I think it's impressive that you think the figurehead has the power.
I promise you that if you think Congress is being intimidated by the intelligence community, than it's equally if not more so likely that the president himself is as well.
Here's the likely scenario: the President has his first real sitdown with the intelligence community after inauguration, and they hand him a manilla folder. Inside the folder is the file they've kept on that new president for decades. Every phone call, email, text, app-download or piece of mail they ever sent is in there. It's all there, every blackmail piece, every high school sweetheart, every illicit lover, everything. The blackmail isn't overt, but the nature of the asymmetric relationship is established and the truism that information is power is reaffirmed.
I simply cannot believe that the figurehead-of-the-decade is the puppeteer and not the puppet.
Not just blackmail material on the president, but on every family member, friend, colleague, and political ally. There's no reason not to suspect that this has been the norm for decades.
I promise you that if you think Congress is being intimidated by the intelligence community, than it's equally if not more so likely that the president himself is as well.
Here's the likely scenario: the President has his first real sitdown with the intelligence community after inauguration, and they hand him a manilla folder. Inside the folder is the file they've kept on that new president for decades. Every phone call, email, text, app-download or piece of mail they ever sent is in there. It's all there, every blackmail piece, every high school sweetheart, every illicit lover, everything. The blackmail isn't overt, but the nature of the asymmetric relationship is established and the truism that information is power is reaffirmed.
I simply cannot believe that the figurehead-of-the-decade is the puppeteer and not the puppet.