In the beginning, Trump created a deplorable administration and shady cabinet. And the press said, “Let there be leaks,” and there were leaks.
Leaks about light switches, about Australia, about executive orders that weren’t ready for prime time. And leaks about so much more.
So now it seems only fitting that we’ve come full circle: The latest White House leak is, of course, about leaks.
Related: Video of Melania recoiling from Trump’s touch has the Internet very concerned
How about we take this to the next level?
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Upset by all the unflattering news citing anonymous White House sources (remember: “the leaks are real, the news is fake”), White House press secretary and Melissa McCarthy impersonator Sean Spicer has reportedly gone all middle school principal on his staff.
Without notice, they were summoned to a meeting where their phones — personal and government issued — were confiscated and inspected for evidence of leaking to the press.
White House attorneys supervised the crackdown, and Politico reports they were looking for encrypted messaging apps like Confide and Signal. These apps, Spicer warned, could potentially violate the Presidential Records Act.
Related: Here’s what Steve Bannon really thinks about gays. It’s not good.
The emergency meeting was called after Spicer realized someone on his own staff had leaked information about a communications staff meeting. It doesn’t seem to be getting any easier for the administration to keep things under wraps.
It’s almost as if some people working in the White House feel they owe it to the American people to pull back the curtain on the dysfunction of the new administration. Go figure.
At his 2020 campaign kickoff event (ugh) in Florida two weeks ago, Trump said reporters “make up stories and make up sources.” “Let their names be put out there,” he said, arguing that the media shouldn’t be allowed to use unnamed sources. We won’t even begin to delve into why that’s an absolutely absurd position.
Related: Melania Trump’s bizarre #PowerOfTheFirstLady hashtag totally backfires on her
Other wings of the Trump administration have tried to squash leaks in their own way, including the State Department putting out a memo about the dangers of leaking.
That memo was promptly leaked and published by The Washington Post.
We’re now at the point where meta leaks are not just a thing, they’re a pattern.
Back in October of 2016, when leaks were harming Hillary’s campaign and increasing his odds of occupying the White House, Trump said at a rally, “I love WikiLeaks. It’s amazing how nothing is secret today when you talk about the Internet.”
Bob LaBlah
Those “crooked Hillary” and “lock her up” comments are coming back and biting him in the ass, as I knew they would. I have said all along the best thing for the country (and now the world) would have been to give Obama another year or two and find to other candidates. Only a fool couldn’t have seen this coming. And its only going to get worse.
Marco
From Michael Flynn, ex national security advisor, “if I, a guy who knows this business, if I did a tenth of what [Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton] did, I would be in jail today.” Hang’em with their own slogans!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/14/michael-flynns-speech-at-the-republican-national-convention-predicted-his-demise/?utm_term=.6a583da6cd72
orjeffy
I digress, but Spicy Facts would be DILF-y if he’d stop using Trumpler’s Patented Skin-So-Tan Bronzer. Jaundice is never a good look.
rbernard
Sphincter is funny, sometimes hilarious to watch, but at this point, does anyone believe a word he says?
NateOcean
I’ve got money in the office betting pool that he’ll be the first to have an on-camera meltdown: First the screaming, then the crying, and finally fetal position in the corner nursing his thumb and babbling incoherently.
davidkohl
Yes some people believe him – himself and his puppet master. The rest of the same world sits back and enjoys the entertainment – or we would do if it was not for the fact these people are so powerful and can hurt and scare so many others. The simple reality is that if you have incompetence at the top then you will have incompetence all the way down the line. A narcissist will not appoint anyone who is clearly more clever and competent than himself – just look at The Odious Man’s Cabinet. So we should not be surprised at Spicer’s absurdities and ‘Nixonesque’ behaviour concerning leaks. We just have to hope they keep coming.
NateOcean
This is the best thing ever: Literally within minutes of this emergency meeting to discuss leaks, multiple sources contacted the media and leaked the content of the leak meeting. hahahaha!
This is better than watching an old may with an enlarged prostate trying to maintain a stream at the urinal. There are fits and starts, and then–finally– a long pause…and then the whole damn process seems to start all over again.
An old incontinent man. One with orange hair and an orangutan father.
Kangol
Now, now, let’s not slander orangutans. Drumpf’s daddy was a KKK sympathizer and anti-cop rioter, though.
DCguy
So Trump needs to make up his mind. Leaks were great and he loved leakers during the campaign, but now leakers are un-American and bad??
Ohhhhhh, we’ll if that’s true then thathe must mean that the leakers during the he campaign were ALSO un-American and bad. And they helped him, so by the transitive property………
davidkohl
You are being too logical and not hypocritical enough for the Trump lackeys. You should take into account that huge numbers of the ‘uneducated’ class are his supporters – ‘transitive’ is a word they will never have heard of. The leader of that uneducated, charmless pack is The Odious Man himself of course.
Bob LaBlah
Its enough to make one wonder that if the Russians had no problem hacking into the DNC and leaking info about Hillary why would they not do the same to him just to create more turmoil and make him look all the stupider. I’ll bet Russia has agents and sympathizers throughout the WH.