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Press celebrates, but this is a huge problem - not just for Trump but for the entire country

Leaks become gushers: Someone at the White House gave WaPo transcripts of classified Trump calls to foreign leaders



There's bigger news than what President Trump may or may not have said in calls to the leaders of Mexico and Australia. The bigger news is that we know about this at all, and how we know it. Try to imagine this: Your boss gets on the phone to an important client or vendor. While he's talking, several other people are in the room taking notes on the conversation. He trusts you as part of his team, so you're allowed to be in the room and allowed to take notes. Shortly thereafter, you decide to provide these transcripts to a business or trade publication that covers your industry, on the condition that they not say who they got them from. They publish them in toto. Your boss is embarrassed. All his competitors are now aware of competitive information that puts your company at a decided disadvantage in the market.
What kind of traitorous turncoat are you? You know damn well that if you get found out, you will be out the door so fast you won't know what hit you, and you'd better hope you didn't sign any legal nondisclosure agreements because if you did your boss is going to take you for everything you've got - and you'll deserve it. That's how much of a scumbag you are. And apparently the White House is filled with people like this - people who pretend they're there to help President Trump govern while in fact they are looking for opportunities to undermine him. And this is all perfectly fine with the Washington Post, because it benefits from these people's dishonesty:
Produced by White House staff, the documents provide an unfiltered glimpse of Trump’s approach to the diplomatic aspect of his job, subjecting even a close neighbor and long-standing ally to streams of threats and invective as if aimed at U.S. adversaries. The Jan. 28 call with Turnbull became particularly acrimonious. “I have had it,” Trump erupted after the two argued about an agreement on refugees. “I have been making these calls all day, and this is the most unpleasant call all day.”

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Before ending the call, Trump noted that at least one of his conversations that day had gone far more smoothly. “Putin was a pleasant call,” Trump said, referring to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. “This is ridiculous.” The White House declined to comment. An official familiar with both conversations, who refused to speak on the record because the president’s calls have not been declassified, said, “The president is a tough negotiator who is always looking to make the best possible deals for the American people. The United States has many vital interests at stake with Mexico, including stopping the flow of illegal immigration, ending drug cartels’ reach into our communities, increasing border security, renegotiating NAFTA and reducing a massive trade deficit. In every conversation the president has with foreign leaders, he is direct and forceful in his determination to put America and Americans first.” The official noted that Trump has since met both the Australian and Mexican leaders in person and had productive conversations with them. The transcripts were based on records kept by White House notetakers who monitored Trump’s calls. Known as a “memorandum of conversation,” such documents are commonly circulated to White House staff and senior policymakers. Both documents obtained by The Post contain notes indicating they were reviewed and classified by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg Jr., who serves as chief of staff on the National Security Council.

Can you imagine if you had an employee who did something like this to you? The far more important revelation here - much more than what Trump may or may not have said - is that the Washington culture is crawling with people who would do something like this. Not only that, but the press corps think it's wonderful. They think of these people as "whistleblowers" and view all this through the lense of "transparency." But healthy transparency doesn't mean that conversations the president thinks are private end up in the newspapers because internal turncoats violate policy and give them to the press. That isn't just bad for the current sitting president. That's bad for the country. How is any president supposed to be feel confident he can have a frank, honest conversation with a foreign leader - or with anyone for that matter - if there's a chance that his words will be blabbed via the media? And if presidents have to fear such leaks, then how can a foreign leader be confident a president is being candid with him? And I would ask a question to the Washington Post and to any other media outlet that chooses to publish information like this, which is both classified and not authorized for release: Do you realize that the person you're trusting as your source lies to his boss? Do you realize this person engages in duplicity, pretending to be a loyal employee while going behind his boss's back and undermining him?


I realize you hate this man's boss, so maybe this is a case of situational ethics for you. His dishonesty is fine as long as it's at the expense of someone we can't stand. But if this person is accepting a paycheck to work for the president while secretly undermining him, then he's a liar. You understand this, yes? And if he lies to his boss, what makes you so sure he's being truthful with you? And when you refuse to name your source, but tell us to trust you that this is all on the up and up, why should we accept that when we already know that your source is a duplicitous liar? And why should we feel good about trusting our well-being to Washington, when Washington is full of people like this and those of you who are supposed to be holding them accountable encourage the most dishonest, disloyal behavior - as long as it benefits you? President Trump is absolutely right to rail against leaks. No corporation in America would tolerate what goes on routinely in Washington D.C. Yet the Beltway yawns, or scoffs, at Trump's concerns. This is why the swamp needs to be drained. I hope whoever leaked this transcript, which was classified, is caught and sent to prison for a very long time. At least.

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Dan Calabrese -- Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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