Guest Post by Scott Adams
The other day, President Trump declared that “President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
Then the world went nuts.
Former CIA Director James Clapper denied that Trump was wiretapped, saying, “There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign,“
Yet we know General Flynn was in Trump Tower when his conversation with the Russian diplomat were recorded.
Does that mean Flynn was “wiretapped”?
No. But it might mean the person on the other end was. And we already know he was.
Does it mean Trump Tower was “wiretapped”?
No. But it might mean that the person on the other end was. And we already know he was.
And what does “wiretapping” even mean in a world in which all communications are recorded routinely? if the government records you routinely, and then it decides to look at some of those records, with a court order or without, has any “wiretapping” happened? I don’t think so.
And what does it mean to say “Obama was tapping”? Does it mean he directly ordered it, or does he just have to wonder aloud how awesome it would be if someone did it? We expect presidents to have deniability about the spooky stuff because we watch television shows and that makes us smart.
I don’t have an opinion about what happened, or didn’t happen, with the wiretapping. But this story did make me laugh when I realized we find ourselves in the following fun situation:
1. President Trump is the world’s biggest liar (according to his foes).
And…
2. President Trump now has direct access to more national secrets than any other living human being.
And that means fun.
This wiretapping situation shows us how much fun it will be. Six months ago, if Trump made a hard-to-believe claim about something that is also hard to verify, the country would assume he was lying, incorrect, or negotiating. Now, if he says something hard-to-believe, such as the recent wiretapping claim, you have to wonder if the President knows something you don’t. Because he knows a lot of somethings you don’t.
If history is our guide, this odd situation, in which the most famous “liar” in the world also has access to the world’s best secrets, will be more entertaining than dangerous. We’re seeing that entertainment now. Trump can make any claim about hard-to-verify situations and we’ll all have to wonder if he knows something we don’t.
I feel sorry for the people watching the other movie – the one in which President Trump is essentially Hitler. In my movie, he’s having a bumpy transition ride but generally doing the people’s work. My movie is more of a comedy. And you could not write a better comedy than one in which the biggest “liar” in the world is in charge of the biggest secrets in the world.
Mmm, popcorn.
About North Korea
In other news, watch President Trump force China to put the clamps on North Korea’s missile program by making it clear we’ll handle it for them if they can’t take care of their own backyard. If the United States has to take care of China’s problem for them, it sure would be embarrassing for China. And persuasive.
I base my North Korea prediction on the assumption that by now President Trump has burrowed so far into the brains of the Chinese leadership that he’s already got functional control, Master Persuader style. They just don’t realize it.
Anyone that doesn’t believe Trump was directly or indirectly, probably both, during his campaign by actors of the Obama administration if foolishly naive at best, downright stupid deluded at worst.
Trying to prove who did the actual tapping and recording under whose orders is not going to be easy, intelligence agencies and their contractors are usually really good at hiding what they do and who told them to do it.
“Wiretapping” of course being a generic term for electronic surveillance. Liberals denying this are twisting definitions like Bill Clinton’s notorious “depending on what the meaning of the word “is” is.”
1) 99% of all of their objections routinely rely upon the “definition” of words and/or terms rather than the reality. If Trump says “Obama tapped my phones” even if it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, they will rationalize it away by saying “He (Obama) didn’t actually do it himself” with little alligator clip thingies and linesman pliers and the ubiquitous laptop hacked into the phone company, so it is- in effect- false to claim that he did. In a world of moral equivalence nothing ever actually occurs as it is described. Oral sex is not sexual relations, etc.
2) Is there any way to prove beyond any reasonable doubt and excluding the reports of governments, but actual independent verification that North Korea has ever done anything of an offensive military nature since 1953 that involved any weapon beyond a brush hook? I happen to be a big fan of Koreans and love their movies. Everything I have seen in the past five years produced by western filmmakers trying to make them look evil has come off exactly the opposite. And frankly, given our track record, building up an ability to defend itself against an empire hell-bent on making everyone bow to their hegemony doesn’t sound paranoid to me, it sounds rational.
They shell S. Korea relatively often, and have initiated strikes on targets within S. Korea borders.
Of course, its not really our business what is going on in that peninsula at this point. My opinion is that the US foreign involvement should only go as far as protecting American citizens within our borders and across the high seas.
Other than that, and countries should handle their own problems. If you want US involvement then you should apply to join as a territory.
Unfortunately, or not as you see it, the U.S. has defense treaties creating alliances with many countries.
We have a treaty obligation to S Korea, as well as Japan, to aid in their defense if they are attacked.
So we can never exit a treaty?
We should be charging them the full cost of deploying American assets to protect them, plus 50% carrying charges. Freebies are going to end….
It isn’t the
Present Continuous “wiretapping”
but rather
Past Tense “wires tapped”.
The way the air quotes are used frames a wider meaning.
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The elegance of the strategy of March 4 was that all Trump did was collate the previous reports from media and made it his own. Now his opponents, and they are legion, are off balance and have to backpedal. Disavow the months of work they have done to discredit him and are being forced to shit on the floor in the house that they built.
Pure fucken’ genius!
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Trump plays chess and his opponents play checkers.
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A very deplorable game of Chess that I and many others are enjoying as it unfolds!
wiki leaks vault 7…everything is a hack.
Fuck Clapper.
He has already committed perjury for his false testimony in front of congress and should be imprisoned. Everything he says on any subject going forward is suspect.
They should play ‘canned laughter’ in the background anytime he speaks.
I agree with you guys on Clapper, he’s a proven liar and shouldn’t be used as any kind of “expert”.
Truth is though, with the technology available today there’s a real good chance that EVERYTHING is being recorded. Then they parse it for keyword ID’s for further processing.
IF this volume is possible they’re doing it. So then it’s just a matter of using an internal search engine to find it, including audio/video if it’s that type. Scary as hell, eh?