Russians Play Trump

Yesterday's headline was Trump revealing to the Russians classified information received from an ally. There seems no doubt that he should not have done this but he has a right to declassify any information. So yesterday and today the battle rages in the media and Trump's National security adviser is protecting him and also mischaracterizing the Washington Post article. What the outcome of this is going to be is no harm no foul.

But, this argument about a specific event, it's importance, the ramifications of Trump's reckless act, Etc. misses the point. What this demonstrates is that Trump's fragile ego, inattentiveness and ignorance makes him highly susceptible to manipulation. It's not hard to see what happened. The Russian Foreign Minister and ambassador jollied up to trump, told him how great they thought he was and that he is being unfairly treated and generally said we big important people really know what is going on. Trump, in the glow of such treatment started to prove how important he is and the nifty thing is he knows. The Russians must've loved this.

It is disheartening that McMaster, at least publicly, acted as he did. He knows better and is one of the few people around Trump that we hope can protect us from Trump. Trump, with his extended metaphor that any criticism is" fake news" has effectively insulated himself from what most of us would consider objective reality. It is become clear that he really believes the crap that he says. It will not be lost on other foreign governments, including the new dictatorial president of Turkey who makes with Trump today, that Trump is highly susceptible of manipulation. Trump is a highly dangerous person who has mainly surrounded himself with sycophants. It is also apparent that the Republican Congress considers Trump on balance an asset to their aims and will not confront or control him. If McMaster and a few other adults in the room cannot figure out how to control Trump, we are in for a few more unpleasant surprises. I see no reason for optimism.