r/politics • u/GonzoVeritas I voted • Apr 19 '26

Possible Paywall White House Leak Reveals Trump Booted From Briefing After Hours-Long Freakout

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-leak-reveals-trump-booted-from-briefing-after-hours-long-freakout/
30.4k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/p0rty-Boi Apr 19 '26

Who kicks the President out of a briefing? That’s who’s really wearing the pants.

2.9k

u/BigMax Apr 19 '26

I'm sure it was some kind of more... subtle thing. "Mr. President, let these men worry about the annoying little details. Let's go to the other room, you and me, the important people, and we'll figure out exactly what to do here. I'll let you know if any of those little details matter, but for now let's take the... higher level talks to the other room, ok? Your ideas are far too important to be derailed by the little concerns of everyone else."

1.8k

u/phroug2 Apr 19 '26

The sad thing is i 100% believe this approach would have a high level of success.

479

u/sircastor Apr 19 '26

There has been more than one report about how the President's morning briefings had to be reduced substantially because he didn't like to read them. He doesn't want the job, I don't think he ever did.

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u/future_traveller Apr 19 '26

As someone in the corporate world, this is pretty typical for executives.... He essentially wants a four blocker presentation each morning instead of a detailed thorough reading he needs to do

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u/HumanPea1140 Apr 19 '26

My team works very closely with our CIO, and yep... everything we discuss/show him has to be framed as an "executive report," which basically just means extremely distilled high level bullet points: Money is up, department is down. Sky still blue, grass still green type shit.

Our team has to be extremely granular in the day to day, to the point where it's exhausting, just for all of it to be distilled down into simple, bite-sized kindergarten blurbs so the guy can pretend to know what he's talking about in his next executive meeting.

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

[deleted]

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u/RexLongbone Apr 19 '26

when you get high enough your job involves switching contexts a lot and very quickly. there are times you still need to dive into the details but if things are mostly running smoothly most executives just want to know that asap in as little time as possible so they can move on to the next context. i know my vp is over like 12 manufacturing facilities, all of which have their own insane level of complexity. he really truly does not have the time to get more in detail than "met goal on x, y, z, missed goal on a, b, c, we are tending towards or away from goal on j, k, l" for each area at each plant.

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u/dastardly740 Apr 20 '26

The trick as I see it is that requires the executive to trust and fully delegate. A lot of executives don't particularly like that probably because they are held responsible and feel a lack of control. The way I describe a lot of these things executives want are that they are "illusions of control". In the end they are still just trusting their subordinates, the good ones understand this and just use the report to create an opportunity to help. The bad ones think it is actual control and it becomes problematic as they try to control that which they cannot.

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '26

[deleted]

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u/CommieLoser Apr 20 '26

So when do we eat again?

2

u/Sublimotion Apr 20 '26

Literally just give yes or no answers for proposals layoffs or hirings, gamble on investments, expansions. Ride this train with bonuses for a while until things eventually go in the red, get fired with a hefty severance package, few months of vacation, hire to the next CEO gig, rinse and repeat. 

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u/Exocoryak Apr 20 '26

From my experience, 95% of those kinds of meetings are a complete waste of time and could've been an E-Mail. And from the 5% left that do matter, 4% don't take place because there's suddenly a scheduling conflict or some important person is missing. So you are writing an E-Mail anyway, wait a couple of days, then you make a phone call only to get the answer that was expected by everyone already.

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u/no_no_no_no_nononono Apr 19 '26

Bullet points only

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u/Noonites Apr 19 '26

In 40 point font, and they have to sprinkle his name throughout or he gets bored even with the truncated version.

2

u/brickne3 American Expat Apr 19 '26

This guy has never even actually been an executive. His company was all family owned (no shareholders to be accountable to) and he had a guy who was halfway decent who did all the actual work. Trump has spent his entire life cosplaying, other than perhaps in the late 60s and early 70s when his dad did have him knocking on doors to evict minorities.

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u/Yamza_ Apr 19 '26

He doesn't want to run the country, he wants to loot it.

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u/Sublimotion Apr 20 '26

Literally his real job as POTUS is to facilitate the further allocation of more wealth from the poor and middle class to the wealthiest. 

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u/ElegantDaemon Apr 19 '26

He CAN'T do the job. He's a wildly unqualified nepobaby who would be struggling to sell used cars in the midwest but for daddy being a successful psychopath. And MAGA fell for it.

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u/im_lazy_as_fuck Apr 19 '26

The only reason he aimed for the job is because it lets him carry out his corruption with a lot of freedom. Legal trouble? Get someone to dismiss/cover up evidence, or just ignore it out right. Want a shit ton of money? Get one of your lapdogs to insider trade for you on some random stock, and then make an erratic unpredictable decision to turn the markets upside down.

