Former intel boss questions Trumps fitness to be in office, suggests hes looking for a way out

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Think Progress


Trump's former favorite intelligence official admits he's worried about him having the nuclear codes.
AARON RUPAR
AUG 23, 2017, 9:17 AM

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper worked for every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. But he says President Trump’s Tuesday night rally is the most troubling performance by a president that he’s witnessed.

During a CNN interview Tuesday morning, Clapper said he’s unsure about Trump’s fitness to serve as president.

“I really question his… fitness to be in this office,” he said. “And I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it. Maybe he is looking for a way out.”

“I don’t know when I’ve listened and watched something like that that I’ve found more objectionable,” Clapper added, referring to a speech in which Trump misrepresented his defense for white supremacists, offered a harangue of the media based on lies, characterized the removal of Confederate monuments as taking away “our history and our heritage,” called undocumented immigrants “animals,” and teased a pardon for an anti-immigrant Arizona sheriff who was found guilty of racial profiling.

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/former-intel-boss-questions-trumps-fitness-to-be-in-office-suggests-hes-looking-for-a-way-out-1912e0240698/

[NastyRiffraff]

1. I didn't think Dump could shock me any more

but last night's speech did it. I didn't see the whole thing; only what Lawrence O'Donnell chose to show. What I did see make me physically ill. I'm not kidding, my stomach was actually churning. Lawrence correctly called him out about lying about what he said. He ranted non-stop about how the media was mean to him about his reaction to Charlottesville, never once mentioning Heather Heyer (he seems to not know her name).

Naturally, he didn't mention his plans for Afghanistan; he knows his base hates that. I don't make a habit of watching his speeches; in fact I try to avoid them. So, maybe this was just Dump as usual. But it was completely unhinged, mean-spirited, and just horrible.

Maybe James Clapper was right when he said possibly Dump is looking for a way out. I dislike and distrust Mike Pence, but he couldn't be worse. Could he??

[flibbitygiblets]

2. Pence will be worse in terms of accomplishing the RW agenda; Trump is dangerous with the codes

Obviously a madman/narcissistic child with nuclear codes is more of an imminent threat to humanity and the planet. So it comes down to a calculation of 1) how likely is he to start a nuclear war, and 2) are there any safeguards in place to prevent #1, or is it really a matter of this toddler doing the button-pushing equivalent of what he did Monday in terms of ignoring scientific advice and looking at the sun with his bare eyes.

VS.

Trump gets impeached/resigns/25th amendmented, Pence gets into office, and the right wing agenda goes into full-swing. Tax cuts for the rich...done. Obamacare repealed (not replaced, or replaced with something worse)...done. And whatever else they can think of to screw the poor, minorities, women and the environment. Also, the goldfish memory of the US will see all this "success" and re-elect Pence. Plus, more minority voter suppression, and continued "help" from Russian election hackers.

If we can keep Trump from killing us all in a nuclear war, we can take back the house, maybe the senate too, and impeach the fucker. Then we work on a message of human kindness and saving the planet, jobs (GREEN jobs with good pay), and social justice, and we can take the white house with young, fresh, hopeful faces like Newsom/Gillibrand/Harris/Klobuchar.

[Dave Starsky]

3. I watched that guy.

He obviously knows his shit, and it was very clear in his facial expression throughout that he was NOT kidding. That dude has done and seen it all, and he is MORTIFIED.

[socialist_n_TN]

4. I never thought he wanted to be "in" in the first place......

I think that his entire campaign was a way to amp up his "brand" for a new reality show. That's why he was so outrageous from the start. And as he kept rising in the polls, he got more and more outrageous, STILL thinking that he was "auditioning" for a new show.

Then he won and had to work. That wasn't something he bargained for.

[AntiFascist]

5. Even Fox News is covering this...

http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/08/23/james-clapper-questions-trumps-fitness-office

'Extremely Disturbing': Clapper Questions Trump's Fitness for Office After Rally