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This is a more accurate summary. It was reported in Fear by Bob Woodward. “Let’s fucking kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the fucking lot of them,” Trump said

This is a more accurate summary. It was reported in Fear by Bob Woodward. “Let’s fucking kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the fucking lot of them,” Trump said, according to Woodward. Mattis reportedly assured Trump that he would look into it, but then told a senior aide: “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.” At Mattis’s direction, national security officials allegedly drew up options for a more conventional response, including the cruise missile strike on a Syrian military installation that Trump eventually approved. https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/04/mattis-trump-demand-assassinate-assad/ https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/04/mattis-trump-demand-assas...

philwelch 8y ago
I read that book the other day. At one point they seemed to land on a policy where only signed memoranda were accepted as actual Presidential orders by the rest of the executive branch, meaning that Trump’s tweets and stray utterances could be ignored if he was distracted long enough not to formally turn them into orders. Once an order was delivered, they could also selectively slow down implementation of it.
- brokenmachine 8y ago
  This scares me so much. A buffoon with his finger on the button.
  - philwelch 8y ago
    If it comforts you, “the button” (the nuclear launch protocol doesn’t involve a literal button) requires confirmation from the Secretary of Defense, and the current Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, is one of the most reliable and trustworthy people you could even imagine to be in that position. And everything written about him in Woodward’s book only supports that impression. The DoD was even one of the more prominent examples of an executive agency choosing to buffer Trump’s impulses—when Trump announced a ban on transgendered people serving in the military (which was, according to Woodward, in response to a more nuanced discussion about whether the military should pay for or perform reassignment surgeries—Trump was in the discussion and hours later abruptly decided to tweet), DoD responded with a statement that they had received no Presidential order and that no policy change would be made until an order was received and a plan for implementation was devised. Another repeated theme in the book was the apparent fact that Trump just basically says things and makes decisions and then doesn’t consistently remember to follow up on them, meaning that offhand Trumpian pronouncements that nobody ever put into writing would go forgotten—at least until Trump was provoked into pressing the issue, perhaps by one of his more sycophantic aides. I actually feel just a tiny bit sorry for Trump. I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. It’s an impression I’m very dubious of, because Republican presidents are routinely perceived as charismatic, naive simpletons being manipulated by conspiracies of sinister right-wing advisors. Both Reagan and W. Bush were suspected of this, but there’s considerable behind-the-scenes evidence to the contrary. I’d be interested in any other reports or memoirs from behind the scenes of the Trump administration, but so far it looks like Trump really is the real deal. The only difference is that the rise of Trump was enabled and precipitated by a complete fracturing of the Republican Party, and many different factions are all trying to pull Trump their way.
    - skookumchuck 8y ago
      "Will no one rid me of this turbulent Priest?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...
      - brokenmachine 8y ago
        Very interesting!
    - duxup 8y ago
      >I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. He literally watches Fox News and tweets about it immediately afterward sometimes. He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego.
      - krapp 8y ago
        >He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego. No one would hire a surgeon who had never been to medical school, or a mechanic whose only knowledge about cars came from watching Top Gear, but for some reason we're willing to elect a President based primarily on his lack of expertise in (and disdain for) politics and the law.
        dotancohen 8y ago
        Traditionally, it is said that the problem with politics is that it is full of politicians.
        krapp 8y ago
        Sure, but cynicism is a double edged sword. Having Donald Trump is a solution to the problem of having a "politician" in charge, but now, as they say, America has n+ problems. Such as the likelihood that he trusts Fox News more than his own cabinet, or his calling out hits on people likely because he just assumes that's how government works.
- mikeash 8y ago
  They would also steal orders off his desk before he could sign them. This worked because he wouldn't remember enough to realize it had gone missing until weeks afterwards, if ever. I believe that was before Kelly came in as chief of staff. He seems to have things more under control, although that means he's in control of a lot more than he really should be. The latest report is that Trump wants to fire him but can't figure out how because he relies on Kelly to fire people.

philwelch 8y ago

I read that book the other day. At one point they seemed to land on a policy where only signed memoranda were accepted as actual Presidential orders by the rest of the executive branch, meaning that Trump’s tweets and stray utterances could be ignored if he was distracted long enough not to formally turn them into orders. Once an order was delivered, they could also selectively slow down implementation of it.

brokenmachine 8y ago
This scares me so much. A buffoon with his finger on the button.
- philwelch 8y ago
  If it comforts you, “the button” (the nuclear launch protocol doesn’t involve a literal button) requires confirmation from the Secretary of Defense, and the current Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, is one of the most reliable and trustworthy people you could even imagine to be in that position. And everything written about him in Woodward’s book only supports that impression. The DoD was even one of the more prominent examples of an executive agency choosing to buffer Trump’s impulses—when Trump announced a ban on transgendered people serving in the military (which was, according to Woodward, in response to a more nuanced discussion about whether the military should pay for or perform reassignment surgeries—Trump was in the discussion and hours later abruptly decided to tweet), DoD responded with a statement that they had received no Presidential order and that no policy change would be made until an order was received and a plan for implementation was devised. Another repeated theme in the book was the apparent fact that Trump just basically says things and makes decisions and then doesn’t consistently remember to follow up on them, meaning that offhand Trumpian pronouncements that nobody ever put into writing would go forgotten—at least until Trump was provoked into pressing the issue, perhaps by one of his more sycophantic aides. I actually feel just a tiny bit sorry for Trump. I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. It’s an impression I’m very dubious of, because Republican presidents are routinely perceived as charismatic, naive simpletons being manipulated by conspiracies of sinister right-wing advisors. Both Reagan and W. Bush were suspected of this, but there’s considerable behind-the-scenes evidence to the contrary. I’d be interested in any other reports or memoirs from behind the scenes of the Trump administration, but so far it looks like Trump really is the real deal. The only difference is that the rise of Trump was enabled and precipitated by a complete fracturing of the Republican Party, and many different factions are all trying to pull Trump their way.
  - skookumchuck 8y ago
    "Will no one rid me of this turbulent Priest?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_turbulent_priest%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_no_one_rid_me_of_this_tur...
    - brokenmachine 8y ago
      Very interesting!
  - duxup 8y ago
    >I have the increasing impression that he’s a deeply simple man being manipulated in competing directions by everyone around him. He literally watches Fox News and tweets about it immediately afterward sometimes. He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego.
    - krapp 8y ago
      >He really seems to be that uninformed / scared / elderly person who doesn't know any better ..... with a lot of ego. No one would hire a surgeon who had never been to medical school, or a mechanic whose only knowledge about cars came from watching Top Gear, but for some reason we're willing to elect a President based primarily on his lack of expertise in (and disdain for) politics and the law.
      - dotancohen 8y ago
        Traditionally, it is said that the problem with politics is that it is full of politicians.
        krapp 8y ago
        Sure, but cynicism is a double edged sword. Having Donald Trump is a solution to the problem of having a "politician" in charge, but now, as they say, America has n+ problems. Such as the likelihood that he trusts Fox News more than his own cabinet, or his calling out hits on people likely because he just assumes that's how government works.
mikeash 8y ago
They would also steal orders off his desk before he could sign them. This worked because he wouldn't remember enough to realize it had gone missing until weeks afterwards, if ever. I believe that was before Kelly came in as chief of staff. He seems to have things more under control, although that means he's in control of a lot more than he really should be. The latest report is that Trump wants to fire him but can't figure out how because he relies on Kelly to fire people.