Gaslighter-in-chief Trump claims to be "big fan" of intelligence community

The dishonest media likes saying that I am in Agreement with Julian Assange – wrong. I simply state what he states, it is for the people….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017

to make up their own minds as to the truth. The media lies to make it look like I am against "Intelligence" when in fact I am a big fan!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017

First of all, “the people” do not need our president to be a mouthpiece and amplifier for Julian Assange.

Secondly, “the media” do not need to “make it look” like Trump is hostile toward the intelligence community, nor the intelligence they provide. Trump has quite successfully done that himself — by skipping most intelligence briefings and saying he does not need them because he is “like a smart person”; by rejecting intelligence assessments on Russian interference; by promising his own secret intelligence (which he naturally never delivered); and by planning to replace the intelligence community with “his own people.”

That hardly constitutes being a “big fan,” by any reasonable definition.

Trump is gaslighting critics who have rightly identified that he is, in fact, aggressively hostile toward the U.S. intelligence community.

But his words and actions make abundantly clear where he really stands, and it is of critical importance to understand Trump’s long game to discredit the intelligence community, replace them with sycophantic cronies, and turn intelligence into an extension of the White House.

It is one of his most audacious bids toward authoritarianism. His deflective and defensive tweets are designed to convince you otherwise — do not be fooled.