Stung obviously by accusations leveled by Madeleine Albright and others that “scarier than Karl Rove” Steve Bannon is the one calling the shots in the White House (or that he doesn’t even know, or understand, what he is signing), Trump followed up his attack on the media by tweeting,
I call my own shots, largely based on an accumulation of data, and everyone knows it. Some FAKE NEWS media, in order to marginalize, lies!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2017
Accumulation of data on single-sheet briefings composed of bullet points? That sort of data is what Trump is said to like, because of his short attention span and lack of attention to detail. That, and his infamous refusal to learn new things that might conflict with his preconceptions.
It is amusing to see Donald Trump of all people speak of “marginalizing” when he has spent his entire career, including his short presidency (when he is not golfing), marginalizing people and telling lies.
As Guantanamo prosecutor Col. Morris Davis responded to these tweets,
The so-called @POTUS / @realDonaldTrump seems to be extremely insecure and emotionally unstable and a clear and present danger to America. pic.twitter.com/sW7LmYHBUn
— Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) February 6, 2017
Apparently, “accumulated data” is not Donald Trump’s friend. And to judge by his endless and outraged tweetstorms, most of that accumulated data is not to his liking. They also reveal that despite his claims to the contrary, he can’t help himself and watches CNN and other networks.
There are genuine concerns being made about who is actually calling the shots in the White House, about power struggles between Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, about a president who listens to the last voice he hears, if not his own.
Trump’s sensitivity to these concerns and his response this morning, does not quash them; it only reinforces worries about the ability of this administration to respond to real-world events in a sober and reasonable manner.