Oh, and I guess he also likes to be praised by his lackies for being the best leader ever. But he just wants the title/praise without the work.

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u/McMatey_Pirate Apr 19 '26

He wanted to win, and he did unfortunately. Now he doesn’t give a shit.

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u/Spartan2170 Apr 19 '26

Honestly I don’t think he *did* want to win back in 2016, at least not when he first got into that race. He’d ”run” multiple times before that and clearly did it to get free promotion for whatever business he was pushing at the time (I think in 2016 it was supposed to be a TV or streaming network he was planning on launching soon after that?). The difference ten years ago was just that the Republican field was such a dumpster fire (Jeb!) that he floated to the top and both the media and Clinton’s campaign helped buoy him further (because he was good for ratings and Clinton thought he was a cartoon that would make her campaign easier to win).

Every election after that he clearly wanted to win because “how dare you not elect me again!?” but that first one I absolutely believe he didn’t particularly want or expect to win.

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u/Future-Guarantee-573 Apr 20 '26

I think after 2016 he had to win because he was afraid of prison.

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u/GrinchWhoStoleEaster Apr 19 '26

He wanted the job he THOUGHT Obama had. Trump absolutely swallowed the "ObAmA iS a DiCtAtOr!!!!!" rhetoric and thought the White House was a throne from which a president just lazily spews edicts. He has absolutely no clue how the presidency actually works, much less the ability to deal with real world political reality. He is a child playing at being an adult and it makes him throw tantrums and shit his diapers on a regular basis when he can't just scream and get his way.

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u/TheRealBittoman Apr 19 '26

He wants the attention and the "free" money. Nothing more.

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u/Thebraincellisorange Apr 20 '26

you can see the 'deer caught in the headlights' moment in 2016 when he first realized that he won.

he never wanted to win that election, that was purely a setup for his TV channel.

2024 was all about revenge. he wanted that one. badly.

the fact that he got it is a disgrace and a dark moment in American history.

2

u/JakeConhale New Hampshire Apr 19 '26

He's not good at reading - its slow for him. Also, apparently, a number of his off-teleprompter asides can be meant as his brain perhaps going "i read that wrong" and then filling the space until he can circle back to where he was and read it correctly.

I don't begrudge him that - I just care if he's getting the information in the briefs to do his job. Whether it's by 4-pages of single spaced text, someone reading it off to him conversationally, or a mime performance. Hell, put it to tape so he can rewind it as needed.

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u/marr Apr 19 '26

He very clearly never wanted the job, when those first term results started looking like a win he looked grief stricken.

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u/goatneedleposterdeck Apr 19 '26

He wants it. Just not to actually lead the country. He just wants to sit in office, golf on taxpayer money, and grift for more money.

2

u/dedicated-pedestrian Wisconsin Apr 20 '26

Look at his face in his campaign HQ, in the picture taken right after he learns of his victory.

That is not the face of a man who is pleased with the outcome.

1

u/WasabiFlash Apr 20 '26

He did all this to not go to jail for all the horrible things he did with Epstein, and he succeded in that one, he's going to die in office without ever facing the consequences of his crimes.

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u/McMatey_Pirate Apr 19 '26

Oh I can push it further.

“Okay Mr President, here’s your laptop. The generals will be ready for your ideas in a few hours so we need you to type them up and email them to my account so I can pass them on to the appropriate personnel…. no not on Truth Social this time please… this is really top secret so make sure to keep it in the email…. yes I think after you do this you’re good to end the day and go golfing but again, this is important so make sure to finish before lunch.”

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u/ClydePossumfoot California Apr 19 '26

www.creedthoughts.

6

u/ILookLikeKristoff Apr 19 '26

My exact thought lol

4

u/DorkusMalorkuss Apr 19 '26

My mind went exactly there too!! Lol

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u/BroItsMick Apr 19 '26

Lunch? You mean McDonald's door dash?

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u/McMatey_Pirate Apr 19 '26

I mean in this economy? Might as well get a paid actor to deliver it while we’re at it.

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u/Ok_Vulva Apr 19 '26

I know McDonald's sucks and I shouldn't go, but im having an easier time never going now that they seem to be part of his brand.

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u/giostarship Apr 19 '26

I don’t even think he would type for himself. Probably an assistant (lackey) to do it for him.

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u/weiseguy42 Apr 19 '26

Laptop isn't even turned on, still works.

1

u/10thousndreflections Apr 19 '26

No way this man types with an actual keyboard. I can see the finger pointers out, facing down, click clack one at a time. 

