There are few descriptors for Trump that enemies and allies agree upon. "Incurious" is one of them. I would be surprised to learn we had much better classified intel on North Korea than is in the public record. We definitely have vastly better satellite photos. We definitely have vastly better signals intelligence. But I doubt North Korea says much over the airwaves besides propaganda, and North Korea does much of their nuclear shit underground. I also don't know who would buy it. Russia probably has a better sense of North Korean capabilities than we do, seeing as they have a vendor-client relationship. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ...just as an aside - Russia. The former central republic of the USSR. Mighty, monolithic counterpart for 40 years of Cold War. Buying shit from Iran and North Korea. I mean... fuck your Chinese tires. North Korean artillery. Iranian drones. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ South Korea? We've got like 70 years of strategic partnership with South Korea, if we thought they needed to know something, they'd know it. Japan? Japan is so thick with the US that when Toshiba accidentally sold parts that made their way into Soviet subs they apologized. There are diplomatic channels for pretty much anyone we're on vaguely convivial terms with that are totally not worth risking. I think Trump is beyond precedent on numerous fronts. The '90s wouldn't buy the Trump era in a Jerry Bruckheimer film. When Bob Gale modeled Biff Tannen in Back to the Future III, he modeled him off of casino owner Trump because logically, that's all the man had the skill for. And then we had 30 years of grievance politics.
And if you're right? This would be one of the biggest geopolitical scandals in modern American history, no?
Well, he was reportedly most curious about gossip-like intel pertaining to world leaders and how he could use it to socially dominate them, essentially. Although this kinda thing could certainly be used as leverage to, uh, spice up his relationships, especially in the case of the autocrats he routinely worships. He may not have necessarily been trying to sell things, although that's certainly the businessman angle. He could just think having that stuff on hand is very, very cool. But I doubt it. The most interesting take I've heard is that Trump may also plan to blackmail the government by threatening to release top secret intel if DoJ chooses to prosecute. Maybe it's all of that at the same time. The idea of a former president attempting to blackmail the government of the United States out of prosecuting them is peak Trump. I absolutely knew Biff was Trump, but I didn't know I knew yet, you know? And no, Trump couldn't even run casinos without multiple bankruptcies. But at this point, especially with what Alex Jones has been doing with his assets lately, I've long since wondered if Trump was moreso "bankrupt". Watching some in the GOP continue to defend Trump is yet another new low. Most are totally mum about it. There was a TheHill.com article titled "5 GOP members critical of Trump's document handling", and every. single. one of them is out of office and not running again. Eric Trump let Hannity know that his father would NEVER throw documents on the floor haphazardly, like in the staged photo. Yes, Eric, stealing state secrets is only a crime if you leave them on the floor, and all of the drug bust paraphernalia police pose for photos with was found sitting on a table inside the police station. Must be so nice to have such a stupid, stupid base of support. Yeah, fuck Newt Gingrich. I hope the J6 investigation sweeps him up and into a jail cell. Lol yeah right.
Trump has belonged to the Russians since the early '80s. Much like staring at the hole in 9/11 long enough produces a silhouette in the shape of "Bin Laden worked for the CIA and went off-leash", staring at Trump's finances produces a clear outline of "this man's finances have been propped up by the Russian Mafiya since Trump Tower." In other words, Trump's actions are the result of negative enforcement, not positive enforcement. The best explanation for Melania is she's a red sparrow. The GOP is currently in the "who is the leader" phase of the changeover. The problem is Mitch McConnell isn't a figurehead, he's a backroom dealer. Kevin McCarthy is neither - he's a sycophant who goes where the wind blows. McConnell needs someone to work for, McCarthy needs someone to work under, Liz Cheney just said "if you strike me down I will come back more powerful than you can possibly imagine." It's safe to say that the only people left in the GOP are craven opportunists. No one wants to commit to anything until it's clear they can turn it to their advantage. The only people with any clarity right now are the brave ones, and the only ones left are really really stupid. There will come a time when they can all safely bark to the howl of a new leader but right now there's still an outside chance that Trump could come back so they're hanging in the shadows, tail tucked. The remaining task for the Democratic party (and the Republican party of the future) is how to get all the malcontents out of the way and make it stick. If you look at the past six years as a successful coup against the GOP the narrative becomes a whole lot more sensible.