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Trump Just Gave a Scary Speech to the CIA. Obama’s CIA Director Responds…

Trump Just Gave a Scary Speech to the CIA. Obama’s CIA Director Responds…

Donald Trump just made his first public appearance as President, and his disgraceful act of disrespectful falsehood prompted Obama’s outgoing CIA Director John Brennan to speak up on behalf of the many men and women sworn to protect all Americans who work at that agency that cannot speak out for themselves. Trump could have used the speaking opportunity to heal divisions at CIA Headquarters by instead characterizing the media’s oversight of his fledgling presidency, but instead spent the time childishly denying the serious fact that he’s openly attacked our nation’s intelligence community for investigating his dangerous and compromising ties to Russia.

Trump’s awful press conference happened entirely in front of the Memorial Wall which has stars instead of names for the fallen, all of whose sacrifices are never publicly acknowledged to protect national secrets from being exposed. Former CIA Director Brennan’s response was the perfect rejoinder to Trump’s inappropriate use of the fallen men and woman who sacrificed their lives in service of the CIA:

Ex-Director Brennan’s remarks used a very particular technique that isn’t actually found in any spy manual, using the parenting technique of inductive discipline to speak to the 45th President like a petulant teenager. Studies show that expressing disappointment to teenagers leads to a more empathetic response in teenagers than just a “power assertion” model of discipline such as a statement calling Trump out for his remarks threatening our national security, which they do.

Make no mistake, the scary words asserting a new policy nobody voted for that came out of Trump’s mouth weren’t just about the media, but how he is already plotting to plunge America into a new war. The Republican President who won a primary against his own party on the lie of opposing the war when he really supported it, is now suggesting that our country should invade a sovereign nation with whom we have embedded US military forces already- which makes them our allies. Foreign Policy reports:

At one point, Trump regurgitated parts of his stump speech about how the United States “should have kept the oil” after invading Iraq. “Maybe we’ll have another chance.”

It’s sad that our esteemed former public officials now have to speak to our new President in the manner of a spoiled brat teenager, seeking patiently to both get their point across and invoke a sympathetic response from the man who has shown himself to be empathy-free. But it’s the only responsible thing to say if the ultimate goal is to obtain somewhat better behavior from the disordered Trump’s immature, egocentric personality.

The alternative is sending America’s young men and women to fight and die in another Republican war of choice, and suffering the stiff economic and national security consequences of becoming a pariah state.

Grant Stern
is the Executive Editor of Occupy Democrats and published author. His new Meet the Candidates 2020 book series is distributed by Simon and Schuster. He's also mortgage broker, community activist and radio personality in Miami, Florida., as well as the producer of the Dworkin Report podcast. Grant is also an occasional contributor to Raw Story, Alternet, and the DC Report, and an unpaid senior advisor to the Democratic Coalition and a Director of Sunshine Agenda Inc. a government transparency nonprofit organization. Get all of his stories sent directly to your inbox here:

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