1. This is NOT true. Barack Obama skipped (at least) more than half of his daily intelligence briefings in his first term. Only because @marcthiessen has a regular column in the WaPo did that information ever make it on their website.
"Well, that takes chutzpah," to quote Marc.
"Well, that takes chutzpah," to quote Marc.
2. Even if Obama attended Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) regularly, which he DID NOT, all that would tell us is that it's overrated. Unlike Mr. Obama, who presided over the rise of the Islamic State, Trump's success allowed our main focus to return to great power competition.
3. And considering Trump has had so much success against the Islamic State (ISIS), and has arrested aggression from several wanna-be hegemons who rose under those 7 geniuses, I'm not sure the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) should be our main focus. Successes & failures should be.
4. And that last tweet should've been a part of this thread. The real issue is whether the information is reaching the president and whether the president is ignoring it or not. Given Trump's undeniable successful results, you may that decision. centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2014/09/02/isi…
5. One more considering we are talking about some faux historic "break from the last 7 presidents." CIA Fred Fleich said it "was well known at CIA that Clinton rarely read the PDB." He "skipped so many that CIA management stopped sending daily read-outs of them..."
6. (I lied. One more.) CIA Fred Fleich on Bill "rarely" reading PDB: "I believe Clinton’s ignorance of U.S. intelligence analysis contributed to his underestimation of the threat from al-Qaeda and his timid responses to the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks which occurred on his watch."
