All the world's a stage to Donald Trump, and that includes the Central Intelligence Agency, where he actually brought a studio audience to cheer him on last Saturday, according to CBS News. PoliticusUSA reported:
CBS News confirmed reports that President Donald Trump brought a studio audience to his visit with the CIA on Saturday. The news agency reports that an official said the visit left a wake of “unease,” “made relations with the intelligence community worse,” and was “uncomfortable.”
Intelligence people were “stunned” and “offended by the president’s tone,” CBS reported U.S. government sources tell CBS News that there is a sense of unease in the intelligence community after President Trump’s visit to CIA headquarters on Saturday.”
Also, Trump did bring cheering props, which fits with how he has operated previously in requiring a cheering section – a sort of laugh track of supportive extras like those his campaign hired for his announcement event. It has been confirmed by Trump insiders that the President loves props.
“Authorities are also pushing back against the perception that the CIA workforce was cheering for the president. They say the first three rows in front of the president were largely made up of supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign,” CBS continued.
This is Trump's modus operandi and has been since the inception of his campaign when he hired a group of extras from a New York talent agency called "The Extra Mile," to wear tee shirts and cheer at his announcement event at Trump Tower, when he descended the escalator to roars of (paid for) approval and adulation. Of course Sean Spicer was asked to comment and CBS News reported that Spicer said this:
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Monday denied that there were “Trump or White House folks” in the first rows.
“There were no Trump or White House folks sitting down. They were all CIA (unintelligible). So, not in rows one-through-anything, from what I’m told.” Spicer said at the White House briefing Monday. He did not address whether Pompeo invitees were in the first rows.
A source who is familiar with the planning of the president’s CIA visit saw Spicer’s briefing, however, and firmly denied Spicer’s response was accurate.
CBS handily disposed of Spicer's objection:
“An official with knowledge of the make-up of the crowd says that there were about 40 people who’d been invited by the Trump, Mike Pence and Rep. Mike Pompeo teams. The Trump team expected Rep. Pompeo, R-Kansas, to be sworn in during the event as the next CIA director, but the vote to confirm him was delayed on Friday by Senate Democrats. Also sitting in the first several rows in front of the president was the CIA’s senior leadership, which was not cheering the remarks.
Trump's visit to the CIA should have been a solemn occasion, considering the hallowed venue and the memorial wall which he stood in front of. It should have been foremost in his mind that he had undermined the intelligence community on the campaign trail and now was a time to make amends and patch fences. Instead, Trump egotistically and insensitively seized the occasion to grandstand about his own importance and to disparage yet another perceived foe, the media, and now the entire situation has, once more, blown up in his face. Trump is like a character in a Greek tragedy, his character is his destiny. How many more of these debacles before the curtain finally rings down on this farce?