Last week, nutjob billionaire Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee for president. With the nomination, both candidates are to begin receiving security briefings. There are many people in the intelligence community who do not want Trump to get anywhere near classified information. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that we should give Trump fake information.
“I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything. Just fake it, because this man is dangerous. Fake it. Pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.” (source)
Trump may have just proven those people right. He might have leaked classified information on his first day of receiving briefings. Trump is unable to control his mouth and his temper. He is too unpredictable to be trusted with these important secrets.
After this briefing today, he went to a rally in Colorado and proceeded to rant about the United States giving other countries protection. He mentioned that we are “paying rent” on a military base in Saudi Arabia.
A Wall Street Journal reporter tweeted this response:
If there is now a US military base in Saudi, it is classified and mentioning it should have legal consequences. https://t.co/LgEeMXkV7M
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) July 29, 2016
The last military bases in Saudi Arabia were supposed to have been shut down after 9/11. Either Donald Trump is thinking that the bases are still there 13 years later, or he just dropped some very secret intel.
Trump is now complaining "we pay rent for our base to Saudi Arabia"
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 29, 2016
The bases were shut down because of unrest in the region. Security was not possible at the time.
From author Joe Clark at New Century Times:
But the thing is, as The Guardian reported, the U.S. closed its last military base in Saudi Arabia in 2003. At the beginning of the Iraq War, the Bush administration’s stated goal was to relocate all U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia and into Iraq to serve as the new forward deployment area in the Middle East. The idea was to quell Jihadist anger over the U.S. occupying what they consider holy land.
If Trump accidentally leaked the fact that the U.S. has a secret operating base in Saudi Arabia after learning that information from his first classified briefing, that’s a much bigger problem. Trump’s leak could endanger not only U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia but also troops stationed in other parts of the Middle East because remember: Jihadists consider that country holy land.
If he signed the secrecy agreement already as part of getting the briefing, he could be prosecuted.
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) July 30, 2016
Trump has never mentioned this information before, and he just got his first briefing today. It is likely that this was really classified, but we are not 100 percent sure at this time.
He must really be that stupid. He is not even remotely fit to lead this country. This information could put soldiers in danger. I bet Drumpf just wanted a good sound byte.
But, here comes Donald Trump, Jr. to the rescue with a perfectly legit (sarcasm) explanation:
Every one knows about the military base in Saudi Arabia! @realDonaldTrump found it on Google Maps! #MakeAmericaGreatAgain
— Make America Sexy Again (@CPO45) July 29, 2016
There is the remote possibility that he is making things up, but the timing of the gaffe makes it seem very suspicious and concerning. I really hope that he would know better than to leak something that sensitive. Even if it isn’t labeled classified, it could still mean trouble for our country and our military. Donald Trump can’t be trusted with our most important secrets.
Featured image via Pixabay CC0 Public Domain