if Trump wants to take on the letter agencies, my money isn't on Trump. They employ some of the smartest, nastiest people on the planet, and if realpolitik is your thing, their political record is impressive in its effectiveness.

But Trump's aims and politics don't necessarily conflict with their aims and politics. Both tend to corporate fascism, both claim to be patriotic but use plastic stick-on nationalism as an excuse to promote their own interests, and neither is much troubled by minor distractions such as human rights, the rule of law, or democratic accountability.

America is rotten enough that a truce is a more likely outcome than a war. Trump can't be reined in with a direct challenge, but he can be manipulated with ease, incapacitated in various ways, or even removed and replaced if necessary.

For now I would expect the game to be about waiting and exploring the ways in which he could be useful.

Challenges are more likely to come from the more overt political machinery, especially federal agencies and the judiciary. But if the letter agencies decide Trump is more of an asset than a liability, I wouldn't expect much lasting push-back from those quarters.

Among the good things that could yet come out of a Trump Presidency would be a less reverent attitude to the intelligence agencies, possible cutbacks in their funding and access, as well as less meddling in the middle east and Ukraine.

Not a lot of consolation if he starts a war with China or helps to break up the EU, but hey, lets look at the bright side!

Unfortunately his press creatures have been making some very conventional woofing noises about those two theaters since the coronation. It's looking increasingly like his semi-sensible mouth noises about them were just his usual contrarian cussedness.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

Let's stipulate that we don't know precisely how much quality evidence is behind the report. However the intelligence agencies also gave us the "Saddam has weapons of mass destruction" guff to justify an invasion, so their bona fides are suspect.

To give the mirrorshade brigade their due, they actually did leak that the Iraq story was made up out of whole cloth. The press just didn't want to hear it.

I think Iran's alleged atom bomb is a better analogy: It's not out of character for any of the players involved, nor beyond their technical capabilities. But a lot of people have looked very hard for evidence that it actually exists, and found nothing at all beyond the paranoid ravings of notorious conspiracy theorists.

So while it's not at the same level of lunacy as Nessie or the little gray aliens at Roswell, it's certainly less plausible than grassy knoll theory off the Kennedy assassination.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.