It’s become not only depressing following this endless 2016 spin war, it’s mind-numbingly exhausting, to the point often I read a few news articles, take a look at the hysterical headlines sapping all of the news reporting energy on both sides of this info war, then I go about my real life chores and my spare time I used to devote to thinking about politics and news topics, goes to reading novels or my crafts and needlework projects.
In my last blog post I wrote:
“There’s one other predictable outcome. Other Trump cabinet officials will be jetting around the world for months after this summit, trying to clean up Trump’s messes that are sure to come from Trump’s reckless, impetuous and egomaniacal impulses.
Oh, and of course Trump will be tweeting that he struck the best deal ever…”
Well, Trump’s trip isn’t even over yet, but I feel my prognostication radar was pretty accurate:
WASHINGTON — Hours after President Donald Trump departed NATO headquarters Thursday, U.S. military leaders embarked on a full-scale “damage control” operation with calls to their counterparts across Europe to reassure them that America will abide by its defense commitments in the region.
The outreach, directed by the Pentagon leadership, came after Trump threatened to reassess those commitments during a gathering with NATO allies in Brussels, according to multiple current and former diplomatic and military officials familiar with the calls.
This isn’t spin from the “fake news” or lies about President Trump’s deal making skills, this is what happens with every Trump policy initiative, both domestic and foreign. Even when Trump’s proposed policy makes sense to bolster American national security, it’s always Trump and his undisciplined, imprudent, unscripted taunts and unscripted speeches that torpedo his own policy efforts.
This NATO meeting followed the Trump modus operandi. It was classic Trump. It’s also the Trump administration modus operandi to fly into damage control to clean up and try to salvage the policy wreckage Trump leaves in his wake. Never fear though, because Hannity and a FOX News entourage now travel with Trump on these foreign trips to keep the Trump brainwashing messaging blaring 24/7, so that the Trump following, FOX News watching base doesn’t ever get a moment to go wobbly on Trump.
Trump is totally predictable, despite his spinners enthrallment with Trump’s supposed “stable genius”… He pays more attention to Sean Hannity than to top American national security experts in his own administration. He isn’t ever going to negotiate some magnificent deal for America. His national security team will believe Trump is on board with an agenda and like every other high-level meeting, Trump will walk into this meeting with Putin, throw his own team under the bus again and go rogue. That will generate the media sensation he desires and for Trump that is “winning”.
Trump also delights in making his own national security team look like fools, but they still will burn up the phone lines to America’s allies and jet around the world cleaning up Trump’s foreign policy wreckage.
The Russians’ reliance on propaganda and extreme information warfare methods, to control the Russian people and sow dissent to destabilize and weaken Western democracies, should be familiar to every Western leader, as it’s been the Russian SOP since, oh, around 1919.
America’s spin information war began in the 1990s, with the Democrats working with sympathetic mainstream media to relentlessly repeat their talking points, that manufacture opinion cascades. Those opinion cascades were ruthlessly used by Democrats and their media spinners to promote the belief that these manufactured opinion cascades represent “the will of the American people”. It’s been a ruthless propaganda war waged against the American people. In 2016, this spin war entered into a scorched earth level conflict, when Trump amassed a media army that could fight back against the Left’s lock on spin information warfare. The American people remain the target of both sides in this spin war and the American people are being ruthlessly manipulated by both sides. There are no winners, except for America’s adversaries.
Putin on the other hand will arrive at this meeting fully briefed, fully prepared and with a meticulously crafted plan on how to manipulate and manage Trump.
Putin won this meeting already. Trump just trashed NATO publicly and attacked the leaders of America’s closest allies, just like he attacked them at the G-7 before meeting with Kim Jong Un. These meetings are becoming as predictable as Trump’s rally road shows, where whenever his negative spin makes him worried his followers might turn on him, FOX news and the Trump spin troops rush to produce another Trump rally road show, so they can tout the “thousands of followers” crowd optic and showcase Trump surrounded with American flags as stage props.
The mainstream media in America and the media in Western Europe, following Trump’s NATO performance, will assuredly be shrieking about Trump being owned by Putin, which will assure that Trump will lash out on Twitter, in attacks against the media and attacks against America’s closest allies, if they make any noises of concern. If the negative spin gets too loud, well, it’s back to the Trump rally road shows and wrapping himself in the American flag.
So much “winning”…
libertybelle diaries 
“The Russians’ reliance on propaganda and extreme information warfare methods, to control the Russian people and sow dissent to destabilize and weaken Western democracies, should be familiar to every Western leader.”
Yup.