@GottaLaff

I'm sorry...

So... We _agreed_ to an attack against our own forces in order to allow the Iranians to suggest they were retaliating against American interests to their hardliners?

... Am I the only one that thinks that suggests _we_ called Iran ahead of time and said, "We're bombing three sites and here's a list."

Am I the only one that thinks this suggests a significant bit of theatre on the US's part?

Trump is so far detached from the norm he's inherently dangerous.

@SueDiOh

Yeah, I think it's actually worse than that.

If he'd _actually_ been bought he'd at least be predictable.

I think he's just doing whatever self-serving thing occurs to him at any given moment of the day.

That behavior seems to be pretty hard to predict.

@401matthall @SueDiOh Its a little of both. We (U.S. Intelligence Community) actually WATCHED him be bought--by the Kremlin via the Russian mob via Deutsche Bank--when his business incompetence had left him bankrupt with no honest lender willing to touch him, and he was terrified of actually being POOR. Because our due-course MISSION involved monitoring the Russians he was talking to, and he was too stupid to think that would necessarily expose HIM on the other end of the negotiations.

But youre absolutely right that his only real interest is in whatever his addled mind thinks will benefit him (malignant narcissist, remember), and as a native New Yorker, I've watched him screw friends, contractors, patrons, supporters, etc. FOR HALF A CENTURY, so I have no doubt that if he's reached the point where he thinks his new taxpayer-funded #craptocurrency scams will keep him rich for his remaining years, and his cult is beyond caring about ANY dirt they might release, he may get tired of having to be #VladTheInvader's beta all the time.

He might want to get checked for #PoloniumAllergies, though. Vlad doesnt have a lot of tolerance for oligarchs who start thinking they're independent....