Real talk: Trump's fond of autocrats, such as Putin, Kim and Duterte. Trump has also lived his life risking consequences rather than abiding by rules. And if you're Trump, the difference between ruling class in Turkmenistan and being ruling class in the United States isn't so different, so why should anything else be? Let's be honest - if Ramzan Kadyrov were doing this shit, we'd expect it. Let's be further honest: if Ramzan Kadyrov were doing this shit with the tacit approval and backing of the Foreign Service, the State Department and the CIA, we'd expect it. Let's be brutally honest: if Ramzan Kadyrov were doing this shit with a shadowy clique of "advisors" and special forces operators around him, under the tacit approval and backing of the Foreign Service, the State Department and the CIA, we'd expect it. Most of us wouldn't approve but none of it would be shocking. Trump's a despot. We've known this for decades. It's never been an issue before because he's never been near the levers of power. Our fundamental problem is that we accidentally installed a third-world despot as President of the United States and entirely too much of the government shrugged and said "we work with despots all the time, let's see how this plays out."
I thought about it for a while, and I don't think there exist any secret rules that govern the reaction of the IC should they suspect the president to be a foreign asset. I don't think there should exist any rules like that either, because... actual coup. But what's going to happen anyway is multi-institution object fixation, where gradually everyone grows to loathe Commader Bonespurs, and OOPS, it turns out that evidence of wrongdoing just keeps popping up without anyone needing to even begin talking about commissioning a search of anything. Also, comedy news / late night has been fantastic lately. Seth Meyers has been doing more deadpan, and I don't think it's intentional. The jokes are better than ever, probably because the content provided by the White House already comes in the form of a joke, but his disgust seems to genuinely overwhelm his appreciation of the comedy. Colbert has cracked me up more times than ever over the last week, but maybe I just need to laugh more than I ever have before. The best comedy I've seen lately is the result of what happens when a Christian counselors association made a last-minute swap of a dead-serious pastor into a slot previously scheduled for a Christian comedian. It just gets better and better, I promise. I feel so bad for the guy, but, ugh, it's too funny.