Don't Blame the Kurds For Allying With Russian-backed Assad Regime After Trump's Betrayal

An ISIS bomb goes off in Kurdish-held city of Qamishli soon after Trump's withdrawal of U.S. forces.

"In the coming months we''re going to see mammoth ethnic cleansing...This is a humanitarian and national security disaster caused by the president of the United States."  - Ret. General Barry McCaffrey on MSNBC this morning.

"The only thing as remarkable as the scale of this catastrophe Trump initiated in Syria is that he made the decision himself over just about everyone's objection - and at the behest of another authoritarian leader. The GOP has to wake up to the danger,  he poses to our national security."  - Ben Rhodes, former national security officer, on MSNBC this a.m.

As reported in the NY Times the besieged Iraqi Kurds have now made an alliance with Syria's Bashar al Assad and his Russian backed regime, no thanks to traitor Trump leaving them in the lurch. As we read in the Times:

"Kurdish forces long allied with the United States in Syria announced a new deal on Sunday with the government in Damascus, a sworn enemy of Washington that is backed by Russia, as Turkish troops moved deeper into their territory ..The Kurds’ deal with Damascus paved the way for government forces to return to the country’s northeast for the first time in years to try to repel a Turkish invasion launched after the Trump administration pulled American troops out of the way. The pullout has already unleashed chaos and bloodletting."

The Turkish aggression has also allowed hundreds of ISIS rats to escape and as we read also in the Times: "In the mayhem, more than 500 of them escaped"

Also:

"Since the Turkish incursion began on Wednesday, ISIS has claimed responsibility for at least two attacks in Syria: One car bomb in the northern city of Qamishli and another on an international military base outside Hasaka, a regional capital further to the south."

Let's please further note that Trump’s decision – allowing Turkey  to invade areas previously protected by the U..S and controlled by a Kurdish-dominated coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – took almost everyone involved in the Syrian conflict by surprise. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reported that a commander of the Kurdish force that spearheaded the fight against Isis stormed out of a meeting with the Americans after declaring: “You sold us out!”

Which ought to also be a fair warning to all Trump's brain-jacked zombie followers who somehow believe he's in their corner and he's their personal "hammer"  "against the Democrats, liberals, 'Deep State' enemies, socialists"  etc. No he isn't, and at the right time he will ditch these loopy  assholes like he betrayed the Kurds. WSJ columist Peggy Noonan in  her most recent contribution clearly doesn't buy his base is so dumb, writing:

"The president is misreading his base, which will have qualms.  Their sons and daughters fought in the wars, they know who the Kurds are."

Yeah, well maybe not, or maybe they have short memories.  How else explain how thousands of them cheered when he again announced his fell decision at his Minnesota rally?  Miss Peggy ought to know the only one this orange baboon gives two shits about is himself- and his base - most of which is perfectly okay with that. So long as he makes the ''snowflakes' cringe and cry, of course!

The Kurdish-dominated local forces, after Trump's ordered withdrawal, quickly saw they faced certain genocide by the same bunch of barbaric cretins who nearly exterminated the Armenians nearly 100 years ago. So they had no choice other than to look for allies elsewhere, and they found a powerful one in Bashar al Assad's Syrian Army.  Thank Trump for that, and also now for helping the Turks to unleash a new round of ISIS terror.  Some people really want to re-elect this piece of shit, e.g. instead of a liberal Dem?  If so, they need committing to a nuthouse

Why has Trump unleashed this new hell in the Middle East, after first scuttling the Iran nuclear deal, paving the way for the Iranians to work on their own bomb again?  Because he's an autocrat and loves fellow autocrats, like Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.  Let's also bear in mind he has a Trump Tower in Istanbul he needs to see finished to rake in more $$$.  Probably he needs to use it to bribe other world leaders to try to dig up dirt on his Dem political opponents.

Trump claimed  his decision to pull American troops out of the way of the Turkish advance was part of his effort to extricate the United States from “endless wars” in the Middle East and elsewhere.

“The Kurds and Turkey have been fighting for many years,”  Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. 

But this is a pile of horse manure of the type you'd expect from a guy who thrives on such. As any serious military person (ike Ret. Gen. Barry McCaffrey) could have told him, there's a right and wrong way to disengage from a conflict and the wrong way is to leave your allies high and dry to promote your own transactional agenda.

