General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy did Trump do nothing when informed of a possible incoming missile ??
Did someone choose not to tell him?
Is it true that he never left his golf game for even a brief moment?
If he knew, why didn't he say something?
It doesn't make the country feel safer to see such exhibits of incompetence.
Kablooie
(18,646 posts)And I'll bet this isn't much of an exaggeration.
brush
(53,971 posts)W froze and didn't know what to do, while trump didn't give a shit, just wanted to get back to get on to his golf game.
dawg day
(7,947 posts)"It's not like it's part of the US or anything."
'But sir, it's the 50th state."
"Oh, right, the one with Obama's birth certificate. Well, let 'em be bombed. Watch this swing."
brush
(53,971 posts)Cha
(298,014 posts)mahina
(17,751 posts)Shouldnt have risen to the level it did but it was the military who stopped the ball here.
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)Which is the way I want it. Im not a fan of his staff, but most of them are probably more levelheaded than he is. Even General McMaster - a guy I had a run-in with and proved to be s major dick - Id count on to make a more sound decision than trump.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)kentuck
(111,111 posts)What kind of "run-in"?
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)I might sound petty, but I take the whole saluting thing very seriously.
A salute is a mutual sign of respect between a subordinate and a superior. The lower ranking person raises their right hand (their fightin hand) and make themselves vulnerable. In turn, the higher ranking person does the same. To me, it shows that you respect and value the life and potential sacrifice of your underlings.
It was a brief interaction, but I passed General McMaster, saluted him, he made eye contact with me and kept walking without even acknowledging my salute.
Again, Im sure it sounds petty, but an asshole like this who sits in an air conditioned office giving me orders to go out into sector and risk my life cant acknowledge my salute or presence?!?! That experience tells me everything I need to know about him as a person. Its no surprise to me that he ended up as part of the staff of an asshole republican...
As an officer who lost Soldiers under their command, such symbols of respect mean a lot to me. Perhaps he rose through the ranks and never had to deal firsthand with combat or loss. Either way, fuck him.
spiderpig
(10,419 posts)(He was in the Marine Corps, but don't hold that against him...)
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)Anyone who served as a ground pounder has my respect. Like the Army Infantry, they dont send Marines to go hang out in nice places...
spiderpig
(10,419 posts)When we're in an airport or some other public place he always goes over to shake their hand.
Just like our Commander in Chief...oh, wait a minute...I meant 44!
Docreed2003
(16,900 posts)Only a prick would not acknowledge a salute...and I, fortunately never had that issue in my military career. I would have had the same gut reaction you did, Im sure!
Cha
(298,014 posts)SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)He probably was told not to do that right now, but he will.
OldHippieChick
(2,434 posts)Many people in that state are not white and therefore, not worth his time. And, he is w/out sympathy and empathy.
world wide wally
(21,760 posts)Generic Brad
(14,276 posts)At the very least, he would have expressed concern over something with his name on it due to his abnormally enlarged ego. His silence makes me think they didn't tell him.
OldHippieChick
(2,434 posts)Thought it was in Scotland.
bdamomma
(63,960 posts)be he is fucking ignorant, he didn't know that Puerto Ricans are US citizens............sigh.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)The military didn't have any information about an incoming missile (because there wasn't one), someone in Hawaii
just triggered an erroneous announcement to the population.
kentuck
(111,111 posts)that would be responsible for making such an announcement??
Who's in charge??
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)No one told them there was an incoming missile.
You can find their statement on what happened here:
http://dod.hawaii.gov/hiema/hawaii-emergency-management-agency-statement-on-missile-launch-false-alarm-january-13-2018/
involved the Emergency Alert System, the Wireless Emergency Alert, but no warning sirens.
8:07 a.m. A warning test was triggered statewide by the State Warning Point, HI-EMA.
8:10 a.m. State Adjutant Maj. Gen. Joe Logan, validated with the U.S. Pacific Command that there was no missile launch.
Honolulu Police Department notified of the false alarm by HI-EMA.
Ccarmona
(1,180 posts)It was an erroneous extension of internal warning tests they run three times a day during shift changes.
Lets keep to the facts just as we scold the Repugs to do.
As far as Trumps attitude towards Hawaii, its all in the ethnic makeup of the population:
Single Race Asian 41.6%
Single Race Caucasian 24.3%
Multi-Race 21.4%
Hawaiian & other
Pacific Islander 9.4%
Latino 7.2%
Chemisse
(30,824 posts)It makes sense that only those who received the announcement would have known about it. Nobody in Hawaii would have alerted the military because it was assumed it came from them.
Irish_Dem
(47,833 posts)50/50 chance that he was not told.
His staff knows he can become enraged when interrupted while he is at leisure.
Classic narcissistic response to see serious events about other people as an unnecessary
interruption.
Is it true that he never left his golf game for even a brief moment?
Don't know, but quite possible
If he knew, why didn't he say something?
