I posted this in another thread, but thought it may be worthy of its own discussion. As we all have come to know, this White House leaks like a sieve. It is likely the leakiest administration in our nation’s history. From the article, here are some of the leakers explaining their reasoning for leaking to the press…
"To be honest, it probably falls into a couple of categories,” one current White House official tells me. “The first is personal vendettas. And two is to make sure there’s an accurate record of what’s really going on in the White House.”
"To cover my tracks, I usually pay attention to other staffers’ idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me," the current White House official added.
“The most common substantive leaks are the result of someone losing an internal policy debate,” a current senior administration official told me. “By leaking the decision, the loser gets one last chance to kill it with blowback from the public, Congress or even the President.”
“Otherwise,” the official added, “you have to realize that working here is kind of like being in a never-ending ‘Mexican Standoff.’ Everyone has guns (leaks) pointed at each other and it’s only a matter of time before someone shoots. There’s rarely a peaceful conclusion so you might as well shoot first.”
The bold part really highlights how much thought is given to leaking as well. The people working in the White House understand that the environment being fostered by Trump is one that encourages this type of behavior. And they have turned it into an art-form of sorts.
What really gets me is that any member of this administration that bemoans leaking, or any supporters of this President that decry leaks, are doing so while knowing this is what Trump has brought to the White House. There have been members of the press even hint that one of the biggest leaks of all is the President himself.
So, what are your thoughts? Is this good for our nation? The back-biting, infighting, attack-or-be-attacked attitude throughout the Executive Branch seems to me to be a cancer on our nation. What’s your take?
If I were Trump, I’d have all those around me take a polygraph, while being broadcast on the MSM, ask if they are a leaker and allow the whole world to view the response. Then…I’d have Trump stand over them, point his finger at the guilty and say, “you’re fired!”. I’d announce in advance what I intend to do. The MSM would have to have an invitation to attend this with the understanding that 1/2 of all advertising revenue generated from this event, would go to building the southern border wall. It’d be a great day in America.
Well, I hear people saying they want the government run like a business. The thing is is this is the common type of behavior in the cut throat world of big business and money. It’s not always a bad thing, but everything has it’s place. Government work may not be the best place, though.
Why in the world would Trump do that? He is a leaker himself. It is Trump’s very own management style that encourages this behavior. He thrives on pitting people against one another, and this is a natural end result. Vindictiveness, infighting, trying to humiliate or harm co-workers is a horrible management style, but it is very much Trump’s preference.
The press have pretty much openly stated that Donald leaks to them as well. Sometimes “a source close to the President”, or “someone familiar with the Presidents thinking” is literally the President himself.
It comes from the top, the people below him are simply following suit.
Not all of this is Trumps fault, as the anonymous apps have made leaking easier than ever. But he set this precedent during the campaign where he and his staff constantly leaked.
Kellyanne Conway was called on it multiple times, she wasn’t fired. She still leaks.
The Obama admin came down on leakers like a ton of ■■■■■■■ bricks. If there were pieces going out with “two sources who were in the room…”, the chief of staff would be running around raising absolute hell.
The Trump campaign normalised it. People weren’t fired, it was permitted. So it continues.
If they weren’t fired, I must conclude that they had Trump’s permission. I’m not convinced that Trump knows who is leaking 100% of the time and has permitted it. If he didn’t, I’d make an all out effort to identify who did and then decide what I want to do about it.