 Le't's also recall  the non sequitur excuse this Orange  A-hole stated days ago "The Kurds never helped us in Normandy!"  Again disclosing what an unfit,  deranged narcissist ignoramus we have as a leader.  One who will now be directly responsible for the rebirth of ISIS, the resurgence of terror around the globe and the absolute horror and disbelief of our allies - who will no longer be able to trust anything we say or do or promise .  Not so long as the putrid pestilence Donald J. Trump fouls the office of the presidency.  In this regard WSJ columnist Noonan  was likely correct when she wrote (ibid.):

"The Syrian decision contributes to the hardened impression that in foreign policy he's all impulse, blithely operating out of his depth.  It adds to the hardening suspicion he's not actually tough, he'll say yes to a lot of things- and some bad things - to get the deal, the triumphant handshake"

Which, truth be told, is a lot more generous take than the one I'd offer.  That he's a spineless, no count charlatan, criminal and con man who'd sell anyone out for a dime if he could benefit.

His collected poltroons who follow his every command without a hint of spine are equally bad.

One only needed to see the level of obsequiousness and posturing on display yesterday, e.g.  from Defense Secretary Mark Esper, which was enough to make a real patriot puke.   When  Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan asked this toady what choice the Kurds had other than to align with the Syrian regime (that or be slaughtered), the weasel Espy replied:

"The Kurds have been very good partners in the de-Isis campaign and on the battlefield. But at the same time we didn't sign up to fight the Turks on their behalf".

No, sonny, but you sure as hell copped to Dotard's order to amscray the region -  leaving the Kurds exposed to the Turks barbaric atrocities, butchery and mayhem.  You are, in effect, accessories to the genocide and terrorism likely to ensue.

As for Trump's "sanctions" announced after blowback from starting this clusterfuck, don't make me laugh. All that has happened is that Turkey has doubled down in its invasion and atrocities. And threatening Turkey with tariffs is even more of a joke - all posturing and BS from the traitor vermin we have leading this nation right into the mire.  Indeed, when I watched Pence bloviating these threats I nearly spit up my coffee.    I am sure Erdoğan did the same - Turkish coffee, that is..

See also:

• Trump cuts and runs, ordering full retreat of U.S. forces in Syria 

And:

Donald Trump | Syria

Trump Isn't Really Ending Endless Wars, He's Making Them Worse

And:

Donald Trump | Foreign Policy

American Brexit: It’s Not Just Britain Headed for the Subbasement of Imperial History

The Iranian Strait Of Hormuz Tanker "Attack" - Can We Say 'Gulf Of Tonkin' Redux?

"Yeah, it'd be a great idea to blame Iran for the oil tanker attacks and start another bogus war!"

"Right now, the U.S. and the Saudis are pointing fingers at the Iranians. Perhaps — but it begs the question, why? Tensions in the region, thanks to the highly inflammatory rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration, are already dangerously high.

National Security Adviser and longtime proponent of war with Iran John Bolton is predictably pushing Donald Trump to, for lack of a better phrase, make war on Iran.

The Saudis, who view Iran as a bitter regional rival, are pushing for the same thing. They would love for the U.S. to use its military against its enemy."  - Marc Ash,  'Were The Gulf Tanker  Strikes A Saudi-Run Operation?', smirkingchiimp.com

"Why of course the people don’t want war...But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they’re being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.” --  Hermann Goering.  Nuremberg, 1946

Hours ago,  Trump -corrupted Washington claimed Iran was behind a succession of recent shipping attacks in the Gulf. The Trumpie liars, criminals and reprobates asserted that  grainy video published on the U.S. Central Command’s website provided "evidence"  of Iran’s involvement in Thursday’s attacks. The footage purportedly shows crew from an Iranian boat removing an unexploded mine from one of the vessels.   (Note: It did not show them placing the mine ON the vessel. Hence, alert to how rabid the Amerikkan warmongers are for a new regime change, it made sense to remove what Saudi operatives likely planted, in order to provoke a conflict with Iran.)

