SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: if the president can't handle reality, the problem is ultimately with him - not with the information being managed around him.

https://x.com/micyoung75/status/2047005261152268538

David Graham's Atlantic piece pulls together a pattern that is now documented across multiple independent sources and should be read as a single coherent picture.

Aides kept Trump out of the situation room during the pilot rescue because his impatience was assessed as operationally unhelpful. That is from the WSJ, sourced to a senior administration official.

Trump has been starting his days with a sizzle reel of explosion footage rather than hard intelligence briefings. Susie Wiles grew concerned that aides were giving the president a "rose-colored view" of how the war was being perceived domestically. Trump was reportedly shocked at how easily Iran seized the Strait of Hormuz - even though his own military had warned him of the possibility.

In the lead-up to the war, multiple aides believed Trump was not taking seriously the risks and trade-offs involved. None of them said so publicly. They said enough privately that the comments leaked. Graham's observation on that specific fact is precise: it does not speak well for the Cabinet's judgment or courage.

Trump's Energy Secretary said gas prices have likely peaked. Trump subsequently told reporters Wright had been "totally wrong."

In 1974, Defense Secretary Schlesinger quietly instructed the military not to deploy nuclear weapons without checking with him or Kissinger first because Nixon was unstable. Graham notes what that means: it was a reasonable precaution on one hand and a constitutional scandal on the other, because Americans had elected Nixon, not Schlesinger.

The aides keeping Trump in the dark may be doing so for entirely understandable reasons. But the problem Graham identifies is that if the president can't handle reality, the problem is ultimately with him - not with the information being managed around him. The management is a symptom. The president is the condition.

Quote

Tom Nichols

@RadioFreeTom

Apr 22

During a national-security crisis, top advisers decided the commander in chief’s presence was a liability. This incident is only the latest example of how Trump’s aides have been trying to keep him in the dark and build a protective bubble around him.

https://theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/04/donald-trump-aides-iran-war/686875/?gift=otEsSHbRYKNfFYMngVFweNw7BfceZVvpvmsv3vtBuaE&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share