zenpundit.com

[ by Charles Cameron — hat-tip JM Berger ]
.

This should be the Twitter logo.

"Two male Tree Swallows engaging in territorial behavior" (Morris Finkelstein) pic.twitter.com/un9hsz1nyE

— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) August 6, 2017

Yes!

[ by Charles Cameron — a meander in praise of, variously, Piers at Penn, Alice in Wonderland, Caitlin Fitz Gerald, and Benjamin Wittes ]
.

Strategic theology:

Goliath, distracted by David's awesome moves, didn't see the stone coming.

Bréviaire de Belleville, vol. II (partie été), c.1323-26 pic.twitter.com/kLe9MOSxzD

— Emily Steiner (@PiersatPenn) July 31, 2017

Compare Nigel Howard, in Confrontation Analysis: how to win operations other than war, writing:

the problem of defense in the modern world is the paradoxical one of finding ways for the strong to defeat the weak.

**

Okay — Alice, in Wonderland, asks:

And what is the use of a book without pictures or conversation?

**

By dint of sickness, I haven’t been able to purue my efforts to see Caitlin Fitx Gerald‘s fabulous Clausewitz for Kids make its brilliantly-deserving way into print:

That image is from Caitlin’s work, as praised by Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare blog — whom I know not because he’s become a go-to source on many things Trump / Comey —

Suddenly, he was D.C. famous; the very next day, Collins and Wittes bumped into each other in the Morning Joe greenroom. “It used to be that what was going to be written on my tombstone was ‘Benjamin Wittes, former Washington Post editorial writer,’ or ‘Benjamin Wittes, who wasn’t even a lawyer,’?” he says. “Now it’s just, like, ‘Benjamin Wittes, who’s a friend of Jim Comey’s.’?”

— but way before that, because he knew Caitlin and her work:

The other day, Wells drew my attention to what could be the single most excellently eccentric national security-oriented project currently ongoing on the web: It is called Clausewitz for Kids. I am apparently not the first to discover it. Spencer Ackerman had this story about it last year. But I had missed it until the other day, and I suspect most Lawfare readers are unto this very day unaware that a woman named Caitlin Fitz Gerald is currently writing a comic book edition of Clausewitz’s On War–entitled The Children’s Illustrated Clausewitz–featuring lectures in a Prussian forest by a hare in a military uniform. To make matters all the more fun, she is blogging the process to boot.

Hey, “single most excellently eccentric national security-oriented project” is pretty damn high praise, eh?

**

Benjamin Wittes and his tick, tick, as seen and summarized by Rachel Maddows:

Ben Wittes now runs a well-regarded blog that`s called Lawfare, which I think is kind of a pun on warfare, Lawfare, warfare. Anyway. Lawfareblog.com.

So, Ben Wittes. On May 16th .. Ben Wittes, he did this online, on Twitter, which is a weird thing, right? Nobody knew what was wrong with him. Nobody knew exactly what this was about.

tick tick tick tick tick tick

— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) May 16, 2017

You can see the time stamp there right beneath the tick, tick, tick, tick. He sent it at 3:18 p.m. on May 16th. Hey, Ben Wittes, what`s that about?

Well, then later, boom – literally the word boom. Two hours and eight minutes after that initial tweet, we now know in retrospect what that tick, tick, ticking was about. Ben Wittes tweeted “boom” and a link to that huge story that had just been posted at “The New York Times”.

Quote: Comey memo says Trump asked him to end Flynn investigation.

That was a huge story when it broke and apparently somehow Ben Wittes knew it was coming out because he tweeted, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, two hours before it came, and then boom once it landed. That was May 16th.

And then two days after that, Ben Wittes started ticking again.

[ read the rest.. ]

**

Go Caitlin, go Wittes!

Go Clint Watts too, if you know what I mean!

[ by Charles Cameron — more on the digging dirt / foreign sources story ]
.