Outlandish!? Not any more than Trump and Pompeo's nest of propaganda and BS when we know that John Bolton is itching for a new Mideast war. Do I believe any of the crap spewed out by this administration? Well, no more than I could hurl them all into the Potomac!  

As the Trump cabal and its allies beat the drums for war with Iran, pardon me while I don't buy the huff and puff from pundits, or the alleged "evidence' or the ancillary claims.  In fact it's all too much of a perfect setup, a big pretext for an unnecessary conflict  - like Vietnam or Iraq.  As blogger Marc Ash put it:

"Iran stands to gain little by damaging or destroying Japanese or Norwegian ships. There is no economic or military logic to support that. To the contrary, with U.S. sanctions constraining the Iranian economy, it would be in Iran’s interest to maintain good relations with Japan, Norway, and any other country willing to maintain trade."

Truth be told what's unfolded in the Strait of Hormuz  reminds me more of the bogus Gulf of Tonkin incident that triggered the Vietnam War.  At the time  (summer of 1964)  LBJ ordered two destroyers,  the Turner Joy and Maddox, to stage daylight runs into North Vietnamese waters to test the 12 nautical mile limit.

 Not long after invading the water, the two vessels were allegedly "attacked without provocation".  The claim of  LBJ  - much like Trump today with the oil tanker attacks alleged to be the work of Iran - is the attacks on  Turner Joy and Maddox were initiated by the North Vietnamese.

But in 2005, an internal National Security Agency historical study was declassified; it concluded that the Maddox had engaged the North Vietnamese Navy on August 2, but that there were no North Vietnamese Naval vessels present during the incident of August 4. The report stated regarding August 2:

“At 1505G, Captain Herrick ordered Ogier's gun crews to open fire if the boats approached within ten thousand yards. At about 1505G, the Maddox fired three rounds to warn off the communist boats. This initial action was never reported by the Johnson administration, which insisted that the Vietnamese boats fired first”

And regarding August 4:

“It is not simply that there is a different story as to what happened; it is that no attack happened that night. [...] In truth, Hanoi's navy was engaged in nothing that night but the salvage of two of the boats damaged on August 2”

In other words, the U.S. aggressors used it as a pretext to demand the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution"  and launch a war that killed nearly 58,000. Like other pretext wars (e.g. Iraq, see the excellent MSNBC special ‘Hubris’) Vietnam never should have occurred. It was once again a case of congress abdicating responsibility as opposed to actually declaring a war.

In the same vein, what's happening now near the Strait of Hormuz is all bogus, a setup, a pretext to start a war.   Fortunately, António Guterres, the UN secretary general, called for an independent investigation, affirming:

"It’s very important to know the truth and it’s very important that responsibilities are clarified. Obviously that can only be done if there is an independent entity that verifies those facts,"

Well, yes, because a war with Iran would be calamitous, far more than the Iraq conflict and we saw how that has turned out - what with ISIS being spawned and massive instability throughout the region.

Unfortunately, the UK appears to have sided with the U.S.  warmongers.   The Foreign Office issued a statement saying: “It is almost certain that a branch of the Iranian military – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard – attacked the two tankers on 13 June. No other state or non-state actor could plausibly have been responsible.”

This, of course, is baseless codswallop.  There are at least two other actors with the means, motives, and opportunity - including Israel and Saudi Arabia.  Both detest Iran to the core, and each would like nothing better than a war fought against Iran but on their behalf.   As smirkingchimp blogger Marc Ash put it in regard to each:

"Israel gets thrown in only because they do have the military technology, they are in the region, and they do share the Saudis’ fear and contempt of Iran."

Ash does add, however, that the Israelis likely didn't mount the tanker attacks given that "striking Japanese and Norwegian vessels is not the type of thing Israel would engage in".   Yeah, but if they wanted a U.S. war with Iran bad enough, they could.  

So why is the UK siding with the Trump vermin?   Well, maybe their Foreign Secretary happened to watch Trump's bloviating performance on FOX and Friends yesterday a.m. and bought it.  Trump is a great con man you know. Particularly where Dotard yapped:

“Iran did do it. You know they did it because you saw the boat. I guess one of the mines didn’t explode and it’s probably got essentially Iran written all over it … You saw the boat at night, successfully trying to take the mine off – and that was exposed.”

