Why wasn't Trump on the signal chat list?

[Irish_Dem]

He is the one who ordered the military strike, why wasn't he in the loop as it went down?

This excellent question was posed by DUer Lone Pirate in another thread.

[Blue_Roses]

1. Was wondering the same thing.

[snowybirdie]

2. His Chief

Of Staff was. Maybe she'll tell him sometime?

[Irish_Dem]

22. Oh by the way we just bombed a foreign country.

Now go take your nap.

[Maeve]

3. It gets in the way of his golf to actually govern

Plus, he needs deniability for everything

However, I'm seeing that Special Envoy Witkoff was on the chat, too, at a time when he was in the Kremlin....

[Irish_Dem]

23. Trump wasn't on the chat but Putin was.

[Turbineguy]

4. They were not that incompetent.

[marble falls]

5. "Plausible deniability". Al Capone, Adolf Hitler never got their hands dirty ...

... in the same vein, "I never signed that order sending Venezuelan immigrants to prisons in El Salvador without due process. I told them to turn the plane around and was ignored."

[doc03]

9. It's the same story every time, the Sargent Schultz defense "I know nothing". Then he attacks the

news source as being failing and low rated "I didn't even know it still existed". Next he will be suing the magazine and reporter.

[marble falls]

11. The truth being, of course, Schultz really was never ever in the loop. The only exception to ...

... the rule.

[LessAspin]

24. Plausible Deniability

I was about to post the same thing but as I think about it Trump probably doesn't know what Plausible Deniability means.

The more likely explanation might be Trump isn't smart enough to understand and doesnt really care about the details.

So he just leaves all that to his team of Useful Idiots.

Just another reason Putin plays Trump like a fiddle 🎻 in their little chats.

[marble falls]

31. His version of plausible deniabilty is "and keep my name out of it." ...

... he thinks he's the invisible hand. His ego is toooo big to pull it off.

[Abnredleg]

6. POTUS is not typically involved in operational details

His staff gives him options to achieve his goals and he makes the decision to proceed. The National Security apparatus then works out the details. Delegation of responsibilities is how all bureaucracies work due to the volume of work.

[marble falls]

13. Really? ...

?q=w_1280,h_720,x_0,y_0,c_fill/w_1280

Monitoring Seal Team Six as they "neutralize" Osama Obama.

[Abnredleg]

15. He's watching the implementation of a plan

Created by his staff after he gave the go ahead. You don’t really think he was involved in the nuts and bolts planning, do you? He doesn’t have the military expertise to do so.

I’m not arguing that the POTUS is not involved in important decisions, only that the detailed planning is delegated to the appropriate staff with the necessary expertise.

[yardwork]

18. Nobody on that call has the military expertise to do anything.

[Abnredleg]

20. War is politics by other means

The goals are political but the means are military, which means the politicians must lead the process.

War is too important to be left to generals - Georges Clemenceau

[Blue_Roses]

27. This!

I miss those days...

[Prairie Gates]

14. This wasn't just operational details - they were decided whether to do it

And then they got into operational details.

And why were the fucking VP and Treasury Secretary on a chat?

[Abnredleg]

16. They are part of the NSC /nt

[Prairie Gates]

19. Are you saying this was a meeting of the National Security Council?

Fascinating.

[Abnredleg]

21. Did I say that? No

I’m saying they were on the chat because they are part of the national security decision making apparatus. Of course they were included.

Should they have been using an app to discuss the attack - of course not.

[Irish_Dem]

25. Ha ha sure

[Abnredleg]

30. Yes, for sure

That’s how the military works - you are given Commander’s Guidance and you plan and implement. That’s how all major corporations work, for that matter. Not to say micro-management doesn’t happen, but Trump is certainly not a micromanager. In fact, he’s not much of a manager at all.

[MiHale]

7. Mob bosses look like they're not involved...

Plausible Deniability… he knew everything in real time. If the entire operation went south…he could blame it on someone else.

[Vinca]

8. It was in the morning. He's busy watching television in bed.

[C_U_L8R]

10. Four letters

GOLF

[Chipper Chat]

12. Hogs mistyped Don's phone number.

When stephen miller told him the president's number he typed in the letter O instead of zero.

[Johonny]

17. There is probably also anTwitter DM chain

There is no way Trump uses signal. Henis too lazy. We can assume they communicate with him by even less secure means.

[Irish_Dem]

26. Yellow stickies on his Diet Coke can.

[milestogo]

28. He doesn't know how to log on.

They didn't want him there.

Its a way for him to cover his ass..

[Emile]

29. He probably had another important meeting

on the golf course.

[lark]

32. He doesn't give a shit.

He's not really in charge?

[Kid Berwyn]

33. They know TSF is a Security Risk

[Irish_Dem]

34. One of Trump's most sickening pictures.