operation are readily available on the internet, but proof that Trump is a Putin glove puppet is somewhat lacking except on biased opinion pages.

 

It's not a case of being envious, but of being a reliable source of information.

[thaibeachlovers]

14 minutes ago, Gecko123 said:

 

It's entirely plausible that Western democratic governments have come to see Trump as an existential threat. Just look at what Trump has done to undermine trust and respect for Western institutions and values, (the judiciary, the scientific community, the press, law enforcement, intelligence services, election integrity, the rule of law, the balance of power between the president, congress and the courts, NATO.

 

Or how much damage he is has done to the US social fabric: (stoking racial tensions, encouragement of right wing militia groups (Proud Boys, Three Percenters, his remarks following Charlottesville), the threatening of political violence and civil war, stoking political polarization, disrespect for science and scientists (covid & climate change), income inequality (created by tax policies which overwhelmingly favored the wealthy), rollbacks in environmental protections, affirmative action programs and reproductive rights (all of which have disproportionally impacted lower income communities), and a general breakdown in political discourse caused by constant lying, and an unwillingness to agree on a set of facts.

 

Or how Trump has repeatedly cozied up to authoritarian leaders (Putin, Kim, bin Salman, Orban).

 

That Western alliance governments and intelligence services have come to view Trump as a threat should come as a surprise to no one. 

There is no doubting which side's propaganda you believe.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 minutes ago, sirineou said:

So did I , the first time, and as such I could be wrong again, and who knows there could be another Comey type surprise a week before the election. 

So you could be right.

But there are significantly more registered Democrats than republicans. Without looking it up right now I think about 3 million. So I guess as you also seem to imply it might come down to motivation  and voter turnout .   

 

Thank the deity that actual voter numbers are meaningless with the Electoral College then!

 

The founding fathers foresaw just such a situation and wrote something in the constitution to prevent it.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

57,300 posts. Still waiting for worthwhile.

 

I have to admit your Truther post was funny, so there's that.

LOL.

54,000 likes says other posters disagree with you.

[Dolf]

22 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Some of us have authentic and fulfilling careers. Others have jobs they hate. It's not a big leap to understand those people would then become envious, and try to drag down the others to their level.

Is criticising Trump a career now?

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Thank the deity that actual voter numbers are meaningless with the Electoral College then!

That is not true. 

A candidate still has to win the number of votes nessacery to secure the electors in each state,

Hence trump's  attempt to introduce fake electors and steal the 2020 election. 

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The founding fathers foresaw just such a situation and wrote something in the constitution to prevent it.

Not sure what situation in my post the founding father foresaw and introduced the electoral college. 

as far as I know the electoral college was introduced so that  states with small populations were not marginalized in the elections and got no attention from the  candidates because of their small population they did not provide a significant gain in the popular  vote . Otherwise smaller states would not have joined the Union. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, sirineou said:

That is not true. 

A candidate still has to win the number of votes nessacery to secure the electors in each state,

Hence trump's  attempt to introduce fake electors and steal the 2020 election. 

Not sure what situation in my post the founding father foresaw and introduced the electoral college. 

as far as I know the electoral college was introduced so that  states with small populations were not marginalized in the elections and got no attention from the  candidates because of their small population they did not provide a significant gain in the popular  vote . Otherwise smaller states would not have joined the Union. 

I understand that, so why did you mention the extra 3 million voters Democrats have?

Were you talking about something else?

[Roo Island]

1 hour ago, earlinclaifornia said:

Perfect perception posting.

https://www.niskanencenter.org/what-explains-the-diploma-divide/

 

Voters with college degrees are increasingly supporting Democrats, with Republicans now doing better among those without college—a big reversal in recent decades.

........

Less educated white voters have increased the importance they place on non-economic issues, polarizing the electorate on these issues.