Shorter Trump: "Yeah, I Did It. So, What?"

Story here.

He's right that he had the legal right to do what he did.

It was short-sighted and imbecilic. It showed that Trump has no understanding of the reasons why intelligence information is classified. It showed a complete lack of judgment. Since Russia seems to have a pipeline to the Oval Office, it will, more than likely than not, have ramifications as to what our friends and allies choose to share with us. It was, at best, the actions of a child showing off a shiny toy: "I get great intel! Look at this intel! It's amazing intel, the best!" At worst, it was the actions of a paid actor proving his worth to his paymasters.

But it was legal. And as to why this story was leaked, read this from Erick Erickson.

And this:

The heads of 28 NATO member states will be [at the NATO summit] and they’re all anticipating a meeting tailored to a petulant child who needs to be entertained:

“Even a brief NATO summit is way too stiff, too formal, and too policy heavy for Trump. Trump is not going to like that,” said Jorge Benitez, a NATO expert with the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

Organizers are scrapping the normal declaration that accompanies such meetings because they think Trump won’t be happy. You see, one of the primary reasons for NATO’s existence is its adversarial relationship to Russia and we all know how Trump feels about that.

After Trump’s shenanigans this past week, let’s just say that it’s unlikely anyone at the meeting will feel all that comfortable sharing anything but small talk with President Loose Lips. According to Foreign Policy:

“People are scared of his unpredictability, intimidated by how he might react knowing the president might speak his mind — or tweet his mind,” the former official said. Or, as another current senior NATO official put it before the meeting: “We’re bracing for impact.”