Since he set foot in the Oval Office, Kremlin asset and malignant narcissist Donald "Tovarich" Trump has been a major national security risk. His private, undocumented conversations with Russian officials like Foreign Minister Lavrov and former Ambassador Kislyak, not to mention those with his thuggish idol Vladimir Putin In the months and even years ahead, we'll learn more about the ways he was compromised by foreign adversaries, over financial, or other issues.
His routine, loose lips braggadocio about "hydrosonic" [sic] missiles and other military matters demonstrates that he has no concern about sharing top secret information with anyone who is listening. Even if his grasp of what he's being briefed on is limited, he has enough to be dangerous. His love of Mother Russia caused the CIA to extract an extremely valuable informant from Moscow in 2017 because of worries that Trump would reveal his identity, and with good reason: the informant was instrumental in tracing Russia's interference in the 2016 election to benefit Trump to Putin himself.
Writing in the Washington Post, former principal deputy director for national intelligence Sue Gordon notes the danger posed by the departing malignant narcissist:
"His post-White House 'security profile,' as the professionals like to call it, is daunting. Any former president is by definition a target and presents some risks. But a former president Trump, even before the events of last week, might be unusually vulnerable to bad actors with ill intent. He leaves, unlike his predecessors who embraced the muted responsibilities of being a 'former,' with a stated agenda to stay engaged in politics and policy. No departing president in the modern era has hinted at or planned on becoming a political actor immediately after leaving office.
In addition, Trump has significant business entanglements that involve foreign entities. Many of these current business relationships are in parts of the world that are vulnerable to intelligence services from other nation-states. And it is not clear that he understands the tradecraft to which he has been exposed, the reasons the knowledge he has acquired must be protected from disclosure, or the intentions and capabilities of adversaries and competitors who will use any means to advance their interests at the expense of ours." (our emphasis)
It's imperative that President Biden stop future national security briefings to Trump (he never paid attention to them anyway), because he has the motivation to reveal secret information in exchange for financial support from our adversaries, or simply out of revenge for a nation that rejected him at the polls.
(photo: A classic study in body language, with a triumphal Putin and downcast Trump after Helsinki summit in 2018. Getty Images)
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