Donald Trump, a man who is very ill-equipped to run the country, would much rather spend his time basking in the praise of his supporters than do his homework, as evidenced by the fact that by choice, he receives only one presidential briefing a week.
Reuters reports that the president-elect has chosen to sit for and receive just the one briefing a week, in a move that like much of this entire campaign, is unprecedented. The Presidentâs Daily Brief (PDB) is not a requirement for those waiting to take office, but Reuters reports that most president-elects in the past have âwelcomed the opportunity.â Naturally, itâs not clear why heâs opting out of these very important informational sessions, but something tells me itâs because Donald Trump doesnât really want to be president and therefore doesnât want to do a lick of the work required. Meetings are boring! Rallies and continuing to serve as the executive producer of your reality television show are much more fun, easier on the olâ brain and therefore much more in line with his interests.
Itâs not to say that heâs not getting any information at all; the sources told Reuters that heâs asking for some information, but not all thatâs available to him.
An official on the transition team said on Thursday that Trump has been receiving national security briefings, including âroutineâ PDBs and other special briefings, but declined to specify their content or frequency, saying these matters were classified.
Trump has asked for at least one briefing, and possibly more, from intelligence agencies on specific subjects, one of the officials said. The source declined to identify what subjects interested the president-elect, but said that so far they have not included Russia or Iran.
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While itâs terrifying to think of Trump in possession of the highly-classified information contained in said briefings, youâd think that someone who was woefully, dreadfully, frighteningly unprepared for the job would welcome any opportunity to learn. According to Former Central Intelligence Agency briefer David Priess, Richard Nixon refused to sit for in-person briefings, requested paper PDBs instead and later returned them to the CIA, unopened.
Whatâs in these briefings you ask? Secrets. So many secrets. Secrets that the current President is privy to and secrets that presumably allow any acting President to make intelligent decisions about the running of the country. Secrets about âU.S. espionage sources and covert operations overseas,â for example. Secrets that, frankly, shouldnât be in the hands of Trump anyway, because he has absolutely no idea what to do with them. Thatâs the silver lining; take it if you want.
In stark contrast, the sources close to the matter report that his vice president Mike Pence receives at least six PDBs a week, which to me, is a clear indicator of the fact that once elected to office, Trump will rely heavily on his cabinet of horrors to run this country while he serves as nothing more than a figurehead.
