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Originally Posted by Our House
Apparently I was wrong to laugh the other day when Trump said he planned to withdraw from NAFTA in 2 or 3 days, which landed on Sat or Sun. According to reports, he actually DID expect to drop the bombshell at tonight's rally, in an effort to steal the news cycle away from the correspondents' dinner and make himself look like a tough guy against our allies. That is, until a leak got in the way...
Just like the leak(s) that got Flynn fired from his NSA position, Trump was forced to cave to the pressure again. Word got out about NAFTA, and WH aides were rattled enough to make a big stink. That's when he reversed course, as others have said, BEFORE speaking to Canada and Mexico on the phone.
Not saying leaks are good or anything. Just God forbid the Republicans are successful in stopping the leaks against Trump. They'll provide enough cover for him to get away with even more than he does now.
I think it's safe to say that we've entered the "shuffling things around frantically" phase of this authoritarian administration. It's a standard play for authoritarians and they tend to use state-run media in conjunction with this to make it look like a lot is getting done, when really they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic so to speak. I think this will be a major theme of the next four years.
Bannon and Gorka are the most notable examples right now, but there will be more. This is one of those things that's actually largely a distraction, but it's not 12D chess. It's just basic authoritarianism 101.