John R. Hall
Little Ricky / John R. Hall

In front of the world, Trump (the 45th) and his administration tripled down on his delusional and paranoid claim that former president Obama ordered that wiretap surveillance be executed upon him, on Trump Tower, and on his [antidemocracy] team. In doing so, Trump forced two of America’s most trusted allies, the Germans and the British, into Trump’s swamp.

On March 16, 2017, White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave a former New Jersey judge, Andrew Napolitano (who alleged on Fox News that Obama “went outside the chain of command” and used a British spy agency so that there were “no American fingerprints” on surveillance of Trump), an international stage and a worldwide voice, thereby lending credence to the crazed former judge’s baseless allegation. Spicer, from the White House press room, while standing behind the podium with the seal of the president of the United States blazing in front of him, regurgitated Napolitano’s claim that Britain’s spy agency eavesdropped on Trump at the request of President Obama.

Aghast, the British spy agency, Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), in an extremely rare and angry press communique, soundly rejected that absurd claim as “ridiculous.”

NBC News reported the following:

“Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president-elect are nonsense,” the agency said in a statement. “They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.”

Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman told reporters that the UK government had “made clear” to the [45th president’s] White House that the GCHQ claims should be ignored and had received assurances in return that they will not be repeated.

The day after Spicer spewed Napolitano’s fucking nonsense, White House officials spoke with enraged British officials, hoping to waylay their observations that America’s executive branch is completely deranged. “[British] Ambassador Kim Darroch and Sir Mark Lyall Grant expressed their concerns to Sean Spicer and General H. R. McMaster. Mr. Spicer and General McMaster explained that Mr. Spicer was simply pointing to public reports, not endorsing any specific story,” the White House said in a statement, according to a press pool report from NBC News.

That notwithstanding, after the statement, Spicer said that he doesn’t regret what he said about the British intelligence agency being involved in wiretapping Trump, and he rebuked any reports that he had apologized by saying, “I don’t think we regret anything. We literally listed a litany of media reports that are in the public domain.” Thereby Spicer tripled down.

Trump, not to be outdone by a measly minion such as Spicer, embarrassed and horrified the articulate, gracious and honorable chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. In a joint press conference with Merkel, Trump was asked by a foreign journalist about his administration’s claim that Britain assisted President Obama in wiretapping him. Trump’s response was that Spicer had simply quoted a “talented lawyer” who appears regularly on Fox News. “‘We said nothing,’ argued Trump. ‘All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television,’” The Guardian reported.

The Guardian further stated:

The US president added: “You shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.” Fox News distanced itself […] from the original claim of British eavesdropping made by its “senior judicial analyst,” Andrew Napolitano, a former judge.

Shepard Smith, a Fox News anchor, said Judge Andrew Napolitano commented on the morning show Fox & Friends that he has sources who say British intelligence was involved in surveillance at Trump Tower.

“Fox News cannot confirm Judge Napolitano’s commentary. Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now President of the United States was surveilled at any time, in any way, full stop,” Smith said.

Trump went on to remind Merkel that her cell phone was tapped during President Obama’s administration: “At least we have something in common, perhaps.” To which a bewildered Merkel could only stare at Trump in total disbelief that a president of the United States of America would utter such a flippant remark at a joint press conference with the world watching.

So this is what America has come to—she, through Trump, is accusing its greatest ally of criminal collusion with a former president in illegal wiretapping operations, and embarrassing another critical ally in front of the world. Trump is truly terrible. He is dangerous. He is delusional; he is paranoid. And he must go.

Maybe someone could plant the idea that strawberries are missing from the White House and that they were stolen by Obama. That would trigger Trump to go on a wild search for a missing key that allowed the strawberries to be taken. In desperation, Trump might order a preemptive nuclear strike to prevent further pilfering of strawberries. That would surely be the final straw, and the few rational people left in the government would be justified in intervening and relieving the Tweeter in Chief of his duties, thereby saving America in much the same way Hollywood’s USS Caine was saved from the crazed, fictitious Captain Queeg.

Well, why not? It seems as though I am watching a movie of a futuristic US government hell-bent on destruction and not my government of the people, by the people, for the people.

###
Copyright © 2017 – Hunting For Thompson – All Rights Reserved

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Previous articleSpice is Not Good When the Flu Visit; Sean Spicer is Even Worse
Next articleMr. President, You’ve Got Bigger Problems Than You Know
John R. Hall

John has been described as a contrarian, a provocateur, and a polemicist. With the dexterity of a master magician, John's writing style forces readers to reexamine their positions and opinions on society, politics, and lifestyles. In his book, Red, White, and the Blues: A Long and Hard Ride over Treacherous Terrain, John interweaves a narrative of a life lived in constant motion while taking the reader along on his 2011 coast-to-coast motorcycle ride across the 48 contiguous states.