And we're supposed to believe this drivel from a walking maggot.  This now after he blabbed three days ago he'd willingly accept the help of a foreign power in the 2020 election - then retracted it the next day? Excuse me while I laugh.  So I am far more inclined  (especially after the fake Iraq WMD B.S. too) to accept the take of Iranian ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad.  He said the western intelligence claims were similar to :

“false fabrications during World War I, the Vietnam war and Iraq war that were designed to instigate military interventions and armed conflicts in different parts of world.”

Bingo, Mr.  Baeidinejad, you nailed it!    Besides, in Tokyo yesterday the owner of the Kokuka Courageous   affirmed the Japanese tanker's sailors saw “flying objects” (drones?) before the attack, suggesting it was not damaged by mines. The claim of the  company’s president, Yutaka Katada, totally  contradicted the U.S. military account.

Bottom line, claims of monstrous terror and shameless attacks on innocents (in oil tankers)  cannot be accepted from a monstrous administration that prides itself on flouting the rule of law, and shameless attacks on innocents. (Like locking migrant kids and families up in cages and glorified NM "dog pounds".)

Amidst this background and the further  lying drumbeat for war in the coming days, we should be mindful of the words of former Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes (on 'All In' last night):

"I step back and I worry about the two most disastrous wars in this country's history, Vietnam and the Iraq war. The second thing is that Donald Trump has lied repeatedly about Iran....There's been this pyramid of lies built up about Iran, so he has little credibility now.  The American people if they're being asked to go to war need to be able to trust the people who are leading...

It feels like we are trying to provoke  the Iranians to do something to serve as a pretext to have a war, which is what John Bolton wants.  Do the American people really want to go to war over the fact that two tankers blew up in the Gulf of Oman?  Do the American people want to go to war on behalf of Saudi Arabia, a murderous country that butchers journalists and provokes famines in Yemen?"


Amen, Mr. Rhodes!  I for one certainly don't  trust the deranged renegades now in power, whether Bolton, Trump or Pompeo. They comprise a Liar's Triumvirate. As I  said before, after Trump's 4,500th lie, I would not believe this turd if he claimed the missiles were flying from North Korea.  

If I would not believe him in that context there's no way in hell I'm believing him now with the manufactured "Iran threat".

See also:

Middle East

Were the Gulf Tanker Strikes a Saudi-Run Operation?

And:

Will the Real Bombers Please Stand Up

And:

Armed Forces | Environmental Policy

How the Pentagon’s Forever Wars Are Killing the Planet

by Ilana Novick | June 15, 2019 - 6:46am | permalink

Trump's Revocation Of John Brennan's Security Clearance Undermines U.S. Security - And Proves Again Why He Merits The Hangman's Noose

The  traitor occupying the WH and what he deserves.... now more than ever

 "Trump's claims of 'no collusion' are hogwash. Trump  clearly has become  more desperate to protect himself and those close to him which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance....I've seen this type of behavior on the part of foreign tyrants and despots. I just never ever thought I'd see it in the United States. " John Brennan yesterday.  

"The message this sends to the intelligence community is don't tell the president anything he doesn't want to hear."  - Andrea Mitchell, on Morning Joe' today

"I call it the rigged witch hunt.... it's a sham and these people led it. So something had to be done."  The Traitor -in -chief, quoted in WSJ

"I've sensed in the last week or two a kind of quickening or panic on the part of the president and the people around him about the way the walls are closing in. So this has the feel of an act of desperation, particularly when you see how transparent it is." - Former Acting CIA Director John McLoughlin

As the news of the Traitor Trump revoking the security clearance of former CIA head John Brennan broke yesterday, the mainstream media again delivered interpretations based more on superficial takes than any deep politics insight.  For example, that the move was a blatant distraction coming as it has after a week the maggot-ridden White House has been rocked by the Manafort trial (where Trump's former campaign manager could  face life in the slammer for banking and tax fraud), and by allegations of using the N-word from former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.

 Brennan's use of the T word was also given as a reason for Trump's "payback" e.g.

"Trump's press conference was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin."

But the more serious and sober take is that the Traitor filth desecrating the White House  by virtue of his illegitimate occupation has endangered U.S. security - which I will get to in a bit.

