>

You know, I'm inclined to believe him either because the Pentagon knew he would attempt to do something stupid or that it was briefing that he never bothered to pay attention to.
i bet you a billion dollars it was in one of his daily briefings he didnt read.
Edit: the other option would be he called China, where he pays most of his taxes, and asked Winnie about the balloons, and believed china's lie over American Intelligence. >

Wouldn't be surprising if he never read or skimmed through a lot of briefings. >

God. He probably never read the thing unless someone showed him a picture and brief explanation of what the picture was. >

He was famous from innumerable sources for being so fucking dumb that literally nothing made sense to him and he never bothered to read anything. They had to condense briefings down to one page and tried to mention his name as much as possible because that was the only thing that would get his attention.
He doesn't know a single thing about history or the world or other countries so they couldn't even have an equal and useful discussion about any of the intelligence or issues of the day, like talking to a dumb and angry 3 year old that they all had to babysit and manage so he didn't blow up the world >

I think I found an intel briefing.
OH NO! RUSSIA is moving troops up to the UKRAINIAN border! Can you, President TRUMP, CIRCLE all 5 DIVISIONS with your SHARPIE? >

There were several of these put out by The Onion >

That's so funny, I don't know how I didn't see them before, I check out The Onion nearly every day >

Because he said he never read briefings and didn’t know anything unless it was read to him. How the US survived 4+ years of this douchebag as President… >

It's largely how we survived. He doesn't like working and he never really did that part of the job. He was too lazy and stupid to really fuck things up. We have accounts that aides would swap out proposed orders so he wouldn't sign them. He didn't notice until the story was leaked. >

However, he has shown how easily institutions can be dismantled. The next GOP president will be hardworking, intelligent and understand how government works, he will dismantle the Republic in a single term and replace it with corporate autocracy. The Pompeos and Barrs already have a plan. >

Exactly. Your comment deserves more attention because this is the exact plan for republicans. Also i want to add they will plan on maneuvering into lifetime appointments for the president and his appointees regardless of the law. They want a authoritarianism style of rule and will stop at nothing to get it. >

But power derives from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical aquatic ceremony! >

He was a clueless POTUS without the brain necessary to handle the position. All he did was sit on his ass, watch Fox News, and order Diet Coke. It’s a wonder our country survived his four years of utter incompetence. >

The country survived, but tens of thousands died needlessly as a result of his incompetence and neglect of the ever growing opioid crisis and Covid, culminating in the largest drop in left expectancy the county had since WW2. >

We aren’t even a year above the avg life for the world anymore, and most 1st world European countries beat us in life expectancy. >

Well all the school shootings bring that stat down... >

He could either by lying because he’s a liar, or he could be telling truth because he overlooked it because he’s a dumbass. I’m torn between both choices. >

Or because he's senile and forgot >

Or because he's a moron and thought they meant birthday balloons >

God dammit that should just be a sarcastic remark but it could actually be plausible >

I’m thinking maybe there was a lot he was never informed of.  Good thing too. >

Put it in the bottom half of the briefing but don't bring it up at the meeting. The world is safer, and your ass is covered. >

Hey, maybe they used the ol' Rhodesia solution! >

“According to a Florida Republican,” is all you need to know. >

Florida Man Yells at ~~Cloud~~ Balloon >

Wow, if no one in the Trump administration knew about these balloons at the time, it goes to show just how incompetent they were.
Unless, as is most likely, they did know, and they just let it happen. Maybe that's how Ivanka got those patents.
Also, "fake disinformation"... Is that going to be his new catch phrase instead of "fake news"?
The GOP is beyond useless. >

As opposed to real disinformation maybe. >


As opposed to real disinformation maybe.

... So "fake disinformation" = real information?
If we're following the double-negative rule and all... >

"They don't think it be like it is, but it do." >

Let’s see. Either:
The Pentagon, the headquarters for the Department of Defense which is responsible for all areas of national security and the armed forces, decided not to tell the the most powerful man in America and Command in Chief, about a foreign country sending a remotely piloted aircraft that could be a surveillance device into their airspace that’s flying across civilian populations and potential high level intelligence infrastructure. 
Or, they did tell him and they’re once again adding to a mountain of lies, which probably has a summit about the same altitude as the balloon.
On three occasions… >

That’s not the summit … that’s the base camp! 😆 >

Not like he really cared. Doubt he even knew what day it was without the tv telling him because his favorite reality shows weren’t on. >

They would have had to draw balloons and a diagram for tRump to understand! >

And then he would draw boobs on the balloons with his Sharpie, just like he did with Hurricane Dorian. >

