‘People are scared’: Paranoia seizes Trump’s White House

By artappraiser on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 8:44am |

By Alex Isenstadt & Kenneth P. Vogel @ Politico.com, March 15

A culture of paranoia is consuming the Trump administration, with staffers increasingly preoccupied with perceived enemies—inside their own government.

In interviews, nearly a dozen White House aides and federal agency staffers described a litany of suspicions: that rival factions in the administration are trying to embarrass them, that civil servants opposed to President Donald Trump are trying to undermine him, and even that a “deep state” of career military and intelligence officials is out to destroy them.

Aides are going to great lengths to protect themselves. They’re turning off work-issued smartphones and putting them in drawers when they arrive home from work out of fear that they could be used to eavesdrop. They’re staying mum in meetings out of concern that their comments could be leaked to the press by foes. [....]

URL:

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/trump-white-house-paranoia-236069

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Sounds like he's setting himself up for a coup against himself. I suspect Trump & Erdogan have the same movie library. Putin too, if you consider his FSB apartment bombings that normalized his ascent to power. More here and here.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 9:51am

But Putin had the FSB behind him and Trump has nothing? When you try to purge the entire government, all you've got early on is tweets?

Will he ever find enough supportive people to fill the positions he still needs to fill? I imagine even many diehard Trump fans would say no if offered a job, they are expecting miracle to happen and they ain't gonna do it?

I just noticed with mirth that over at Vanity Fair, they made a different comparison, noting the similarity of Sean Spicer to Baghdad Bob.

by artappraiser on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 10:03am

Wong - Baghdad Bob turned out to be right in many ways. Spicer? not so much.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 12:21pm

Wow, US indicts FSB officers for Yahoo! hack.

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 5:01pm

Have CNN on, but I am coming in and out of TV earshot, struggling with snow issues. So with a grain of salt: one thing I think I just heard is one of those guys we indicted had already been arrested in Russia for espionage on the behalf of the U.S.!

by artappraiser on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 6:41pm

Marcy's already on it...

by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 6:51pm

Not just any FSB officer--the guy who just got tagged with treason on account (they say) of the dossier info getting out to the MI6 guy

by jollyroger on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 9:23pm

The NYTimes piece on this is quite good, makes it easier to understand the plot and characters of this particular Russian novel

by artappraiser on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 11:17pm

p.s. Betcha Wolraich is glad to finally see the Yahoo email problem solved! If I recall correctly his first brush with yuge readership was on topic?

by artappraiser on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 11:19pm

One word that comes to mind after reading that: Wikileaks White hats, black hats, red hats, I know hackers are like old timey spies in that they are changing hats all the time.

by artappraiser on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 11:27pm

Step outta line, the man come and take you away...

by jollyroger on Wed, 03/15/2017 - 9:24pm

WaPo current headline stories, it is increasingly clear that leakers are close to Trump despite his bitchin:

Inside Trump’s White House, New York moderates spark infighting and suspicion by Philip Rucker & Robert Costa

Outspoken, worldly and polished, a group of Manhattan business figures-turned-presidential advisers — often aligned with President Trump’s eldest daughter and son-in-law — is scrambling the still-evolving power centers swirling around the president. On the other side are aides driving much of Trump’s nationalist agenda, led by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

Battle to define 'America First' foreign policy divides White House by Greg Jaffe

by artappraiser on Sat, 03/18/2017 - 11:31pm

WaPo continues with the leaks:

White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to monitor loyalty

The unusual shadow government of political appointees, which reports to the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, is charged with making sure the secretaries and their staff members carry out President Trump’s agenda and stick to approved talking points, according to officials with knowledge of the arrangement.

25 minutes ago

What's particularly ridiculous is that the Trump talking points often change radically with every tweet. Imagine trying to be a good little toady in order to keep your job....not an easy task...what Sean Spicer can't do day in, day out, these people are expected to do

by artappraiser on Sun, 03/19/2017 - 8:45pm

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