Trump Administration In Effect Misses a "Whiffle Ball"

[usmbguest5318]

On October 25, 2017, Donald Trump tweeted, "The long anticipated release of the JFK files will take place tomorrow." Today, we learn that, well, they won't be released for at least six months. Nobody heldTrump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he did.

What makes the "miss" be "wiffle ball" grade?

• Trump's Administration is the one tasked with complying with the 50-year release. The deadline has been a long time coming, and Trump's Administration couldn't "get it together to effect it? The release wasn't, after all, slated for the day or month after Trump's inauguration. It didn't sneak up on anyone.
• The simplest thing in the world for Trump to have done -- simply say nothing about the document release until the documents were indeed released -- and he couldn't even do that. I mean, really. How hard is to refrain from "counting chickens" that haven't "hatched?"
• The Trump Administration is apparently in such disarray and its processes so poorly managed that the risk that the documents would not be released, and/or the reasons why the FBI/CIA didn't want them released, apparently wasn't communicated to Trump so as to prevent him from tweeting what he did.
• Trump loves to rule by fiat. Where's the fiat that says, "Release the damn documents. That event happened in 1963. It's over. Release the documents. Period?"

The relevance of the documents not being released is minor. Truly, I don't much care whether the documents were released or not. It's how the release/no-release was handled that disturbs me. How Trump's Administration handled it shows the calamitously discordant culture and operations within the Trump Administration. As any multi-thousand person firm's executives will attest, an intransigent "captain" who can't "navigate" through calm and easy "waters" most certainly cannot do so in "choppy" waters, to say nothing of "roiling" seas, and neither can his crew make up for his inexperience ineptitude, try as they might.

Simple fact: Trump hadn't a clue of what the process was and he had no clue of how it would play out, and he had no clue of what the position of his two key intelligence arms were thinking on the matter, yet he tweeted the documents would be released. That's the kind of "knowing nothing about what he's talking about," so-called leader/executive Trump is -- and yet his experience as the CEO of Trump Organization was supposed to be the thing that allowed him to, if nothing else, not make this kind of blunder -- and people, lots of them are okay with that.


Addendum/Note to USMB members:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle, or doesn't, on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has a grip, or doesn't, on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?

If you don't have something to say about the actual thread topics, at least be courteous enough to just not post in the thread. That's really not so hard to do, after all.​

 

[BULLDOG]

Just put another check mark in the Trump is an idiot column and let it go. There will many more marks there before we get rid of that fool.

 

[conserveguy877]

Funny how OP is totally delirious that these files had a date to be released. So happens Trump is president after the fact. But the snowflakes end up going the typical "Trump is an idiot" route.

 

[Kosh]

On October 25, 2017, Donald Trump tweeted, "The long anticipated release of the JFK files will take place tomorrow." Today, we learn that, well, they won't be released for at least six months.

What makes the "miss" be "wiffle ball" grade?

• Trump's Administration is the one tasked with complying with the 50-year release. The deadline has been a long time coming, and Trump's Administration couldn't "get it together to effect it? The release wasn't, after all, slated for the day or month after Trump's inauguration. It didn't sneak up on anyone.
• The simplest thing in the world for Trump to have done -- simply say nothing about the document release until the documents were indeed released -- and he couldn't even do that. I mean, really. How hard is to refrain from "counting chickens" that haven't "hatched?"
• The Trump Administration is apparently in such disarray and its processes so poorly managed that the risk that the documents would not be released, and/or the reasons why the FBI/CIA didn't want them released, apparently wasn't communicated to Trump so as to prevent him from tweeting what he did.
• Trump loves to rule by fiat. Where's the fiat that says, "Release the damn documents. That event happened in 1963. It's over. Release the documents. Period?"

The relevance of the documents not being released is minor. Truly, I don't much care whether the documents were released or not. It's how the release/no-release was handled that disturbs me. How Trump's Administration handled it shows the calamitously discordant culture and operations within the Trump Administration. As any multi-thousand person firm's executives will attest, an intransigent "captain" who can't "navigate" through calm and easy "waters" most certainly cannot do so in "choppy" waters, to say nothing of "roiling" seas, and neither can his crew make up for his inexperience ineptitude, try as they might.

