A former Trump intelligence official who resigned in August after being passed up for a promotion has had some interesting things to say about her former boss.
But while the media, particularly Trump-obsessed CNN, have rushed to portray her remarks as a diss, that doesn’t actually appear to be the case.
Speaking at a gathering of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group on Tuesday, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Susan M. Gordon noted that President Donald Trump was often skeptical of her findings. However, she seemed to suggest that this willingness to question the narrative wasn’t a bad thing.
Listen closely to her full statement below:
“I found him actually kind of a fun brief because he was interactive. He would challenge you,” she said to an interviewer.
When then asked what sort of questions and retorts he’d offer, she said that he’d most often say, “One, I don’t think that’s true.”
But while this admission spurred laughter from the audience, Gordon promptly rushed to Trump’s defense by pointing out that skepticism isn’t a bad thing.
“[R]emember, intelligence is fundamentally a craft of uncertainty and possibility, so that doesn’t put you off,” she said, adding that her preferred method for dealing with his skepticism was to examine his sources and better understand HIS perspective.
“It’s trying to catch up to how you adjudicate the sources that led him to believe that and how you respond to it,” she explained.
That’s called being empathetic.
“So one is I’m not sure I believe that. And the other one is second and third order effects. Why is that true? Why are we there? Why is this what you believe? Why do we do that? Those sorts of things,” Gordon continued.
She did not seem critical of the president, yet the shameless propagandists at CNN were quick to portray her remarks as a scathing indictment of Trump:
Sue Gordon speaks. And the CNN headline is stark:
“Former official says Trump often refused to believe his intelligence briefings”https://t.co/QtkricvDss
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 3, 2019
Gordon also spoke about Trump’s admitted lack of official political experience and his willingness to accept news from non-establishment sources.
“He is probably the first president that arrived with no framework and a world that has massively available information with infinite people offering opinion that ofttimes sound the same but in fact are grittier, because they don’t have to have the same standard,” she said.
She then broached his focus on the economy.
“And he’s different because he is much more economic in the way he sees the world,” she noted. “And the intelligence community traditionally is much more political, military, purposefully so. And so we were scrambling a bit to try and produce intelligence that was foundationally useful for someone who was interested in making trades and deals, and be able to explain how we see the world when we were all the things that other people had been.”
It sounds like, despite the president’s different approach toward intelligence, Gordon made a sincere effort to work with him.
Her approach contrasts sharply with that of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and the White House’s former top Russia analyst, Fiona Hill, both of whom reportedly actively sought to undermine the president’s agenda.
Trump took to Twitter to explain why the Obama-appointed Yovanovitch (who undermined Trump’s policy) was not good at her job. Clowns on the Hill and in Media call this expression of opinion – that contains no hint of a threat – “witness intimidation.” pic.twitter.com/OYqlvJFLmR
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) November 15, 2019
As pointed out earlier, Gordon’s remarks did not appear to be negative. They appeared to just be candid observations that could be interpreted either positively or negatively. And because CNN is nothing but a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party, of course it interpreted them negatively. As did the most fervent of left-wing activists:
This fits in too with the alarms being sounded by mental health professionals. https://t.co/2CGIPCHN0d
— Amy Siskind ?️? (@Amy_Siskind) December 4, 2019
But for those Americans capable of thinking outside the Democrat Party’s preferred ideological bent, Gordon’s remarks about Trump seemed rather refreshing.
Observe:
Good. Skepticism would have served us well before we decided to wage the Iraq War!
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) December 3, 2019
I’m glad he does we can only wish someone did during the lead up to the Iraq war.
— Mike Parker (@MJP1313) December 4, 2019
If he didn’t express some level of skepticism, then I would be concerned
— SpaDe (@CFHSpaDe) December 4, 2019
I would rather have a President who questions conventional wisdom than one who never questions.
— Greg B (@GPlutus) December 4, 2019
Knowing now what we didn’t know then, he was more often right than not.
— PreviouslyKnownAsSomeoneElse (@DryHumorDryBeef) December 3, 2019
This is a funny pull quote and all but most of Gordon’s quotes in the article make Trump sound more reasonable than basically anything anyone else has ever said about him has. I *want* POTUS to be asking “Why are we there?” No shame in questioning basic premises sometimes!
— andy (@andy_schauer) December 4, 2019
Given the IC’s actions, these are both reasonable responses.
— Anne (@fiscon_soclib) December 4, 2019
Read the article. I’m glad @realDonaldTrump did not just blindly except what the “intelligence” Community was telling him. he should question what they say. we’ve had nothing but provocation of war and war mongers running US we should be questioning every thing they do and say
— rosalokeyorbe (@rosalokeyorbe) December 4, 2019
Exactly. But remember, according to the propagandists in the mainstream establishment media, skepticism any kind is wrong, except of course if it involves being skeptical that Trump legitimately won the 2016 election. That sort of speculation and blatant conspiracy theorizing is perfectly ok, apparently.
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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