You may have seen this editorial cartoon from the other day showing a distracted neo- fascist adolescent Donald "Rump" Trump (a.k.a., Lord Dampnut) signing Executive Orders, being guided by *President* Steve Bannon's hand:
(Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune, with apologies to M*A*S*H)
Well, as proof the cartoon image wasn't an exaggeration but is what anyone with brain function would have expected, we have this (buried 23 paragraphs deep!) in a February 5 article in the New York Times:
Mr. Priebus bristles at the perception that he occupies a diminished perch in the West Wing pecking order compared with previous chiefs. But for the moment, Mr. Bannon remains the president’s dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump’s anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban. (our emphasis)Others noticed the =ahem= minor detail that Lord Dampnut was signing orders without knowing what was in them, and how Times "reporters" Glenn Thrush and Maggie Haberman managed to bury the lede:
By far the craziest story I've seen about Trump. He WASN'T BRIEFED on his own order putting Rasputin on the NSC?! https://t.co/09sZO49bHX pic.twitter.com/vw2vei0hvU— Paul Gowder (@PaulGowder) February 6, 2017
"Just sign it sir, it's nothing." pic.twitter.com/Nl3YVXgKsf— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 6, 2017
Trump "wasn't briefed" on the EO giving Bannon a seat on the NSC means "he didn't read it before signing" which is how smart businessmen act— Mazel Tov Cocktail (@AdamSerwer) February 6, 2017
Okay, so. This article. Very prosaic headline, pedestrian opening, LOTS of explosive details pieced together, buried https://t.co/GRX9EN21rN— Alexandra Erin (@alexandraerin) February 6, 2017
Overachievement in lede-burying. https://t.co/7pgpKz9R6c— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) February 6, 2017
Clearly, the answer for some in the media to the question, "Is They Learning," is "No, we isn't."
Also, buried in the Times story is the risible nugget that our fearless leaders literally can't find the light switches in the White House Cabinet Room. D'oh!
BONUS: Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog covers more of the hidden nuggets in the Times story (in case you don't have time to discover them).