More like he got the briefings but didn't pay attention or care.   The idiot needed briefings to be like reading a picture book >

And if he didn’t do his job relative to the balloons during his presidency then what other jobs didn’t he do because he didn’t care or didn’t listen¿ >

Covid for starters 🤣, ensuring a peaceful transition of power after losing the election and court challenges, those are pretty big by themselves, do you need more, user bunch of numbers??? >

Okay, but that’s worse.  They get that that’s worse, right? >

Trump didn't get informed about a lot of things because everyone knew he was dumb and crazy.
For example, Kash Patel pretended to be a Ukraine expert for the WH. The actual Ukraine expert got edged out because Trump had already met Kash and Trumps handlers didn't want to confuse him.
That's how you treat a child or a geriatric entering his second childhood as senility sets in. That's how they treated Trump. >

So he is either not a leader, or he's an incompetent leader >

Translation: Trump slept through the PDB for 4 years straight. >

"And according to several Trump Admin national security officials - they were never informed of these intrusions by the Pentagon." 
According to Rep Michael Waltz. Who was a fresh congressman in 2019. And only has anonymous sources for his claim. And those anonymous sources would not necessarily know anything about what Trump was or wasn’t briefed on.
It’s incredible how bad journalism has become. >

You are right. I read the article, unlike most of the commenters in this thread, and it left so many obvious questions unanswered. >

Bullshit. He just wasn't paying attention. >

Fucking Liar... >

It was probably kept from him so he wouldn't throw ketchup on the wall and try to nuke the balloons and china right after.
With his lack of functional intelligence I assume there were several people deciding what he should know and what he shouldn't. >

Trump was not a competent Commander in Chief. >

In the wise words of Chidi: Okay, but that’s worse. You do get how that’s worse, right? >

It was probably in the intel briefings that he didn't find important. >

So more gross negligence from the Trump Administration..... >

Did any one expect
Him to be honest >

Some of his followers think he's never told a lie.  He just jokes and kids a lot.  In fairness they think the Bible is literal and ignores all those contradictions too. >

He said he always knew more than the generals. >

Didn’t tell him because he would’ve gone to war or tried to nuke the balloon >

Memo must have gotten lost in the swamp. >

No other  president ever had bigger beauty fuller spy balloons >

Trump was probably too busy watching FOX and making sure they were singing his praises, than to be bothered by a Chinese spy balloon. >

If he would’ve found out, what are the chances he would’ve bull in a China shop’ed us into WW3 (no pun intended). Maybe his handlers knew better. >

Him not being informed is not the gotcha this congressman thinks it is. >

There isn’t a large enough number for the amount of stuff trump isn’t informed about. The man is a literal clown in a suit. Evades paying taxes, lies about everything, and acts like a spoiled 16 year old. >

You gave him an extra 10 years he didn’t deserve. >

My guess is they tried to tell him he either did not read the daily memo or refused to listen because it did not interest him at the moment. Both things he routinely did during security briefings he would often be paying attention to tv or talking over people about his latest grievance. >

Never informed or can’t read >

Look, Representative Michael Waltz - Florida Republican, when you claim "Trump Admin national security officials" weren't informed by the Pentagon you create a problem.
Trump supposedly rebuilt the military in those 4 years, and the Pentagon unless I'm mistaken is part of the military...
So either Trump is a liar, those 'officials' were liars/incompetent, or the Pentagon had not informed the Trump administration because the US military didn't trust the Trump Administration...
Which aligns perfectly with him saying he didn't trust the FBI/CIA/CDC/etc. and instead preferred US adversaries. >

Good point >

By "never informed" he means tldr. >

So he either didn’t read the briefings, or they didn’t tell him because they were afraid he would flip the lid off the big red button lmao >

“Why would they spy when I sold them everything they wanted to know?” >

I believe they didn’t tell him. Also doesn’t mean it didn’t happen… >

China was just looking at all the property they have bought up in the US >

I’m hoping there was a lot of info that intelligence services sat on because they didn’t trust anyone in the Trump administration. >

thats cause the adults didnt trust trump with anything. >

Sure, that's credible. >

It was in his intel report, sadly he dropped his hamberder right on it >

Well they probably figured he would try to nuke it while over American territory. >

Yeah, it was common knowledge you slept through the intel briefings trump. >

It’s not in the Pentagon’s budget to make a pop-up book for Trump to flip through on daily national security threats >

Realizing he was potentially compromised, I suspect there were a few things he wasn’t told. >