Simple fact: Trump hadn't a clue of what the process was and he had no clue of how it would play out, and he had no clue of what the position of his two key intelligence arms were thinking on the matter, yet he tweeted the documents would be released. That's the kind of "knowing nothing about what he's talking about," so-called leader/executive Trump is -- and yet his experience as the CEO of Trump Organization was supposed to be the thing that allowed him to, if nothing else, not make this kind of blunder -- and people, lots of them are okay with that.

Well another far left drone that could care less, but uses this as an excuse to bash anything not far left!

Just to bad the far left thinks that losing is the new winning..

 

[MisterBeale]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

 

[MisterBeale]

Hell, if that had been the case, JFK would have never been assassinated in the first place.

 

[usmbguest5318]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

See the addendum added to the OP:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has, a grip or doesn't on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?
​

Nobody holds Trump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he does, and in this instance, as so many times before, did.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Funny how OP is totally delirious that these files had a date to be released. So happens Trump is president after the fact. But the snowflakes end up going the typical "Trump is an idiot" route.

Occam's razor

 

[MisterBeale]

It's a mixed bag, some were released, and the intel community had their way too. . .

Trump Orders Some J.F.K. Files Released, but Holds Others Back

 

[usmbguest5318]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

If only the... POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

The POTUS does have unilateral authority to declassify whatever the hell he wants to have declassified. All he has to do is order it declassified. It's that easy if he but orders it. It's one of the handful of things on which a POTUS does have the power to make so what he wills be so.

 

[Aldo Raine]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

DEEP STATE!

 

[tinydancer]

It's a fucking tweet with limited characters for crying out loud.

 

[Kosh]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

If only the... POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

The POTUS does have unilateral authority to declassify whatever the hell he wants to have declassified. All he has to do is order it declassified. It's that easy if he but orders it. It's one of the handful of things on which a POTUS does have the power to make so what he wills be so.

And yet again the far left proves they know nothing about this subject and continues to prove that the far left is not connected to reality.

 

[usmbguest5318]

It's a fucking tweet with limited characters for crying out loud.

Did he tweet that it was going to happen today? Yes.
Did it happen today? No.
Does he have the authority to make it happen? Yes.

 

[MisterBeale]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

See the addendum added to the OP:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has, a grip or doesn't on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?
​

Nobody holds Trump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he does, and in this instance, as so many times before, did.

Well, I'm not right wing, but I am a critical thinker, and if you weren't so partisan, I am sure you are smart enough to answer you own questions.

First, you should know that entire government departments and agencies are not replaced when a new president is ushered into office, only the heads of them are. Although bureaucrats are supposed to be "non-partisan" they are, by nature, a bit to the left. Conservatives, or, more appropriately in this regard, small government folks, don't think there is a need for large bureaucratic organizations. Well, if you are a bureaucrat, you probably aren't going to really hold that POV. Due to civil service protections, none of these bureaucrats can be fired simply b/c they #RESIST, the Trump agenda.

When of my favorite sit-com characters is this guy from Parks & Recreation that is a picture in irony, precisely because he is such a character; a libertarian bureaucrat. No such thing.


So that addresses your first point.

To the second point? I think Trump is aware of these civil service protection, and thus, he can only get so much done by issuing executive orders and coming to negotiated compromises with the heads of the various departments on making headway on his agenda.

These tweets are, as I am sure you are aware, mostly for political consumption for his hard core base that keeps him buoyed.

 

[usmbguest5318]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

See the addendum added to the OP:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has, a grip or doesn't on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?
​

Nobody holds Trump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he does, and in this instance, as so many times before, did.

Well, I'm not right wing, but I am a critical thinker, and if you weren't so partisan, I am sure you are smart enough to answer you own questions.

First, you should know that entire government departments and agencies are not replaced when a new president is ushered into office, only the heads of them are. Although bureaucrats are supposed to be "non-partisan" they are, by nature, a bit to the left. Conservatives, or, more appropriately in this regard, small government folks, don't think there is a need for large bureaucratic organizations. Well, if you are a bureaucrat, you probably aren't going to really hold that POV. Due to civil service protections, none of these bureaucrats can be fired simply b/c they #RESIST, the Trump agenda.

When of my favorite sit-com characters is this guy from Parks & Recreation that is a picture in irony, precisely because he is such a character; a libertarian bureaucrat. No such thing.


So that addresses your first point.

To the second point? I think Trump is aware of these civil service protection, and thus, he can only get so much done by issuing executive orders and coming to negotiated compromises with the heads of the various departments on making headway on his agenda.

