We want to note that even though it is semi-believable that Trump couldn’t focus his attention sufficiently to absorb that Russia was paying the Taliban to kill American troops, Trump has definitely since learned that such a program existed (exists?).
Yet Trump hasn’t come out and warned the Russians or decried the program! It’s been four days. Trump has found the time and energy to scream at and threaten people defacing the lifeless statues of dead people. Trump bemoaned the fate of poor racist John Wayne. We just note for the record that Trump still hasn’t said a word to Russia about stopping it or talking about sanctions on Russia.
Records indicate that the intelligence community alerted Trump to the bounty program in Trump’s PDB (the daily intelligence briefing) on February 27th of this year. Given that we now know the precise day Trump was told, some people believed it was worthwhile to look at what else might have been competing for Trump’s attention that day. Perhaps the stock market dropped 1000 points, or the Lindberg baby was kidnapped. We don’t know, so it is worth checking.
Helpfully, there is an entire tweet thread that takes us through the day:
First, we have the day itself, and the language that should have set alarm bells off in Trump’s reptilian brain:
The President’s Daily Brief for February 27 included a report that Russia paid bounties for killing of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Trump says he didn’t read it. What was he paying attention to instead on that day? https://t.co/kZhpNu2G2Z [1] pic.twitter.com/c9zUUAiqGY [2]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [3]
Only with Trump would “I didn’t read it” sound like a perfectly acceptable excuse. To the families of the fallen soldiers, this is spitting in their face. It is also akin to us waking up the morning after a nuclear war and hearing Trump say that he hadn’t heard the warnings that it might be coming the day before.
Onward to what he was hearing and doing that day:
Feb 27 1:02am – railing against James Comey preventing Russian election meddlinghttps://t.co/YnEaVevN0u [4]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [5]
Yes, of course, that fcking James Comey looking into that Russia Russia Russia HOAX!! If only more people had listened to James Comey, GOP.
Feb 27 8:43pm – watching Fox Newshttps://t.co/j5Xv2F1wzY [6]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [7]
The source for reliable and important global intelligence – Fox News, and that appears to be Hannity’s hour, though we can’t be sure because we don’t watch Fox News.
Feb 27 9:39pm – congratulating himself and China for “very small numbers” of covid-19https://t.co/j5Xv2F1wzY [6]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [8]
Now that was an important issue on which to focus. We can be thankful that he took time out of his busy TV watching to praise himself and China for defeating COVID before it ever really became a thing here.
(Are we sensing a pattern? That Trump simply doesn’t pay attention to the major things and has no impact on US policy other than the horrific? That Trump can’t be bothered to lift a finger on issues that impact other Americans?)
Feb 27 10:16pm – dissing Mike Bloomberghttps://t.co/1P1Iczg8eo [9]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [10]
Always the jealous one, Trump had to go after Mike Bloomberg, the man who is much wealthier than Trump.
Feb 27 10:41pm – still watching Fox Newshttps://t.co/1r3MQ9zCSj [11]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [12]
Worried about his own ratings, not once does it occur to him that if the country did well his ratings would be better.
Feb 27 11:37pm – reminiscing about meeting with Diamond & Silkhttps://t.co/r1lCN5b9QY [13]
— Gabriel Snyder (@gabrielsnyder) June 30, 2020 [14]
Who says Trump is a racist? He loves his “urbans,” he was thinking fondly about the time that two black Americans praised him and lauded him as the chosen one.
Trump was literally meeting with Diamond and Silk! He ignored vital intelligence to pal around with these two clowns.
Also on Feb. 27, Trump found time to meet with YouTube sensations Diamond & Silk https://t.co/6DgCY3iohD [15]
— Blake News (@blakehounshell) June 30, 2020 [16]
This was the day that Trump learned that his “friend” Vladimir Putin had a program to hire Taliban fighters (or pay them, at least) to kill American troops, all to make it harder for the US to leave Afghanistan. Trump’s best excuse? He didn’t hear them. Wasn’t paying attention. That’s his best answer. And he still hasn’t condemned the Russians.
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom