Lockheed's F-35

It’s not clear Donald Trump knows what he’s doing, but his tendency of agreeing with whoever he last spoke to is already turning government into a bit of a clusterfudge:

Days before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump made two surprise calls to the Air Force general managing the Pentagon’s largest weapons program, the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 jet. Listening in on one of those calls was Dennis Muilenburg -- the CEO of Lockheed’s chief rival, Boeing Co.

Alright, so Trump had some questions about the Lockheed's F-35 program, which he's criticized as "out of control" but also has pointed to as evidence of his imaginary business genius.

So why, precisely, was he asking those questions when the CEO of Lockheed's key rival was in the room? Reading between the lines here, he seems to have tasked the Air Force general with justifying the program in comparison to Boeing's own offering. Presumably based on his conversation with the Boeing CEO just minutes earlier.

After speaking with Trump, Bogdan wrote two three-page memos, titled “phone conversations with President-Elect,” dated Jan. 10 and 18th and stamped “For Official Use Only,” to limit distribution, according to the people. The memos outlined Trump’s questions about the capabilities of Boeing’s Super Hornet fighter and how it might compete against Lockheed’s F-35C. About a dozen Pentagon officials were alerted to the calls after they occurred, the people said.