In an interview with “The Daily Show” on Monday, President Obama addressed the criticism President-elect Donald Trump has faced for receiving only one intelligence briefing per week.
Intel Briefings Are A Necessity
Obama stressed the importance of these briefings, saying:
“Well, I think the president-elect may say one thing and do another once he’s here, because the truth of the matter is that it’s a big complicated world… It doesn’t matter how smart you are, you have to have the best information possible to make the best decisions possible.”
The statement directly addresses the rather moronic quote Trump gave in an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” when he said:
“I’m, like, a smart person.”
This was his justification for needing only one intel briefing per week.
All of this came out after a report was published last week saying that the president-elect averages only one presidential intelligence briefing per week, which is a significantly lower number than any of his predecessors.
Holding Himself To A Different Standard
But the President-elect doesn’t feel that he needs to be held to the same standards or updated as frequently as past presidents:
“I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”
Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand that the world changes from day to day. And with those changes come new information that the leader of the free world must at least be aware of. Our current president seems to know this, saying in the interview Monday:
“[America’s intelligence agencies] are full of extraordinarily hardworking, patriotic, and knowledgeable experts… And if you’re not getting their perspective, their detailed perspective, then you are flying blind.”
I think that “flying blind” is an accurate description of Donald Trump’s first month as president-elect. This most recent look into his general incompetence has been one of many in the last few weeks. Hopefully President Obama will be correct in saying that Trump is likely to change his mind on this issue once he becomes president. For now we’ll have to wait and see.
Watch the video below to see this part of Obama’s interview on “The Daily Show”
Featured image credit: Deadline Hollywood via Twitter