I seem to remember something about trump not reading the daily briefings like the real presidents do. 
choosing to not read the brief is not the same as “they didn’t tell me”. >

Florida Republican lies for his Messiah Trump. >

Let's take a step back here:
How does Waltz know Trump was not informed?  He wasn't part of the White House staff.
He has no way of knowing for sure what he is claiming. He is making hearsay claims.  They hold literally no merit. >

Well, if the reports are true, they knew and didn’t do or say anything, or didn’t know. 
Seems like this is damage control more than accusatory, though doesn’t look good either way. >

Bullshit. And if that's true how fucking embarrassing. >

I barely knew my military. >

Lies lies sweet sounding lies. But we all know better. >

I call bullshit. >

Yeah sure he didn't lol, of course you guys would say that, I swear you think we're stupid.. >

Also maybe officials didn't trust him to not blab about this shit or thowout some Willey coyote BS plan that would distract from real work. >

He preferred crayons and connect the dots over briefings >

If I'm in a job, and people don't tell me stuff bc they think im too much of an idiot and would react poorly, i'd try to correct that image immediately.  Trump still doesn't understand everyone thought he was a fucking fool and he was likely the reason he wasn't told, if indeed he wasn't. >

Yeah I would probably be too embarrassed and quit lol. If that’s the case there’s no way I should be in that position. >

Brought up in all the security meetings he skipped I guess…. >

He was such a weak president that his own pentagon didn't tell him about spy balloons? >

Believable >

Easy, he saw it and threw it away. If it’s not in twitter, it’s not worth his attention. He was informed but got negligent to care >

Not the great excuse they think it is. >

Hurry Donald we need you to play dumb! >

There's no playing involved here >

And you think this absolves you Donny-boy? >

They needed to include his name, as often as possible in the briefings, so he would stay focused reading them. What a piece of shit >

More like “never bothered to read” threat intelligence reports or anything that was put in front of him that was longer than the length of a tweet… >

That or the pentagon didn’t trust him with that information 😂 >

Maybe if he had paid attention to his dailies…. >

So that means he was briefed about it in person twice a day for half a month. >

That probably saved us from nuking a balloon over Nebraska. >

This sounds like a "scandal" of EPIC proportions.
I look forward to the testimony under oath from Trump-appointed intel officials about this failure related to national security.
I'm sure that the Republican House will get on that after their 
-checks notes- 
third investigation into Hunter Biden's dick pics. >

once again proving that the GOP is more concerned with what's in people's pants than actually putting the country first. >

Because they treated him like a child and decided it was safer to keep information from him. >

exactamundo.  didn't that even come out?  didnt kelly withhold things from dumpster donnie all the time?  simply because donald wasn't cognitively up to speed to comprehend them. >

Trump was/is a walking national threat. >

I don't know what the fuck Merrick Garland is taking his sweet ass time about now. >

That tends to happen when you never attend security briefings. >

Why would they bother to try?  It wasn't about him. >

The Pentagon and the IC learned early on that briefing Trump was pointless. Talking to Trump is like talking to a mirror reflection of a wall. >

The Toddler Defense: he’s too stupid to have known better? That’s why it’s not his fault, you see. No, we don’t regret giving this man the nukes. >

It's possible - not unreasonable to hold back potentially sensitive information from someone who suggesting nuking a hurricane. 
But as mentioned, what's way more likely is that he was informed and just wasn't paying attention or didn't read it. Guy doesn't have a lot of mental overhead. >

Trump is on record saying he believed Putin over our IC about Russian election interference. He badmouths the CIA and others in our intelligence community all the time. Trump had a bank account in China while President and pays most of his taxes there. He was most likely briefed on the overflights but chose to believe Jinping instead. >

They were probably mentioned in those worthless intelligence briefings you didn’t waste time reading. >

Most likely just didn't listen >

You’re telling me that the intelligence community kept information from a chief executive that had been saber rattling for war with China since before his election during a pandemic he was trying to blame on them?
I envy those who hear the tale of their heroism decades from now when it can be safely told. >

Why is the argument always that Trump was too stupid to pay attention?  It is not a good argument.  Either the entire DOD was incompotent, or Trump couldn't appoint a good Secretary of Defense.  In all cases, he's the president and those problems rise to the top. >

IIRC, Trump needed his daily briefing to be one page or less and include pictures. Very possible that some key information was left off his briefings because they weren't able to fit in that page. >

Bullshit.  Just because he decided to watch Fox News instead of reading his briefings does not mean they didn't inform him. >

