Clint Watts was on The 11th Hour tonight and related an interesting Ukraine angle

[eleny]

He said that all this about the Ukraine financial aid being stopped was bound see the light of day because businesses that depended on the aid moneys would start asking questions because the money dried up. And they wouldn't just be asking our government but would start to make noise about it in public.

It's something that never occurred to me. Of course businesses would want a piece of the action once they learned Ukraine was about to receive money to spend on their own defense and other related uses for the aid cash. If businesses spent money ramping up to apply for contracts it would have to tick them off or at least have them scratching their heads over what the hell was going on with our commitment to help an international partner.

[RockRaven]

1. That point, I think, well illustrates the notion that Trump is an oafish moron who is not playing

multidimensional chess, even if people around him do often spin his clumsy movie-mob-boss-style garbage behavior into some sort of half-way coherent "strategy" to receptive/friendly media-types.

[regnaD kciN]

2. He didn't need to, because...

...he was probably assuming the Ukrainian president would instantly fold the moment he was given the ultimatum. Hence, no one would know of any delay, let alone suspect anything.

[Skittles]

3. Trump is running his presidency the way he ran his businesses

only this time, maybe, just MAYBE someone will hold is cheating, corrupt ass accountable

[calimary]

4. That's it exactly. He assumed it was gonna be just like

the trump Organization. Where you’re always a few steps ahead of your creditors, your marks, and the law.

Um, NO, donald. The US government doesn’t work that way. Neither does the Constitution.

[Skittles]

5. well, thanks to entire corrupt party it HAS been going his way

but if Democrats crack the whip, the members of the Greedy Old Pig party will be forced to make a choice - Trump or AMERICA

[eleny]

6. Supposedly he never reads the briefing books before calls with world leaders

Those briefing books contain info like when they spoke last, what was said and what issues make the call relevant. He just wings it and the calls all sound the same as when he was doing biz from Trump Tower in years past.

I wish to heck I could recall where I heard this. It might have even been on Bob Cesca's Show (podcast) last night when he was discussing all this with the news guy, Buzz Burbank. But it was probably on MSNBC last night.