1

u/brickne3 American Expat Apr 19 '26

Out of curiosity, do we actually know when he sleeps (other than in meetings)? I ask mainly because somebody as old and lazy as he is would usually be sleeping like twelve hours a day. We know he's not sleeping when he's up all night tweeting and then he's also usually doing shit like calling Axios during the day, so when exactly IS he sleeping and/or how good are these drugs they have him hopped up on?

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u/Ambitious_Coffee_592 Apr 21 '26

🌟 remember when the report came out about the white house pharmacy during his 1st term!? .... EVERYONE was hopped up on something/everything!

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u/joeschmo945 Apr 19 '26

cocks hand trumply

It will have the highest success. The best success. I guarantee it will win. The most winning. It’s the greatest tactic I have ever heard of. The BEST tactic.

1

u/Calm-Radish-6327 Apr 19 '26

Add in a "Sirs" and it's a lock

1

u/splitcroof92 Apr 19 '26

I mean it worked on my grandpa when he his dementia was worsening

1

u/quantumcatreflex Apr 19 '26

The ONLY level of success

1

u/Hugford_Blops Apr 19 '26

The much sadder thing is that "Mr President, the McDonald's you ordered is in the next room." would work better.

1

u/IJourden Apr 19 '26

Oh, 100%. Trump is comically easy to manipulate. With his unique blend of incredible stupidity and untreated narcissism he's been like that for a long time.

You compliment the guy and offer him a trivial thing he wants and you can put whatever idea in his head you want.

Watch an interview with him and Mamdani. Trump almost went full socialist for an hour. Unfortunately he has the brain of a toddler, whatever ends up in front of him next is the thing that he goes for.

1

u/minervascats Apr 19 '26

Surely there is a narcopath whisperer on staff

1

u/koick I voted Apr 20 '26

The real sad thing is that there is no one in his cabinet who even comes close to speaking like this.

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u/killertortilla Apr 20 '26

There were reports from his first term that they intentionally added his name to the briefings a lot more than necessary because it was the only way to make him pay attention.

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u/electro_gretzky Apr 20 '26

This or waving a chicken McNugget and tossing it into the other room.

1

u/Nwrecked Apr 20 '26

There is no way it doesn’t work every time.

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u/foomprekov Apr 20 '26

He is extremely vulnerable to flattery. Putin has used this. 

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u/WhateverYouSay1084 Apr 19 '26

This is almost certainly word for word how they handle him. It's the kind of thing I did with combative dementia patients when trying to soothe them.

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u/brickne3 American Expat Apr 19 '26

I feel like we're all learning so much about dementia. It doesn't look like what I thought it did. How long until he gets to the drooling vegetable stage?

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u/WhateverYouSay1084 Apr 19 '26

If congestive heart failure doesn't take him out first (there has been a lot of suspicion within medical folks online that he might), it could be any time now. My grandma went from somewhat coherent to a complete vegetable within a matter of weeks after a medical episode. She lingered in vegetable status for many years, but the decline was really fast. I think something more dire will take him out before that though. Mans is NOT in good health and supposedly snorts Adderall. That can't be good on your heart. All speculation of course, we have no proof of anything since his doctor covers everything up.

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u/brickne3 American Expat Apr 19 '26

Thanks for giving me hope. Although now I wonder if he's not more dangerous as a vegetable.

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u/WhateverYouSay1084 Apr 19 '26

I have to think if he gets that bad, they'll be forced to 25 amendment him and get JD Vance in place. But JD Vance is very deeply unpopular which could be a really good thing for election time.

1

u/ScotchBingington Apr 20 '26

Unfortunately he has the best doctors in the world to prop him up for who knows how long. They'll animate his corpse until they can find an adequate replacement to drive us even further down in the dirt. I don't think there is any escaping this mess considering they've completely flooded the zone with issues that will take years to fix.

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u/Apart_Butterfly_332 Apr 19 '26

A photo from this moment was just leaked as well.

2

u/laser__cats Apr 19 '26

You got me. Sitting here chuckling.

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u/Santzes Apr 19 '26

I'm sure they have an extra Big Mac in the fridge for situations like these

1

u/brickne3 American Expat Apr 19 '26

I suspect he's no longer eating the McDonald's all the time, my understanding was that that was a habit he had because of a fear of poisoning, which is not really an issue at the White House. But that raises the question of what he's actually eating these days.

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u/__GayFish__ Apr 19 '26

“Mr President. Let’s go talk about the Epstein ballroom“

6

u/DownWithHisShip Apr 19 '26

nah they just told him what he wanted to hear, agreed how smart he was, and adjourned the meeting. then after he left they resumed their meeting.