Reading a prepared statement in the White House briefing room, the inbred press propagandist and liar, Huckleberry Sanders,  railed against Brennan. She claimed “he has leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive info to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations, wild outbursts on internet and television about this administration” 

In other words, cutting all the fulsome crap, Mr. Brennan just issued an honest assessment of the dipshit poseur  we have  fouling the White House.  A pretender, grifter and conspirator with a foreign adversary who ought to have been hung by the neck long ago. 

Sanders also said Brennan’s “lying and recent conduct, characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary, is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets”.  Sounds to me like she's talking about her master Dotard -who spills state secrets to foreign adversaries like he spills bullshit from his Twitter account. (Such as early last year when he met privately in the Oval Office with Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak and raised the hackles of U.S. security officials  with what he voluntarily shared with the Russians  NO, you can't make this shit up!)

On Twitter, Brennan responded by saying: “This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech and punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”

He added in an MSNBC interview: “This is not going to deter me at all. I am still going to speak out.” He described it as an effort “to cow individuals inside and outside the US government” and compared it to behavior from “foreign tyrants and despots”. (See top quote)

In other words, Brennan will not stand idly by while a traitor tries to strip away his first amendment rights. This brings us to the more critical issue, that the revocation is hurting Brennan and removing a "courtesy" as opposed to endangering our country. 

As  former Bush security official Fran Townsend explained it this morning on CBS: 

"Many of us, former security officials, maintain our security clearances because we volunteer our time back to the government.  This is not a professional courtesy as the White House has suggested. We do this out of a sense of continuing public service. So the notion that you're going to pull somebody's clearance because you don't like what they say is deeply disturbing and very offensive, frankly."

An even more serious perspective was noted on 'All In' last night by former deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes. He emphasized that John Brennan was the "point person" for the take down of Osama Bin Laden back in May, 2011.  If anyone then had the right - and indeed obligation - to enumerate the current occupant's multiple failures to discharge the duties attendant on a solemn office, it was John Brennan. He also, more than anyone else, has earned the right to declare how  all Americans need to take stock of what is happening right now in our government, and how abnormal, irresponsible and dangerous these actions are.  

Yes, Trump is acting under Article II powers (under the assumption of being a legitimate president - which he is not), but the reasons given for Brennan's revocation fall nowhere in the document criteria for such action. (There are 13 stated reasons for revoking a security clearance in the 26-page Executive Directive governing standards for classification and security clearances, as well as revoking them.  Not one of them matches anything close to what Sanders provided in the July 26 (dated) WH statement.)

For many of us who've been engaged in deep politics research it is self-evident our government is being subverted from within by a literal Manchurian candidate. This isn't hysterical,  nor is it "hype".  It is as factual and real as a heart attack.  We gloss over it or dismiss it at our peril.  What is the nature of that peril?  As former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes set it out, regarding John Brennan's import:

"John Brennan was the point person in the Obama White House on the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. He knows a lot more about defending our nation than someone who uses security clearances to punish his political adversaries."

Hence, and following on from Fran Townsend's take on CBS this a.m., this is precisely the person you want to keep close to you - including with security clearance - in a hostile world laden with threats, whether from ISIS,  North Korean missiles, or homegrown terrorists. As Rhodes put it: "He knows more about terrorism than just about anyone in this country. Given any great threat to the American people you would want him as a resource".  

Hence, to remove his security clearance in a fit of pique, is to put this country in danger. If one is opposed to any form of terror, one does not remove the single person who can help you ferret out and take down the bad guys before an attack happens.  One must thereby conclude Trump is happy leaving this nation exposed to another Sept. 11th  type of attack. In other words, confirming his traitor bona fides. Rhodes himself was blunt about Trump's motivations in his appearance on 'All In' last night, e.g.:

"You asked about motivation. Donald Trump and his associates are under investigation for potentially conspiring with a foreign adversary to undermine our democracy. That investigation has already produced indictments and guilty please and that is closing in on Trump and his associates."

