Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic

by David Frum

The secret purportedly exposed an Israeli penetration of ISIS communications. The Russians might have shared that information with their clients inside Syria and their partners in Iran. But would any of those actors—Russia, Iran, or the Assad regime—have shared the information with ISIS? Perhaps ISIS in turn has penetrated the Assad regime. Still, all those risks were more roundabout than what happened next: the possible divulgence of the substance of the secret to the news media by disgusted national security professionals. (I’ve used hedged language here because it is not impossible that the secondary round of leaks consisted of deliberate disinformation from national security professionals, frantically trying to minimize the harm of the president’s mistake.)