These tweets are, as I am sure you are aware, mostly for political consumption for his hard core base that keeps him buoyed.

he can only get so much done by issuing executive order

What part of this....

The POTUS does have unilateral authority to declassify whatever the hell he wants to have declassified.

...did you not understand? None of his major legislative agenda items depends on the JFK files remaining classified and none of it depends on appeasing the CIA/FBI.

 

[baileyn45]

On October 25, 2017, Donald Trump tweeted, "The long anticipated release of the JFK files will take place tomorrow." Today, we learn that, well, they won't be released for at least six months. Nobody heldTrump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he did.

What makes the "miss" be "wiffle ball" grade?

• Trump's Administration is the one tasked with complying with the 50-year release. The deadline has been a long time coming, and Trump's Administration couldn't "get it together to effect it? The release wasn't, after all, slated for the day or month after Trump's inauguration. It didn't sneak up on anyone.
• The simplest thing in the world for Trump to have done -- simply say nothing about the document release until the documents were indeed released -- and he couldn't even do that. I mean, really. How hard is to refrain from "counting chickens" that haven't "hatched?"
• The Trump Administration is apparently in such disarray and its processes so poorly managed that the risk that the documents would not be released, and/or the reasons why the FBI/CIA didn't want them released, apparently wasn't communicated to Trump so as to prevent him from tweeting what he did.
• Trump loves to rule by fiat. Where's the fiat that says, "Release the damn documents. That event happened in 1963. It's over. Release the documents. Period?"

The relevance of the documents not being released is minor. Truly, I don't much care whether the documents were released or not. It's how the release/no-release was handled that disturbs me. How Trump's Administration handled it shows the calamitously discordant culture and operations within the Trump Administration. As any multi-thousand person firm's executives will attest, an intransigent "captain" who can't "navigate" through calm and easy "waters" most certainly cannot do so in "choppy" waters, to say nothing of "roiling" seas, and neither can his crew make up for his inexperience ineptitude, try as they might.

Simple fact: Trump hadn't a clue of what the process was and he had no clue of how it would play out, and he had no clue of what the position of his two key intelligence arms were thinking on the matter, yet he tweeted the documents would be released. That's the kind of "knowing nothing about what he's talking about," so-called leader/executive Trump is -- and yet his experience as the CEO of Trump Organization was supposed to be the thing that allowed him to, if nothing else, not make this kind of blunder -- and people, lots of them are okay with that.


Addendum/Note to USMB members:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle, or doesn't, on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has a grip, or doesn't, on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?

If you don't have something to say about the actual thread topics, at least be courteous enough to just not post in the thread. That's really not so hard to do, after all.​

Of all the problems this country faces, the JFK files? Really? And by the way, I don't know if you ever played wiffle ball but you can make a wiffle ball dance like no other.

 

[MisterBeale]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

See the addendum added to the OP:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has, a grip or doesn't on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?
​

Nobody holds Trump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he does, and in this instance, as so many times before, did.

Well, I'm not right wing, but I am a critical thinker, and if you weren't so partisan, I am sure you are smart enough to answer you own questions.

First, you should know that entire government departments and agencies are not replaced when a new president is ushered into office, only the heads of them are. Although bureaucrats are supposed to be "non-partisan" they are, by nature, a bit to the left. Conservatives, or, more appropriately in this regard, small government folks, don't think there is a need for large bureaucratic organizations. Well, if you are a bureaucrat, you probably aren't going to really hold that POV. Due to civil service protections, none of these bureaucrats can be fired simply b/c they #RESIST, the Trump agenda.

When of my favorite sit-com characters is this guy from Parks & Recreation that is a picture in irony, precisely because he is such a character; a libertarian bureaucrat. No such thing.


So that addresses your first point.

To the second point? I think Trump is aware of these civil service protection, and thus, he can only get so much done by issuing executive orders and coming to negotiated compromises with the heads of the various departments on making headway on his agenda.

These tweets are, as I am sure you are aware, mostly for political consumption for his hard core base that keeps him buoyed.

he can only get so much done by issuing executive order

What part of this....

The POTUS does have unilateral authority to declassify whatever the hell he wants to have declassified.

...did you not understand? None of his major legislative agenda items depends on the JFK files remaining classified and none of it depends on appeasing the CIA/FBI.

I agree with you.

However, avoiding sharing JFK's fate, or Richard Nixon's fate might just depend on coming to some sort of compromise with these very agencies.