If something does not impact him directly he doesn't care about it.
Has no empathy.
Incompetent leader.
Has poor social skills, wouldn't know what to say to help someone else.
It doesn't make the country feel safe to see such exhibits of incompetence.
Bush did the same kind of thing with anthrax and katrina crises.
The GOP does not care if we feel safe or not.
Motley13
(3,867 posts)Doodley
(9,176 posts)To flush his sh##hole.
DetroitLegalBeagle
(1,928 posts)A state alert going off isn't going to trigger a federal response. That's not how the system works. Legitimate alerts flow downward, not up. No state has the ability to detect an incoming missile. No state is going to warn the feds about something that the feds don't already know about in this case. By the time the states would know anything, the President would have already been informed and on AF1 or on his way to AF1 and, if retaliation was chosen, our missiles would already be in the air before our own sirens ever go off.
VOX
(22,976 posts)In so-called normal times (when our top leadership isnt a pack of miscreants and social outcasts), it would be no surprise to have a president do the job of reassuring American citizens about how systems work, the safeguards in place, etc.
But of course, our fake-human president lacks spine, character and concern for others, so why should he say anything?
Eyeball_Kid
(7,440 posts)Trumpy has no intention of acting as a president in serious situations. If you take a look at his "body of work" in office, you'll discover that, when Trumpy gets involved in serious issues, he always fucks up. Hurricane in Puerto Rico? He fucks it up. Foreign relations with foreign leaders? Trumpy fucks up. Showing support for the commoner? Trumpy fucks up. Trying to get rid of the ACA? Trumpy fucks up. The list goes on. Maybe it's a good thing that Trumpy stayed away from the mishap. Maybe his close staff decided to soft-shoe the issue so Trumpy wouldn't fly off the handle and bomb North Korea. That's good, because Trumpy is a wastrel. Jeez. He can't handle his own sex scandals blossoming around him like mushrooms in a rain forest. With all of the disgusting and evil things he's done in his life, he should remind us again of Adolph Hitler, who unarguably spread far more evil than Trumpy, and who never really was held personally accountable for any of it. In his, and in Trumpy's cases, that old karma bug never flew up their noses. Trumpy, at 71 and heading straight toward dementia, will never atone for the suffering he spread. He, too, will escape, in this lifetime, a proper "pushback."
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)Nothing is better than the something he would have done if given the chance.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,675 posts)orangecrush
(19,662 posts)PoorMonger
(844 posts)At least from what I read, was that since the original error was known to be a mistake from the moment it happened - it sounded like user error at the controls. So Im guessing that either they didnt see the need to tell him, or that they said right out that it was a mistake / false alarm. As Echinwald ( sp) said yesterday , even in this failed as he could have let people know it was a false alarm rather than let a whole state think doom was imminent for a whole half hour. But knowing Trump he probably got a thrill out of knowing a Blue State was so fearful
kentuck
(111,111 posts)And it did appear that some did panic. Is it just the general political atmosphere?
Regular people got alerts via their cell phones. They didnt know it was a false alarm because for some reason the way the system works they could issue an immediate retraction or correction for some time. The operator knew they messed up though , so I imagine that they at least told their immediate superior who probably would have been in touch with the White House or someone further up the chain. I saw somewhere they eventually blamed part of that delay on a supposed shift change dunno if thats bullshit or not.
Laffy Kat
(16,392 posts)former9thward
(32,136 posts)Hawaii's Governor admitted they knew it was false within 3 minutes. Why they waited 38 minutes to tell the people was monumental incompetence.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)A pathetic excuse for a president?
Thats all I got.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)I'm glad he did nothing -- whether by choice or, more likely, stupidity -- because if he had it would have killed hundreds of thousands by mistake.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,675 posts)We dodged a bullet this time.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Imagine what he might have done.
snort
(2,334 posts)anneboleyn
(5,611 posts)people in HI, journalists, etc were panicking (I happened to be watching news live when this happened) as it was unclear for nearly an hour whether or not the warning was real and that a mistake had occurred. How did this alert get sent out accidentally someone pressed the wrong button doesnt seem very likely to me.
I think the situation is absolutely bizarre, and I am not a conspiracy type in general. Trump didnt react. He didnt even manage a look of concern. Im sorry but that is very odd even if he knew already this was a false alarm he should still have been meeting/talking with cabinet members and military leadership and of course HI officials to doublecheck and then release a statement (better yet get his mug on the teevee to inform people that there was no inbound missile). This took a ridiculous amount of time for him to do, and I think its weird and incompetent at best. Worse? The HI system was hacked (I think this is very likely), and we the public dont know who is responsible yet. That should alarm everyone.
Demit
(11,238 posts)I agree with you, this incident needs explanation. If only for the anguish it caused some people. That's what I would expect from a normal person who is president, reassurance. But we have been indoctrinated over the past year to not expect anything normal from him.