Former top officials from Donald Trump’s administration are warning he is likely to use a second term to overhaul the nation’s spy agencies in a way that could lead to an unprecedented level of politicization of intelligence.

  • frezik@midwest.social
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    10 months ago

    Trump, who already tried to revamp intelligence agencies during his first term, is likely to re-up those plans — and push even harder to replace people perceived as hostile to his political agenda with inexperienced loyalists, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who worked in his administration.

    This is why fascism always fails despite all its posturing about being “strong”. People in top positions are chosen for loyalty to the leader first and basic competence second. Then those people are turned against each other to make sure they never accumulate enough power under themselves to directly challenge the leader. This is exactly what happened to Nazi intelligence, and British intelligence ran circles around them.

    It never works in the long run, but they can take down everything around them in the short to medium run.

    • Mikelius@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Dan Carlin did a wonderful show about why the German army of WWI was much better than the Wehrmacht. And his argument can be summarized as “Do you really think Falkenhayn or Ludendorff would have tolerated Goering for 5 minutes before firing him on the spot?”

  • DarkNightoftheSoul@mander.xyz
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    10 months ago

    Where are the assassin-spies then? If they’re so nervous… do something about it? We all know you can. NSA, if you’re listening…

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    To everyone suggest he gets JFKd…

    I bet you it’s on the table. And the intelligence communities are weighing on how much of a martyr it’ll make him/if it’ll spark a civil war.

    • Kyuuketsuki
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      10 months ago

      Asking honestly: do you think doing so would change anything?

      • kmartburrito@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Possibly, but it would ultimately depend on what news outlets pick it up. The die hard fox watchers / newsmax / OANN etc are lost causes. However, with independents, a constant reminder of new fuckery is good press to help remind people that he’s shittier than anyone can imagine.

        Realistically, and sadly, it probably would never make it to or sink into the heads of folks that really matter.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The way I see it, if the Americans end up picking a president who ranked among the bottom 5 presidents of all times, it’s their own fault for doing so and they should enjoy the consequences of that.

    • nexusband@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The issue is, that the rest of the World will also “enjoy” the consequences of that, because you can’t just ignore 300 Million people…

      • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It’s a fair point but I think the world is getting better at and more prepared to do so. The rest of the world can easily ignore 300mil people. We do it with many others. It’s the fact that it’s the US that makes it harder to ignore. IMO Trump was the trigger that inspired countries ans allies to cut or limit dependencies on single countries like the US, China and Russia.

        • nexusband@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Only Europe (continental and Australia) effectively did something. For anyone else, it’s prettyich business as usual.