It’s all too easy to lose sight of the intriguing parallelism here — but symmetries are worth watching, often revelatory. Good catch by Daniel Nexon:

1. Accusations in this @politico story about the Clinton campaign are potentially analogous with the Trump mess. https://t.co/FgQp1OM8hD

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

2. But that analogy is not a shield for Don Jr., Jared, and the rest.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

3. Members of the Trump omitted multiple contacts—including one now explicitly revealed to involve attempted collusion—from their SF-86s.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

4. At least some of the same people lied repeatedly about their activities and engaged in a concerted campaign of deception to hide them

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

5. But, most importantly, we can't deal in the hypothetical. It's possible that Clinton and her people would've been in the same boat.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

6. We'll never know, though, because she's not POTUS.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

7. The relevant parties in the Clinton campaign aren't running the White House. the biz interests of the President, and/or getting the PDB.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

8. So, maybe Clinton would be looking at possible impeachment for collusion with Kiev. With this Congress, I'm sure it would be a live issue

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

9. Ultimately, such whataboutism is a distraction. Don Jr's revelations have massive national-security implications. Full stop. The end.

— Daniel Nexon (@dhnexon) July 11, 2017

**

From January: Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire:

Donald Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.

Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.

A Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the Democratic National Committee met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The Ukrainian efforts had an impact in the race, helping to force Manafort’s resignation and advancing the narrative that Trump’s campaign was deeply connected to Ukraine’s foe to the east, Russia. But they were far less concerted or centrally directed than Russia’s alleged hacking and dissemination of Democratic emails.

Russia’s effort was personally directed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, involved the country’s military and foreign intelligence services, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

[ .. more .. ]

**

Your thoughts? — valuable since they’ll no doubt differ from mine..

[ by Charles Cameron — sources for my previous post with tweet & DoubleQuote]
.

In fairness, because I questioned & implicitly critiqued Jenkins on one of the tweets in this series in my previous post, here’s the whole series for your consideration:

1. In light of last night's Make America Great Again hymn (?), some notes about what I call an emerging Trumpian Christian Nationalism. https://t.co/MkFXparb6b

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

2. First, Trump and/or his advisers have been crafting a form of Christian nationalism since his inauguration. https://t.co/4UNBaJijtU

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

3. Christian nationalism per se isn't new; Fusions of patriotism and piety are as old as America itself.

But Trump's version is…different.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

4. He uses common themes, such as the idea that America is a Christian nation ("our God"), and that faith is inherently patriotic.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

5. Here's some lines from his inauguration speech, as well as his speech to Liberty University in May. pic.twitter.com/Tc4ls7vNR9

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

6. The fusion of faith and patriotism is old, and Trump (or his speechwriters) know it.

He harped on the "In God we Trust" at Liberty. pic.twitter.com/K3r7YIuh4e

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

7. "In God we trust," of course, only showed up on U.S. currency in 1954 during the Red Scare.

But his point is they were right to do it.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

8. Trump's Christian nationalism, however, diverges from the traditional strain (preached by many) in two key ways.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

9. The first is subtle: his line about Americans worshipping "God not government"—used last night and in other speeches—appears partisan. pic.twitter.com/8sB9fy5ibE

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

10. Many a preacher has endorsed the GOP small government approach, but few politicians have framed it as brazenly as Trump does.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

11. But the truly unusual part of Trump's Christian nationalism is how he appears to place HIMSELF at the center of his theology—as a savior

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

12. At his inauguration, he appeared to imply that God will keep America safe BECAUSE he is president.

That is, as they say, not normal. pic.twitter.com/eMc4nCAMsO

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

13. Trump's allies echo this: Rev. Jeffress, who emceed last night, delivered an inauguration sermon entitled "When God chooses a leader." pic.twitter.com/MkryYbkoKk

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

14. Granted, the idea that presidents are imbued with divine purpose is NOT unique to Trump. Some likely thought the same of Obama.

But…

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

15. Implying God's protection = a byproduct of your rule? Having choirs sing your campaign slogan?

That's a new, untested mix in America.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

16. Long story short: keep an eye on Trump's faith cadre—Jeffress, etc—going forward.

Trends suggest this theology will only grow bolder.

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) July 2, 2017

Here you can find Jenkins’ ThinkProgress article, Trump is creating a new form of Christian nationalism centered on himself.

[ by Charles Cameron — semantics of the theology of presidency, seen from the left ]
.

Jack Jenkins, in ThinkProgress and on his Twitterstream:

It’s interesting how expression differs across media, no?

**

Jack Jenkins is a Harvard Divinity alum, I’m from Christ Church, Oxford, myself, and we both think informed religious reporting is important. In short, he’s a natural ally.

My tweet to Jack:

Can you document this @jackmjenkins? Religious reporting is v important and under-represented, but pls consider this point non-obvious

— hipbonegamer (@hipbonegamer) July 4, 2017

I might grant you High Priest, maybe — but Savior?