As I said, a traitor.  And no, I am not afraid to use that word as too many mealy -mouthed Milquetoasts in the media (i.e. NBC's Chuck Todd)  are. I call a spade a spade.  So does Rep. Eric Swallwell, also appearing on 'All In' last night. In his words:

"It makes us less safe. The security clearance is not to benefit John Brennan. It's not to benefit any of the other officials who worked in the Obama administration. It's to benefit us. So that when Gen. Mattis, and CIA director Gina Haspel and others consider threats against the United States they can reach back and talk to people who have faced the same threats and get their candid advice."  

Smallwell went on to relate how he called another security official to ask if he was overreacting to what Trump did.  The official emphatically stated 'no way' - and what Dotard has done makes the country less safe. Indeed, it could become manifestly much worse, as the list of former security officials also lose their own security clearances, so can offer no insight or inputs. All this because they may have said something on MSNBC that riled the traitor, as opposed to becoming his lapdogs and sycophants.

As Swallwell put it: - "There will often be a number of decisions that have to be made on the fly and require information- in a life or death situation -  that only officials in prior administrations have access to...."

Does Trump need to be hung before he causes vastly more damage? Before he subverts this nation and its principles much further?  Before he opens us up to terror attacks?  You decide. I've already made my mind up, and I know that my Revolutionary War ancestors would agree.


See also:

Trump Admits the Real Reason He's Targeting Former Intel Officials — and It All Comes Back to Russia

And:

'Drunk on Power': Former CIA Director John Brennan Comes Out Swinging Against Trump and the Republicans in Maddow Interview

Trump Reverts To Psychotic - Blames Obama For Wiretap Conspiracy

"Those who said Trump finally made the presidential pivot last Tuesday in his speech, now need to recant. Trump can't help himself. Claiming Obama bugged him is an extremely serious charge.  Trump needs to put up or shut up." - Political Science Prof. Larry Sabato, quoted in The Financial Times

"The demagogue is one who preaches 'facts' he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots." - H.L. Mencken

Well, it wasn't long before the unhinged Trump came through again, after he'd managed to control himself Tuesday night - likely with the help of a medley of anti-psychotics (and some ECT).  Recall, he for once remained to "work" in the White House last weekend, as opposed to wasting taxpayer money jetting to Mar-a -Lago. The strain showed, and finally erupted yesterday morning when he  launched a series of tweets that began at 5.35am. In one he wrote: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”

He followed up with a string of tweets in the next half-hour that claimed Obama had "defied a court rejection to tap his office", and invited a “good lawyer” to make a case against the alleged process. In fact, as NBC legal expert Ari Melber pointed out, IF there was a wiretap it was more plausibly ORDERED by a judge on account of suspicion of criminal activity or collusion - possibly with a foreign power.  So in fact, Trump's tweets - as opposed to any victimization - may actually be open admissions that he has something to be guilty about, if such wiretaps were actually FISA -warrant approved. As for the lamebrain SC Reepo Lindsey Graham, who promised an angry SC town hall he'll "look into it". There's nothing to look into. If there were any legal wiretaps, and they were ordered by a judge through a FISA warrant, Trump is likely in deep shit. A FISA warrant isn't issued casually.

Obama’s former deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, had to impart some badly needed education - and  tweeted back at Trump: “No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.”

Later an Obama spokesman, Kevin Lewis, issued a statement which read:.

“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.””

That statement by Lewis did not deny there was a wiretapping but did deny that Obama ordered one.

But my suspicion is that it's all just Trump's runaway paranoia at work. What would you expect from a nutball who fancies that conspiracy freak Alex Jones is some kind of oracle? In fact, this guy defines what it means to be a conspiracy fruitcake, i.e. a whacko who accepts conspiracies without an iota of evidence. (Like asserting Sandy Hook being a "false flag" where all the kids were actors).

The most way out Trump claim was the  comparison of the alleged surveillance of his Trump Tower communications to Watergate. This was  the conspiracy in which a 1972 break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters led to revelation of crime and cover-up at the highest level of government and, ultimately, the resignation of Richard Nixon.. Trump, no avid history reader, doesn't seem to know that the Watergate break -in was actually mounted to stop leaks with which Nixon had become obsessed. This is analogous to Trump's current obsession with the ongoing leaks out of the White House, and from intelligence operatives. According to WH insiders, Trump is beset with rage and paranoia as he's become fixated on a "death by a thousand leaks".  But the question Trump and his surrogates need to ask is 'why are people leaking?'  It must be because they are appalled by what they are seeing with an unstable fruitcake in the seat of power.

