rant · moment 14 of 18
Nixon, Watergate, and Comparing CIA Tactics on Trump
from Crashing Down · #33
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minThey compare the current CIA-Trump conflict to the CIA's alleged framing of Nixon in Watergate, discussing why Trump's public antagonism differs from Nixon's discretion.
- 52:30Trump and the CIA seem to be at odds — he's declined the daily presidential briefing, making him the first president in modern history to do so.
- 52:51Recent high-profile busts in human trafficking coincide with Trump's stated intention to crack down on the epidemic.
- 53:11Tim notes how unsubtle Trump's antagonism toward the CIA appears, raising questions about whether he's being deliberately reckless or actually informed of something.
- 53:42If Trump had genuine intelligence about CIA misconduct, publicly antagonizing them would be counterproductive — you wouldn't tip them off or make yourself look crazy.
- 54:07Trump shoots from the hip, making his motives difficult to separate from his actions in ways that wouldn't apply to other politicians.
- 54:29Some Trump team moves appear strategically savvy — like when he baits media into listing thwarted terrorist attacks, which then makes his travel ban seem more reasonable.
- 55:01Tim expresses skepticism about the scale of human trafficking claims and the idea that the FBI blocked the Clintons for this reason, treating it as a lurid conspiracy theory.
- 55:22While skeptical of specific claims, Tim doesn't dismiss that pedophilia reaches the highest levels of government — the real question is whether the president specifically is implicated.