General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInside Trump's obsession with polygraphs
President Donald Trump has compared White House leakers with spies and mused obliquely to other officials about executing them. Hes attacked reporters by name. He rails frequently against media accounts of his administration, dismissing them as fake news.
But privately, the president is so obsessed with the leaks about him that he has frequently discussed whether to order polygraphs of White House staffers after major disclosures, according to four former White House officials in what would be a stark and politically risky departure from past practice.
Trump constantly talks about ordering polygraphs during major leaks, according to a former White House official. He talked about it a lot, the former official said. After reading and watching reports about his presidency, Hed be angry and ask, Why cant we stop these things?
He wanted to polygraph every employee in the building to unearth who it was who spoke to the press, said another former official, who noted that the president tends to be especially irate when he knows specific news accounts are true. Some White House staffers have even volunteered to take a polygraph, also called a lie-detector test, to prove their innocence after they were suspected of leaking, according to the former official.
The new details of Trumps repeated interest in polygraphing provide important context on the presidents state of mind as Democrats demand answers about the White Houses handling of records of his interactions with foreign leaders. A whistleblower has accused White House officials of improperly storing transcripts of the presidents phone calls in a system meant for highly classified intelligence secrets, including a conversation with the president of Ukraine that has set off a spiraling impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/08/trump-obsession-polygraphs-leaks-038431
He is already batshit, but I hope this gnaws at him day and night!
vlyons
(10,252 posts)water-boarding?
Blue Owl
(50,390 posts)struggle4progress
(118,290 posts)CatMor
(6,212 posts)gordianot
(15,238 posts)Everything he says is a lie.
demmiblue
(36,855 posts)It would probably look exactly like his signature!
CatMor
(6,212 posts)fleur-de-lisa
(14,624 posts)Cicada
(4,533 posts)Should Trump be removed from office?
We could offer $10,000 for charity for every participant.
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)Mosby
(16,317 posts)Disaffected
(4,555 posts)Trump is oblivious to the fact that polygraphs don't actually work. Their only utility lies in that most people don't realize that and may therefore be cajoled into confessing when required to take one.
The real downside is that polygraphs are pretty easy to beat if you know the right techniques and, even in more normal circumstances, have far to many false positives and negatives.
Voodoo "science" with about as much veracity as dowsing or astrology...
tanyev
(42,559 posts)Trump might think a staff full of sociopaths is a good thing, but they would be the first to turn on him once they perceive he's about to drag them down.
Response to tanyev (Reply #13)
Mosby This message was self-deleted by its author.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)He would know firsthand how easy these things are to beat. But, then, he literally doesn't know anything about anything.
Polygraphs supposedly measure the stress responses associated with lying. He lies just as easily as breathing.
Wounded Bear
(58,660 posts)if you can pass one of those, you can lie well enough to work for Trump.