Most of us who studied Trump's pathetic excuse for a teleprompter speech, which a well-trained ten year old could give, were not surprised by his tweet storm outburst.  We knew that "Agent Orange", as this asshole has come to be known, wouldn't be able to contain his psychotic demons forever. Also, he was still smarting after one of his "pets" - Alabamy cracker Jeff Sessions- recused himself from investigating the Russkie ties. This was the final straw and likely led to his nutso charges yesterday which have most serious, politically savvy folks acknowledging he needs to be fitted for a straight jacket.

Of course, there is still that contingent of the media that inevitably overthinks Trump. They have this psycho fucker playing "three dimensional chess" in a strategic deflection move.  Thus many critics dismissed Trump's tweet storm  as an attempt to deflect attention from investigations of his ties to Russia.  This could be true as well, but I suspect it is more true that this nut we have occupying the White House is simply 52 cards short of a full deck. He lacks any impulse control whatsoever, and anybody that rises that early to tweet rage about a wiretapping conspiracy he read about on Breitbart.com, can't be all there.  As Dr. Pat Bannister would put it: "He is definitely suffering from paranoid psychotic ideations that require at least four sessions of electroconvulsive therapy each day."

Trouble is, this deranged psycho occupies the most powerful position on the planet and has access to the nuclear codes.  Make no mistake that this is an unprecedented attack by a president  (in name only basically)  on his predecessor. That alone is scary, apart from a lunatic like that having access to our nuclear triad when he should be strapped down for ECT.  But the other aspect is that the whackjob accusations were made in a series of early morning tweets, and as we know psychopathic individuals are prone to tweet their psychotic fancies early in the a.m.  Usually, they can't sleep, so they toss fitfully entertaining the paranoid fantasies in their febrile brains - and then let loose.  Which is what this turkey did.

In Trump's case as WaPo writer Chris Cillizza wrote, the "conspiracy theory candidate has become the conspiracy theory President". Adding that if Trump has evidence of this "grand wiretapping conspiracy" it's his duty to present all the facts given the burden of proof is squarely on him. . Except that what Trump is tweeting doesn't even make the threshold of a putative conspiracy theory. The latter requires - as Dr. Pat Bannister has noted- at least some basis in coherent reasoning and evidence, even if sketchy. What is on offer from Trump's Twitter account is paranoid ideation and groundless suspicion.

Of course, it wasn't long before a parade of imbeciles and like-minded screwballs tried to come to his defense and even intimated there "might be something to investigate".  Really? You mean like the grade A Repuke asshole from Iowa, Steve King, who insisted on CNN that Trump wouldn't just tweet these things "out of the blue". Oh yes he would, and for making that claim on national TV you need to be dispatched to a rubber room and put in a straightjacket too. 

Eventually, sober media heads - who finally pulled their heads out of their asses after heaping praise on Trump's "presidential" Tuesday performance - realized and showed the source of Trump's ideation were stories circulating in rightwing media, namely Steve Bannon's former fake news playground, Breitbart.    One of these farcical sites (and authors) actually  claimed Obama was attempting a “silent coup” against Trump.

Why would he do that? Obama was just elated to leave the place Jan. 20th to go off on his new life, liberated from unwarranted criticism from imbeciles and psychotic imps like Donald Trump and the Trumpies.  Obama wouldn't waste time on a fool and psycho like Trump, to tell the truth, realizing from the moment he met with him in the White House that he'd bring himself down by his own hubris.  However, and this is important, another concerned authority - maybe the former Deputy AG Sally Yates, if she suspected criminal hijinks on the part of Trump and his gang- might have gone to a FISA court for a warrant.. After all, his recent tarmac meets include with  a Russian "fertilizer" king visible on assorted runways as documented by David Cay Johnston.. Most recently at a Concord NH airport. Why would a Russian oligarch go to an obscure NC airport at the same time Trump's there? Coincidence? Yeah, and I suppose all those dead JFK assassination witnesses were coincidences too.

