Twitter Questions 5.0

Thanks again for the super-fun AMA; they’re always a blast! I have a piece on NATO coming later this week that I think some of you will enjoy, but for now let’s hop right in to the questions that needed longer answers:

How Defeated is Trump? Pelosi beat him, his base is angry, his main man Stone is indicted, he’s not getting his wall, is this his lowest point?

It’s hard to quantify what would be considered the low-point of a continual dumpster fire, but I would say yes, this is it. He took several high-profile losses this week; that is devastating for a man who focuses on nothing but his image. Trump lives from one news cycle to the next, and he’s experienced about three weeks of terrible ones. This question ties in perfectly with the next one, so let’s go there:

Is this the beginning of the end?

I’ve held back on saying this definitively, but yes, I think this is the beginning of the end. The GOP is still reeling from the midterms, and the political loss they just took was huge. They bet on Trump, and lost big. Mitch has no appetite for any more embarrassment, and that is all Trump is able to provide at this point. Mueller indicting Stone brings the investigation closer than ever to the Oval Office.

I read a couple analyses this morning from conservative legal minds who called the Stone indictment a dud, and to be frank, I don’t know what the hell they’re reading (or smoking). The indictment makes it clear that a high-level campaign official (Steve Bannon) was acting on orders from a higher level campaign official to work with Stone. Stone was acting as the intermediary for Wikileaks, and by extension, the GRU. If Mueller can prove what he claims, this is a slam dunk case and they’re all screwed. Judging by his track record so far, I have no reason to doubt he has plenty of receipts.

So many WH staffers complain about how much it sucks working for Trump, why do they want to work for him and why don’t they just quit??

I get asked this a lot. It’s a good question, but a semi-complicated one to answer. It’s important to understand that the vast-majority of White House staff is career personnel. They typically stay in their jobs for years and span multiple administrations. They’re the ones that actually make the place run. They stay because they legitimately love the country and know how much their work matters, as cheesy as that sounds.

As far as the political appointees, I have no idea. I would have thought after Mattis’ letter, we would see more public rebukes of Trump. Kelly’s admonishment over the shutdown was nice, but Pompeo seems to have planted his lips, if possible, more firmly on Trump’s ass in the recent weeks. Pompeo’s comments about NATO were infuriating, and were one of the catalysts for my upcoming post.

What Trump damages will take the longest to recover?

Trust. I believe the most lasting damage caused by this administration will be staffing. For the first time in a long time, the government isn’t really a place people want to work. There are still the dedicated civil servants I talked about on the last question, but far too many have moved on. I said previously that I don’t think it will take long to rebuild goodwill with our allies; I’m confident they know that Donald Trump doesn’t speak for the American people. Bad policy decisions can be fixed, but they require good people to be around to implement the fixing.

The shutdown caused damage that we won’t be able to accurately assess for some time. Sources were burned and lost. Mueller’s investigation continued, but many others were brought to a standstill. The economic loss from the last 35 days will take months or years to fix. Depending on when the backpay arrives, a lot of good people’s credit scores could be damaged; while this won’t cause them to lose their jobs, it could be problematic if they go look for another.

My heart also really hurts for the contractors. I hope Congress is able to pass a bill getting them backpay. They deserve it.

How come the Secret Service hasn’t traced your location as a leak?

A couple reasons, probably. I’m going to assume this question meant the IC in general and not the USSS specifically, but here we go:

1. I’ve said I’m not a current WH staffer.
2. I don’t divulge classified information, or ANY information that would put anyone at risk. (Example: I knew POTUS was going to Iraq to visit the troops. I ignored all of those questions on Twitter because as much as I don’t like Trump, I’m not going to put anyone’s safety at risk.)
3. I keep my identity anonymous for now because I don’t want to burn the sources I talk to. And I could probably still get fired for tweeting mean things about the President all the time.