For once, I think Doonesbury is off-target here. For T****, the value of holding on to important classified documents is that possession makes him feel important. The content of the documents is unimportant -- he doesn’t read them. A photocopy of the original just wouldn’t give the same thrill.
JMsays
In addition to what @david said above I suspect he didn’t even realize some of them were classified documents. It has come out that he was writing to do lists for his assistant on the back of classified documents and giving them to her. It has also be leaked that a lot of the classified documents were found just randomly mixed in with unrelated stuff. In cleaning out the White House when Trump had to leave they just scooped up stacks of documents that looked like Trump documents and took them.
Trump probably kept some because they made him feel important and he considered them signs of his status but a good portion seems to have been 3 Stooges level organization at the White House.
I agree with both comments above. I certainly don’t think Trump was knowingly stealing classified documents as part of any actual espionage operation. Spies and their bosses have very strict rules about taking COPIES of documents, never originals. (In fact, if a spy gives his/her contact original documents, that’s taken as evidence that said spy may actually be a plant feeding false information to the adversary.)
Sorry, typing in haste. Last sentence should have ended “… said spy may actually be a plant feeding false information to their handlers.”
xohjoh2nsays
Winners don’t get told to do, only losers.
Holmssays
Plus, toner is a rip-off.
John Moralessays
Um, keeping copies is legally about as bad as keeping originals, no?
So, not the best question.
—
These days, of course, one could photograph them on the phone and store the results as bits.
Silentbobsays
@ ^
1) He was raided because against the advice of his lawyers he refused to turn over documents, then turned over some, then said he didn’t have anymore. Had he just complied there would be no motive for the raid.
2) Dude, digital scanners have been a thing since the 90s. The joke is how lame is the excuse of not having toner .
(I’ve got one. HP flatbed USB scanner from the 90s. Still works great. X-D )
John Moralessays
@ ^
It’s a silly cartoon with a silly conceit, bub.
So, since you missed my point:
“Um, keeping copies is legally about as bad as keeping originals, no?
So, not the best question.”
—
Of course, the conceit that toner was an issue is predicated on the conceit that one can’t just scan documents. Been decades since photocopiers were also scanners.
Oh, wait… it was a clever reference to a recent kerfuffle:
Trff Bmzklfrpz – Former President-for-Life of the fictional Republic of Berzerkistan. Ex-President Bmzklfrpz was a typical dictator, and, according to an interview with Mark Slackmeyer, engaged in genocide and is anti-Semitic. In a parody of former Turkmenistan president Saparmurat Niyazov, he renamed the month of April (as well as a species of plant and a type of bird) “Trff”, after himself. Uncle and Earl Duke acted as his advisors, and after he was airlifted out of Berzerkistan he moved himself into Duke’s home. Until he is able to return to power, he is sponging off Duke while working on receiving asylum in the U.S. (August 9, 2011) and trying to get his memoirs published (August 16, 2011). He later became an adviser to Donald Trump (March 19, 2017).[5]
John Moralessays
Ah. Thank you, Mano. I had not realised the complexity of the canon.
Acolyte of Sagansays
John Morales says
September 24, 2023 at 9:51 pm
Um, keeping copies is legally about as bad as keeping originals, no?
It is, but if he had taken photocopies the originals would be with the WH archivists so there would be no need to go looking for them at Mar a Ego.
For once, I think Doonesbury is off-target here. For T****, the value of holding on to important classified documents is that possession makes him feel important. The content of the documents is unimportant -- he doesn’t read them. A photocopy of the original just wouldn’t give the same thrill.
In addition to what @david said above I suspect he didn’t even realize some of them were classified documents. It has come out that he was writing to do lists for his assistant on the back of classified documents and giving them to her. It has also be leaked that a lot of the classified documents were found just randomly mixed in with unrelated stuff. In cleaning out the White House when Trump had to leave they just scooped up stacks of documents that looked like Trump documents and took them.
Trump probably kept some because they made him feel important and he considered them signs of his status but a good portion seems to have been 3 Stooges level organization at the White House.
I agree with both comments above. I certainly don’t think Trump was knowingly stealing classified documents as part of any actual espionage operation. Spies and their bosses have very strict rules about taking COPIES of documents, never originals. (In fact, if a spy gives his/her contact original documents, that’s taken as evidence that said spy may actually be a plant feeding false information to the adversary.)
Sorry, typing in haste. Last sentence should have ended “… said spy may actually be a plant feeding false information to their handlers.”
Winners don’t get told to do, only losers.
Plus, toner is a rip-off.
Um, keeping copies is legally about as bad as keeping originals, no?
So, not the best question.
—
These days, of course, one could photograph them on the phone and store the results as bits.
@ ^
1) He was raided because against the advice of his lawyers he refused to turn over documents, then turned over some, then said he didn’t have anymore. Had he just complied there would be no motive for the raid.
2) Dude, digital scanners have been a thing since the 90s. The joke is how lame is the excuse of not having toner .
(I’ve got one. HP flatbed USB scanner from the 90s. Still works great. X-D )
@ ^
It’s a silly cartoon with a silly conceit, bub.
So, since you missed my point:
“Um, keeping copies is legally about as bad as keeping originals, no?
So, not the best question.”
—
Of course, the conceit that toner was an issue is predicated on the conceit that one can’t just scan documents. Been decades since photocopiers were also scanners.
Oh, wait… it was a clever reference to a recent kerfuffle:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/the-printers-that-require-ink-to-scan-and-fax/2/
See, playing on the conceit that keeping copies would have prevented legal problems.
What I don’t know is who the sycophant depicted in the comic is supposed to represent.
But then, I don’t obsessively follow whatshisname’s coterie’s constituence.
(the pillow dude?)
John @#10
Here is information on that character:
Ah. Thank you, Mano. I had not realised the complexity of the canon.
It is, but if he had taken photocopies the originals would be with the WH archivists so there would be no need to go looking for them at Mar a Ego.