So wrong

One of the most disturbing incidents yet for the Trump Horror happened over the weekend, when North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile.

I’m not talking about the missile test, although that’s bad enough, and clearly intended to test the Narcissist in Chief. No, I’m talking about Donald Trump’s response. Because he made no attempt at all to discuss the news in a secure way; instead he held an impromptu national security meeting right there where he was having dinner, in a public dining room.

And it gets even worse. Because the ordinary uncleared citizens in that dining room also had stunning access to things ordinary uncleared citizens should be nowhere near.

For example: this photo posted by retired investor Richard Agazio on his Facebook page (now deleted), showing him posing for a nice cozy selfie with the military member who carries the “nuclear football” that allows Trump to start the apocalypse. A screenshot of that post:

How do you even begin to describe the appallingly dangerous incompetence of this presidential administration?

And it gets even worse.

Notice, though, that the photos appear to corroborate an important detail from the CNN report. “The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents,” Liptak writes. In DeAgazio’s first photo, you can see a phone flashlight being used in that way. Why is this important? Mobile phones have flashlights, yes — and cameras, microphones and Internet connectivity. When Edward Snowden was meeting with reporters in Hong Kong at the moment he was leaking the material he’d stolen from the NSA, he famously asked that they place their phones in the refrigerator — blocking any radio signals in the event that the visitors’ phones had been hacked. This was considered the most secure way of ensuring that the phones couldn’t be used as wiretaps, even more secure than removing the battery. Phones — especially phones with their flashes turned on for improved visibility — are portable television satellite trucks and, if compromised, can be used to get a great deal of information about what’s happening nearby, unless precautions are taken. Precautions weren’t taken. One of DeAgazio’s photos shows Trump using a phone at the table, within view of other diners (and while sitting next to a foreign leader). It’s not clear what phone Trump is using in that picture, but it’s known that he uses a relatively old Android device, even while serving as president. As we noted last week, Trump generally uses that device when he’s not in the middle of a work day. Shortly before the dinner with Abe, he tweeted from it.

You can be quite certain that the enemies of the United States have taken note of incidents like this.