Interesting take on Trump's tweeting from former CIA consultant

quote:

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Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
I am often astonished at the President's tweets, and how he calls media in his own country as "fake news." But there's something else /1

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
I was a Sovietologist back in the day. I was constantly trying to unpack what I thought was happening behind the Kremlin's walls. /2

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
I would have given anything for Andropov or Gorbachev to give me a running narrative of their mood and inner thoughts in real time. /3

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
As an analyst, including my time years ago as a CIA consultant doing research in the 80s, I'd have considered that a gold mine. /4

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
And I wonder if, and or how, anyone is considering the fact that this is basically a raw feed of POTUS thoughts to foreign analysts. /5

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
Because while none of the matters are classified - at least AFAIK - tweets are pieces of the president's moods and thoughts that day. /6

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
This only occurred to me today as I realized how easily POTUS tweets were giving me a minute by minute image of his reactions to Yates. /7

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
This is the kind of instant leadership portrait that I wouldn't want a foreign nation to have when gaming out a crisis with us. /8

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
Americans might well appreciate the candor. But I thought Obama did too much thinking out loud in front of cameras. This is far more. /9

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
It is, from a foreign intel analyst's viewpoint, in some ways probably more valuable than classified memos. It's real and instant. /10

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
It shows how the President reacts under stress. It's something you never want the enemy to know. And yet it's all out there, every day. /11

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
It's also a window into how the President processes information - or how he doesn't process info he doesn't like. Solid gold info. /12

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
These are all things I would have given anything to know, even just a fraction of this, in an analysis of any Soviet or Russia leader. /13

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
It's not for me to tell the President how to communicate. But I find something hugely dangerous in revealing real-time POTUS reactions. /14x

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
Additional thoughts on the danger of Presidential tweeting: they reveal personal idiosyncracies that should be protected. /1

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
By this I don't mean human weaknesses, but things like: sleep habits. Patterns of wakefulness and alertness. Common to all POTUSes. /2

Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom
It's like having a daily brief on when the President is active and what he's thinking about at all times. Just seems dangerous. /3x

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