No, it doesn’t. It would have been a regional decision made by competent officials who understood the level of threat and understood that telling Trump was much more dangerous, >

Yes, the usual - "I was joking." >

Who’s on first? ⚾️ >

He would ordered the military to nuke it or something if they had told him >

The only question is why is this a discussion about his thinking process. He is not worthy of this discussion. >

I’m pretty sure this balloon only got the attention at the level that it did was because the public was aware of it and it became a subject of conversation on the cable news networks. If that wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we would have just continued to track and observe it and not have bothered to shoot it down. 
Shooting it down seems like an action we were forced into because of the news coverage it was getting. >

I agree that’s a possibility. Not sure how much difference there is between a surveillance balloon at 60 thousand feet and a spy satellite, but we sure have several,of the latter. Will the Chinese decide to take out one of those? >

You know, you don’t have to worry about divulging classified information or advertising dysfunction within the national security apparatus to our global rivals if you’re just making shit up out of whole cloth in order to win the media cycle… >

Please >

Why tell the buffoon about Chinese balloons when he’d probably just order it to be nuked? >

What kind of loser President isn’t informed about spy balloons over his fucking airspace. >

Trump >

Yes, the commander in chief of the armed forces would never have been informed about a foreign military object entering US airspace. 
There sadly are enough Americans that will believe this >

What evidence do you have that it was a foreign MILITARY Object?
None. >

Imagine if he had been told, he would have put on a big ass show and make us look ridiculous. >

If true, probably was a good idea not to inform “hey can we nuke North Korea and blame it on someone else” Donald Trump. >

I guarantee you he was informed. He wasn't listening to his intelligence briefings. He was too busy watching TV. >

We know that the Donald isn’t familiar with fact checking. He’s just so pathetic! >

Someone popped his balloon . >

Even if he actually did read a briefing and saw the word “balloon” you know he it was something birthday related and since it wasn’t his he moved on to executive time >

lol, this was my theory when it came out it happened during his admin too:
"If you're a reasonable career military official, and you've seen what a frothing mess some of the political people in that admin were every time China was mentioned, would you keep quiet on something that was probably as inconsequential then as this was now? This one only blew up because people spotted it and Biden has created a protective dome of Boring around the continental US." >

They probably didn't include pictures of the balloon, so he didn't read it. >

“We can’t tell that orange POS or he’ll start WW3” >

Even if they had, he probably would have tried to blame it on Hillary Clinton's emails. >

That’s what happens when you ignore your intelligence briefings >

Ah. The man who killed the daily natsec brief and forced staff to sprinkle his name into it just so he’d pay a little attention >

Always nice to see reporting of statements by liars of what other liars told them. Very informative. >

It was in those briefs he never bothered to look at. >

The talking point before the balloon was shot down was, would this have happened under Trump, in other words, would China have dared done this?
Whether he knew or not, yeah, they totally had no problem with this antic during his time. >

He only believes information from his “international” handlers >

It's a well known fact that Trump didn't read his daily intelligence briefings and really liked graphs. >

It wasn’t shown to him in a graph made with a sharpie so he didn’t pay attention. >

Trump-backed election denier Mike Waltz said Trump was “never informed” but Biden is incompetent and mismanaged this? Say it ain’t so! I, for one, am shocked       /s >

Very concerning. >

With his lack of impulse control, I'm sure there were a lot of things DoD, DHS, HS etc. never told Trump. I shudder to think what we will learn in coming months and years about what happened while Trump was out golfing or tweeting in front of the tv. >

Is “fake disinformation”—information? >

If we believed literally everything he said, he would essentially be a perfect human being that has never made a single error ever. 
He’s stated he’s the richest person, the physically strongest person, the smartest person, the most honest person, the best athlete etc etc. >

I bet it was in one of the thousands of classified documents he did not take or read to his home >

Probably in one of those daily briefings he just ignored. >

Or maybe, this is why it helps to pay the fuck attention in national security briefings! >

Just because he wasn't paying attention when they told him doesn't mean he was never informed. >

Trump maybe: they kept telling me chinese baboons were flying over America and I think gee we got the worst intelligence because Chinese baboons don’t fly or even have wings Only the ones from the Florida Disney area do >

I put this perspective on it.  Do you risk telling him and have him overreact and make yet another off the cuff decision that makes everything worse based upon the fact that he never listened to his advisors because he was obviously “the smartest person alive” or do you monitor it and let the professionals make assessments? >

So by admitting that Trump was never informed implies that either he was incompetent or his national security officials were.