President Trump began 2018 by showing that he did not resolve to give up paranoid Twitter rants in which he calls for law enforcement to arrest people based upon some stuff he heard on Fox News. And for extra oomph, Trump tweeted about “Crooked Hillary” and the so-called “Deep State” while referencing a report from the conservative Daily Caller site that his favorite cable news channel happened to recently discuss.
This appears to be the first time that Trump has publicly mentioned the words “deep state,” thereby acknowledging the conspiracy theory that enemies within the government are actively working to undermine his presidency. (However, an Intercept report recently revealed that the White House was weighing plans for a global, private spy network to assist CIA Director Mike Pompeo in confronting these perceived enemies.) Here’s the relevant POTUS tweet, and then we’ll attempt to unpack it.
Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
It’s a lot to parse. He’s accusing the Justice Department of being part of the deep state and demanding “Jail!” for former Clinton aide Huma Abedin. He’s doing so while referencing Abedin’s handling of Clinton emails but bluntly accusing her of handing “Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents.” Trump tosses a demand of action against James Comey into the mix, but essentially, his gibberish references the Daily Caller report that said Abedin forwarded the “passwords to government systems, to her personal Yahoo email account before every single Yahoo account was hacked.”
As Talking Points Memo indicates, Trump’s tweet arrived soon after Fox News “promoted” the Daily Caller story. Yet Trump had plenty of other things to tweet on Monday morning.
POTUS acknowledged the anti-government protests in Iran while blasting the nuclear deal supported by Obama, who Trump claims “foolishly” lined the “pockets” of terrorists via the Iranian government.
The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their “pockets.” The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The U.S. is watching!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
From there, Trump patted himself on the back for “Zero deaths in 2017” from commercial flights because “I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation.”
Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news – it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
That tweet led to this parody response from the NY Times‘ Sopan Deb.
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/948197131260743682
Trump did not notice the barb but kept on tweeting about “big bonuses” to employees “because of the Tax Cut Bill. Really great!” He also took credit for North Korean soldier defections before slamming the “Failing New York Times” once more. 2018 is off to a raging start, folks.
Companies are giving big bonuses to their workers because of the Tax Cut Bill. Really great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
Sanctions and “other” pressures are beginning to have a big impact on North Korea. Soldiers are dangerously fleeing to South Korea. Rocket man now wants to talk to South Korea for first time. Perhaps that is good news, perhaps not – we will see!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations! Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, “to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved.” Get…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
….impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent “sources,” and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you won’t have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018