Photo Credit: Erika Bain (@ebain529)
On Saturday evening, while Trump was having dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he received word that North Korea had launched a missile that eventually landed in the East Sea/Sea of Japan. That's disturbing in and of itself. But Trump took it up a notch by discussing the incident with consultants and aides, while continuing his dinner in the open dining room that was full of other diners. I'm not a security expert, but my father is a retired Air Force officer who helped design numerous missiles and, based on my experiences with him, I am pretty sure I have a good grasp of the importance of discretion with government intelligence. Sadly, it appears that the POTUS does not have a similar understandng of the need for secrecy.
A man named Ricard DeAgazio, who appears to be a member of Mar-a-Lago, was in the dining room when the chaos surrounding the North Korean launch ensued. He took photos of the action and then posted it publicly on his personal Facebook page. (Update: It appears that this Facebook page has been disabled. Good thing I got screen shots.) Please see the photos below:
The comments on this post indicate that those who appear to have been in the dining room were very excited about being a part of what normal people would consider a diplomatic crisis. (I have screen shots of the comments, but I have not posted them here.) The comments toward the end of the thread appear to be from typical citizens who, like me, see the extreme danger of the heads of two of the most powerful nations in the world dealing with a crisis in the middle of an open dining room. (It should be noted that, since I began writing this, there are at least a 100 more comments on this post now and it is being shared widely.)
Not only did Mr. DeAgazio post about the goings-ons in the dining room, he also publicly posted a photo of the military officer who carries the nuclear football on his Facebook page. Please see the photos below.
Once again, the commenters who were at Mar-a-Lago appear to be thrilled that their buddy Richard posts about such "interesting details." But, as the thread continues, others begin to express concern about revealing the carrier of the nuclear football on social media. I never knew who carried the nuclear football during any of the previous administrations, but thanks to Mr. DeAgazio, now the whole world knows.
All of this has led me to the following conclusions:
1) DT obviously cares more about relatively insignficant things, like finishing his dinner, than he does protecting the people of the world. If he did truly care about doing his job, he would have left the table and gone to a private room in which he, PM Abe, and their advisors could discuss strategy--and the dinner could have been continued in their private room. Instead, they discussed this in an open location with numerous people around them--all creating the possibility of a significant security breach.
2) DT's behaviors indicate that he is likely working to create a real-life reality show for his resort members so he can attract even more millionaires/billionaires to Mar-a-Lago. (Each membership is $200,000/year. It was $100,000 prior to his election.) What can you give someone who has everything they will ever need or want? You can give them an up close and personal look into a real-life international crisis that could eventually end in global thermonuclear war if not dealt with appropriately. You can even let them see, and take photos with, the man with the nuclear football! It's pretty clear to me that Trump is doing what he can to continue profiting off of his position as president.
3) DT must be stopped because his actions, regardless of his motives, are dangerous. And it's terrifying that he continues to be surrounded by a bevy of Enablers that are still not getting him in line. Meanwhile, the Republican Congress remains quiet as, every day, Trump and his posse bring our country closer to mutually assured destruction via nuclear war. Clearly, they have also put their political and personal needs above the safety of American citizens.
THIS IS NOT NORMAL!