Clearing away the haze of spin and clutter in this case, here's what we do know: Just before last November’s election, the British former MP and novelist Louise Mensch reported that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court had granted a warrant to enable the FBI to conduct surveillance of “US persons” in an investigation of possible contacts between Russian banks and the Trump Organization.

Two months later the BBC published an article backing up Mensch’s original story about the FISA court warrant issued in October to allow the justice department to scrutinize transfers and communications between Trump associates and Russian banks. US intelligence agencies were investigating the link, it added.

The issue resurfaced this week in rightwing media, in Breitbart, and by conservative talk show  host Mark Levin. This Dodo made claims on his Thursday night show about alleged steps taken by the Obama administration to undermine Trump’s campaign to win the White House. Levin called the effort a “silent coup” by the Obama administration and said this, rather than Trump’s Russian ties, should be the subject of a congressional investigation.

As reporter Chris Cillizza has pointed out (ibid.) the error of Levin and his cohort has been to take a series of independent events, including Trump's joking about Russians hacking Hillary's emails during one campaign stop. the actual hacking and later Wikileaks' publishing of John Podesta's emails, as evidence of a conspiracy.

Of course, this "grand conspiracy" is all bull pockey.  If there is any deflection at work, it is definitely via the Reich wing media which more and more bears disturbing similarity to the Third Reich's after the Reich Press Law was passed on October 4, 1933.  Levin, like the Third Reich's propagandists, is playing the role of agent provocateur.

Of course, as Josef Goebbels - supreme propagandist of the Third Reich knew - the best propaganda always contains a kernel of truth. This is to make it more believable to the Munchkin imbecile contingent, and a bit harder to pierce for more intelligent, higher information folks. In this case, Levin's play hued to Goebbel's template since his comments were subsequently summarized by Breitbart News, in a report that also made reference to the FISA warrant reported by Mensch and the BBC.

Yesterday, Robert Costa, a Washington Post reporter, tweeted: “Per an official, I’ve confirmed that several people at the White House have been circulating this Breitbart story.” On Friday night and Saturday, Fox News hosts whom Trump is known to watch also remarked on the issue, with presenter Sean Hannity tweeting: “What did OBAMA know and when did he know it??”

Yeah, right! And uttered with the same frenzy as the nuts who travel to near Area 51 each year convinced there are buried alien bodies there. And they're prepared to try to see them even if they get arrested first for trespassing.

On another note, it appears the strain has been all too much for little Donnie the Psycho who had to take yet another weekend  vacay  to Mar-a-Lago. I supposed to clear out what few working brain cells he has left.  As usual, the spin is he is taking "a working vacation" - which I guess his PR toadies have to say given they are blowing $3 m each time Trump jets down to "White House South". But as I already observed this doesn't wash. If you are incapable of putting a full day's work in your normal work environment (White House) , you will not do it once you leave to go to a spacious hacienda with golf course, hot tubs and fancy restaurants.

Again, this is the same guy who bragged during the campaign:

"I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done. I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off. You don’t have time to take time off."

It truly is a wonder anyone believes anything this guy says anymore, he's such a compulsive liar.

Especially when he tweets bollocks. Or wait, maybe he isn't lying. In which case he's a paranoid nut who needs to be put into a straight jacket.

Update:

Former Director Of National Intelligence James Clapper has flatly denied Trump's lame claim of a FISA warrant to bug Trump Tower. Read the details and see the interview on 'Meet the Press' Here:

http://www.salon.com/2017/03/05/watch-clapper-denies-trumps-wiretap-allegations-sunday-pundits-say-tweet-storm-meant-to-sidetrack-russia-probe/

In addition, FBI Director James Comey asked the US justice department to publicly reject claims made by Donald Trump that Barack Obama ordered his phones to be tapped during the 2016 election campaign. Comey made the request on Saturday because of his concern that the allegation was false and suggested the FBI had broken the law, according to the New York Times. Unnamed US officials confirmed Comey’s move to the Associated Press, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal..

With the responses of Clapper and Comey we can see where this is going and now more than ever it is evident that Trump's rash tweets are the manifestations of a paranoid psychotic embolism in his own brain.

See also:

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/71489/3-terrifying-reasons-for-trump-s-latest-rant