You would be wise not to underestimate the man that beat HRC when she had the entire corrupt establishment in her pocket.

 

[MisterBeale]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

DEEP STATE!

Noted Berkeley Professor Emeritus Peter Dale Scott from the left;

The American Deep State: Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy (War and Peace Library)


And from the right, former Republican staffer Mike Lofgren;
https://www.amazon.com/American-Dee...c=1&refRID=VDQCM6ECXT9ZWENYRHRW&tag=ff0d01-20
The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government


Also from the left, noted American Progressive journalist, David Talbot, former Senior editor of Mother Jones and founder of Salon;

The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

 

[usmbguest5318]

There is a civil war going on between the public state and the bureaucratic deep state, and you are clueless how this is different from a public corporation.

Naturally they want him to look bad. Looks like it worked.

If only the government were as transparent and the POTUS had as much control as you think he does.

See the addendum added to the OP:

Are any of you right-wing members here going to actually address the points of the OP?

• The nature and extent to which Trump has a handle on what his Administration's departments and agencies are doing/thinking.
• The nature and extent to which Trump has, a grip or doesn't on how to run the government he's now head of.

Or are you folks only able to deflect and remark upon just about anything other than the actual thread topic?
​

Nobody holds Trump "at gunpoint" and make him tweet "X" will happen, and that's exactly what he does, and in this instance, as so many times before, did.

Well, I'm not right wing, but I am a critical thinker, and if you weren't so partisan, I am sure you are smart enough to answer you own questions.

First, you should know that entire government departments and agencies are not replaced when a new president is ushered into office, only the heads of them are. Although bureaucrats are supposed to be "non-partisan" they are, by nature, a bit to the left. Conservatives, or, more appropriately in this regard, small government folks, don't think there is a need for large bureaucratic organizations. Well, if you are a bureaucrat, you probably aren't going to really hold that POV. Due to civil service protections, none of these bureaucrats can be fired simply b/c they #RESIST, the Trump agenda.

When of my favorite sit-com characters is this guy from Parks & Recreation that is a picture in irony, precisely because he is such a character; a libertarian bureaucrat. No such thing.


So that addresses your first point.

To the second point? I think Trump is aware of these civil service protection, and thus, he can only get so much done by issuing executive orders and coming to negotiated compromises with the heads of the various departments on making headway on his agenda.

These tweets are, as I am sure you are aware, mostly for political consumption for his hard core base that keeps him buoyed.

he can only get so much done by issuing executive order

What part of this....

The POTUS does have unilateral authority to declassify whatever the hell he wants to have declassified.

...did you not understand? None of his major legislative agenda items depends on the JFK files remaining classified and none of it depends on appeasing the CIA/FBI.

I agree with you. However, avoiding sharing JFK's fate, or Richard Nixon's fate might just depend on coming to some sort of compromise with these very agencies. You would be wise not to underestimate the man that beat HRC when she had the entire corrupt establishment in her pocket.

Neither underestimation nor overestimation have anything to do with the matter of the JFK file/document release and what I said about it in my OP. Trump and Trump alone asserted/implied they'd all be released, and that is not what happened. He could have said nothing about it , yet he didn't. He could have said some more of them would be released, yet he didn't. He could have let whatever documents got released be released and then remark upon their content, yet he didn't.

I do give him credit for subsequently issuing a few more apt remarks on the matter.

• "It is my hope to get just about everything to public!"
• "After strict consultation with General Kelly, the CIA and other agencies, I will be releasing ALL JFK files other than the names and addresses of any mentioned person who is still living. I am doing this for reasons of full disclosure, transparency and in order to put any and all conspiracy theories to rest." (Source)

Frankly, he should have stopped with just the first of those remarks because it states what he has in mind and does not put him at risk of later being found to have over-promised and under-delivered:

• It is the one that is almost certainly 100% accurate,
• It promises nothing he cannot deliver, or at least be shown plausibly not to have delivered, and
• Unlike the second pair of statements, there won't and cannot be later refuted on a factual basis when the entirety of what remained undisclosed is determined.

Indeed, that first statement is precisely what his initial remarks should about the document release should have entailed, assuming he felt compelled to say anything prior to the actual release. There simply is no good reason for a mature adult, most especially a 70 year-old, of integrity to make any other kind of statement, that is a statement that overstates what they are 100% certain they personally both can and are willing to make happen.