Trump interrupted his first Pentagon briefing in 2017 with a little freestyle riffing on...Trump.

[Miles Archer]

Instead, the president burst out in the middle of the meeting.

“I just returned from France,” he said. “Did you see President Macron’s handshake?” he asked no one in particular. “He wouldn’t let go. He just kept holding on. I spent two hours at Bastille Day. Very impressive.”

A pause.

“I want a ‘Victory Day.’ Just like Veterans Day. The Fourth of July is too hot,” he said, apparently out of nowhere. “I want vehicles and tanks on Main Street. On Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. We need spirit! We should blow everybody away with this parade. The French had an amazing parade on Bastille Day with tanks and everything. Why can’t we do that?”

Those of us in the control room linked to the Pentagon conference room shifted uncomfortably, shooting glances at each other. Where was this going? We’d opened the control room door 30 minutes before to improve air flow. A Secret Service agent poked his head in, apparently uncomfortable with the conversation and the light it cast on the president. “Hey,” he asked, “do you guys need to still be in here?”

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/21/inside-trumps-first-pentagon-briefing-229865

[blm]

1. Wow.

Pretty much as we figured, though.

Trump goes into meetings already knowing the results Putin has ordered, so he really can NOT be moved by presentations that focus on the interests of the US and our allies.