The Huffington Post reports tonight that President Donald Trump recently phoned up General Mike Flynn at 3 AM to ask him whether a strong or weak dollar is good for the American economy. The question is one thing, as you'd expect someone who managed to scam his way in to the presidency might know basic economics and civics stuff. More alarming is the report that Trump called his Secretary of Defense nominee for the economic information.
“Leaks typically involve staffers sabotaging each other to improve their own standing or trying to scuttle policy ideas they find genuinely problematic,” write HuffPo's S.V. Date and Christina Wilkie. But “Trump’s 2-week-old administration has a third category: leaks from White House and agency officials alarmed by the president’s conduct.”
Flynn has a long record in counterintelligence but not in macroeconomics. And he told Trump he didn’t know, that it wasn’t his area of expertise, that, perhaps, Trump should ask an economist instead.
Trump was not thrilled with that response ― but that may have been a function of the time of day. Trump had placed the call at 3 a.m., according to one of Flynn’s retellings ― although neither the White House nor Flynn’s office responded to requests for confirmation about that detail.
Politico cites two anonymous sources “familiar with the incident.” May they keep right on leaking, as the freaky incidents continue to get weirder, darker, and more frequent.
The blockbuster quote in this story:
“I’ve been in this town for 26 years. I have never seen anything like this,” said Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under President George W. Bush and a member of his National Security Council. “I genuinely do not think this is a mentally healthy president.”
