Super Stupid

Briefings for Dummies

Written by SK Ashby

Mother Jones has obtained a memo circulated among the intelligence community that, in so many words, says Trump's intelligence briefings should be dumbed down.

Trump apparently receives only a fraction of the information that previous president's received because that's all he can handle.

The classified guidance, which was reviewed by Mother Jones, suggests that President Donald Trump's daily national security briefing contains far less information than the daily reports presented by the intelligence community to past presidents—and about a quarter of the information President Barack Obama received. [...]

Presumably, the memo's guidelines—less material, less nuance, less dissent—were developed in response to Trump's reactions to the materials he has received. If the memo does not reflect direct instructions from Trump or his aides to the intelligence community, it is a reflection of the assumptions senior intelligence officials have developed about how best to present information to Trump.

Perhaps more disturbingly, Trump's briefings reportedly include no dissenting opinions and only reflect the conclusions of the analysts who prepare them.

There have been reports that the intelligence community deliberately withholds some information from Trump because they believe the White House has been compromised.

That may be the case but, in any event, it seems to me there wouldn't be enough space in Trump's daily briefing to include that information even if they were inclined to share it.

"I'm, like, a smart person." --Donald Trump