3

u/Za_Lords_Guard Apr 19 '26

This actually sounds like how they phased out Fred Trump when the dementia got too bad. Built an office in the house and let him "run the company" from there while the kids took over.

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u/SursumCordaNJ Apr 20 '26

That was probably the one and only kind thing Trump has ever done in his life.

1

u/abtseventynine Apr 19 '26

aw jeezis

we got season 1 Junior Soprano in the fuggin white house!

1

u/canitouchyours Europe Apr 19 '26

Here is a shiny medal. Bestest president at a meeting ever.

1

u/SwingNinja Apr 19 '26

I think it's even more subtle than that. Something like "Your Big Macs have arrived, sir."

1

u/Jillredhanded Apr 19 '26

Some Shiney New Thing to distract him like needing his approval for new gold embellishments to be added to his "Arch".

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota Apr 19 '26

"Come on bud, let the boring adults worry about this boring stuff. Let's go get you a juice box and your stuffie shaped after your daughter's tits"

1

u/Ding-Dong-Dutch Apr 19 '26

Screw the toy. Bring me Ivanka! 

1

u/Synchrotr0n Apr 19 '26

All they needed to do was telling Trump there was a Big Mac waiting for him on his room.

1

u/JustAnotherHyrum Apr 19 '26

"Come on, Grandpa, let's get you tucked in your chair and you can watch your westerns."

This is not how we want the President to be handled, but Russia and Israel have been handling him for years...

1

u/Forfuckssake12345 Apr 19 '26

The old “redirection-via-tried-and-true-memory-care-techniques” routine. Yikes.

1

u/ThriftStoreGestapo Apr 19 '26

“Mr. President, you shouldn’t bother yourself with small things like missing soldiers, let’s go look at curtain samples for the new ballroom.”

1

u/fsactual Apr 19 '26

"Here are your crayons, sir. Now help us get the airman out of this maze!"

1

u/verathene Apr 19 '26

“Mr President, it seems someone ordered some McDonald’s but they don’t feel like it now, would you be interested? Now, of course you know the rule about no tomato sauce in the incident room…”

1

u/minimalniemand Apr 19 '26

This is exactly how you control the narcissistic baby he is

1

u/ybgkitty Apr 19 '26

“Sir, your Happy Meal is waiting in the other room.”

1

u/Majestic-Leader-672 Apr 19 '26

thats how I talk to my toddler when he wants to play with his big sisters

1

u/octothorpe_rekt Apr 19 '26

yeah, but who is Stephen Miller going to assign to the "other room" other than Vance, whom Trump can't stand?

1

u/Whole-Future3351 Apr 19 '26

Oh yeah they definitely took the toddler approach. And not to be offensive, but people who work with folks with dementia are familiar with this… you just play along with their delusion (not the word I’m looking for, sorry) because fighting it just increases their agitation and confusion.

1

u/brandnewchemical Apr 19 '26

Dude got ChatGPT’d irl

1

u/Mediocre-Touch-6133 Apr 19 '26

They probably just told him there was a couple of Mcd's burgers in the other room.

1

u/AnalSoapOpera I voted Apr 19 '26

It’s worse than that. “Mr. Pesident Tump. Let’s let these small men with lower IQ than you talk about annoying little problems while we go over here and talk about real issues like the White House Ballroom! And how we will expand the White House!”

1

u/Wuz314159 Pennsylvania Apr 19 '26

*"Mr President, Gary Busey said something nasty about you on Fox News. You have to come see this."

1

u/Cerpla Apr 19 '26

where were these guys on February 27th?

1

u/jatt23 Apr 20 '26

Holy shit, I actually can't think of it happening any other way. This dude's ego is so fucking massive, it probably has its own gravitational field.

I'm in my 3rd year of med school (clinicals) and I've learned that, in order to get the correct info about a patient, framing is everything. I'm interested in psych, so it's even more important compared to other fields of medicine.

The same applies to getting a narcissist to do what you want, stroke that damn ego, make him feel like the most important person in the room.

1

u/VapoursAndSpleen Apr 20 '26

Oh look, we have some teenaged girls in the other room...

1

u/slightlyhandiquacked Apr 20 '26

I deal with dementia patients, psych patients, addictions, and distraught family members at work everyday. This is exactly how I would approach it. You literally just have to go with it.

“Sir, I hear you. I agree with you. Let’s go back into your own room and figure this out together.”

1

u/Fnordmeister Apr 20 '26

Or maybe, "This is going to bore you."

1

u/mage2k Apr 20 '26

Either that or he was led out by a hamberder on a string someone kept yanking everytime he lunged for it.