# Did Trump not know that he was giving Bannon a seat on the NSC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 6, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149 "2017-02-06T08:25:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/21 "2017-02-07T22:31:58Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Unbelievable. How can that possibly happen? Ever watch M_A_S\*H? [![](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/57/f8/27/57f827ba432867a9b8df400e452e04e3.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/57/f8/27/57f827ba432867a9b8df400e452e04e3.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/22 "2017-02-08T01:48:30Z")
> [@pidgeon92](#): > > The man is suffering from dementia. He has no reading comprehension. There’s a decent amount of circumstantial evidence he doesn’t know how to read at all. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/23 "2017-02-08T03:22:41Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Have you ever read one of those executive orders? Generally, they’re boring as hell, even to someone like me who reads boring documents for a living. Given Trump’s known aversion to reading anything at all, it would be no surprise to me if he hasn’t read any of his orders in detail, relying instead on someone like Bannon to “summarize” them for him. “If the party of the third part in any way _ex parte_ contacts a member of the judiciary great or small to communicate matters the president has reserved for consideration he or she shall be subject to the lesser punishment of a fine not exceeding 2000 American dollars and a public whipping, yet if the grand council so determines the guilt to be far exceeding the trifling and inconsiderate the greater penalty shall apply including in addition to the lesser punishment a further fine of 80,000 American dollars and imprisonment in guantanamo bay for no less than ten sentences of not less than 80 years each, upon completion of this executive order the adviser bannon shall immediately be granted funds free and clear of taxes of no less than 800 million American dollars from the Treasury as an outright gift while the requisite government enforcement agencies are hereby required to pursue all whistle-blowers as rigorously as did the previous administration though use of all available surveillance methods sanctioned by the president and the previous president and to bring them to a fair trial before sentencing to 8000 years in an American penitentiary this to be enforceable immediately on publication and dissemination of this order.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/24 "2017-02-08T04:22:35Z")
What I think is relevant is that people said it was bad. And now he says he didn’t mean to do it. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/25 "2017-02-08T13:07:28Z")
There’s a lot of speculation lately that the man can’t read, or at least has difficulty doing so. Without solid evidence I have to be skeptical, but it would explain this. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/26 "2017-02-08T13:55:10Z")
Trump has never cared about the details: he gives his subordinates vague orders (“Make it look classy.”) and has them do the work. If it’s successful, he takes all the credit; if it fails, the subordinate takes the blame. It’s the same thing now that he’s president: he has others do all the work and then signs what they hand him. People have call his style “seagull management”: he flies in, squawks and shits over everything, and the flies away. He’s been that way since the beginning, and he’s not going to change. And part of that is showing no interest in details. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/27 "2017-02-08T15:18:35Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > There’s a lot of speculation lately that the man can’t read, or at least has difficulty doing so. Without solid evidence I have to be skeptical, but it would explain this. My oldest friend (and now political adversary) exhibits all of the symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as enumerated by the Mayo Clinic. Trump also exhibits these symptoms. My friend seems to have trouble reading, and I suspect he is dyslexic. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/28 "2017-02-08T21:44:59Z")
many of the posters here are making a big leap from “not fully briefed” to not knowing what is going on. I interpret the report to say that some details of the appointment were not explained in advance, not that Trump didn’t know what he was signing. These are not long documents. I strongly suspect Trump read them through at least once. He knew what he was doing, perhaps he wasn’t aware of the all the background. Heck, no one can possibly be aware of ALL the background of any given action one takes. I am certainly no fan of liar Trump, but the jumps being made in this thread aren’t warranted from the article. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/29 "2017-02-08T23:39:24Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > many of the posters here are making a big leap from “not fully briefed” to not knowing what is going on. > I interpret the report to say that some details of the appointment were not explained in advance, not that Trump didn’t know what he was signing. These are not long documents. I strongly suspect Trump read them through at least once. He knew what he was doing, perhaps he wasn’t aware of the all the background. Heck, no one can possibly be aware of ALL the background of any given action one takes. > > I am certainly no fan of liar Trump, but the jumps being made in this thread aren’t warranted from the article. Yes, it is. If he read it, then he would know that it promoted Bannon to the National Security Council. He is now claiming he didn’t know that. So either he didn’t read it, couldn’t read it, or is lying. You admit Trump is a liar. So then why are you taking his face-saving excuse as fact? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/30 "2017-02-09T01:08:42Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > There’s a decent amount of circumstantial evidence he doesn’t know how to read at all. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/31 "2017-02-09T01:11:15Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Cite? She’s joking but makes a decent circumstantial [case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LFkN7QGp2c&ab_channel=FullFrontalwithSamanthaBee). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/32 "2017-02-09T07:07:10Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > She’s joking but makes a decent circumstantial [case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LFkN7QGp2c&ab_channel=FullFrontalwithSamanthaBee). How is he tweeting if he can’t read? He could dictate to someone during the day, but at 3 a.m.? > [@rbroome](#): > > many of the posters here are making a big leap from “not fully briefed” to not knowing what is going on. > I interpret the report to say that some details of the appointment were not explained in advance, not that Trump didn’t know what he was signing. These are not long documents. I strongly suspect Trump read them through at least once. He knew what he was doing, perhaps he wasn’t aware of the all the background. Heck, no one can possibly be aware of ALL the background of any given action one takes. > > I am certainly no fan of liar Trump, but the jumps being made in this thread aren’t warranted from the article. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/33 "2017-02-09T07:31:04Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > She’s joking but makes a decent circumstantial [case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LFkN7QGp2c&ab_channel=FullFrontalwithSamanthaBee). Oh, a video. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/34 "2017-02-09T07:58:05Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > How is he tweeting if he can’t read? He could dictate to someone during the day, but at 3 a.m.? It is possible that he can read but at a low level. Legal documents are in their own dialect and it’s a very complex one; he wouldn’t be the first businessman who can read tweets or sports headlines but not legal documents. You should see some of the things I’ve had to point out in contracts I’ve received from people who made a living off such contracts. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/35 "2017-02-09T08:16:12Z")
I very much doubt he read the order. [It’s long and dense](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/28/presidential-memorandum-organization-national-security-council-and) and we know he [didn’t read leases before signing them.](http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a49139/trump-deposition-mexicans-rapists/) He supposedly won’t read memos either, and demands that they be reduced to a [single page with no more than nine bullet points](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-leaks_us_589a45f1e4b04061313a1fbb). (Neither of these are inherently bad but they do suggest that he prefers less information over more.) > [@davidm](#): > > There’s a lot of speculation lately that the man can’t read, or at least has difficulty doing so. Without solid evidence I have to be skeptical, but it would explain this. I think at least some of the difficulty is that his eyesight is not so great but he’s too vain to do anything about it. My guess is that his plodding cadence when on a teleprompter is partially because the text is blown up so big on the screen that the person running it struggles to keep his next words visible. And when he’s spoken from notes, they’ve had [rather large print.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CewgdkkXEAA5HhP.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/36 "2017-02-09T13:49:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Oh, a video. What did you expect? A crying confession from Trump himself? I didn’t say it was fact; I said you can make a case and she does. Also he does indeed dictate his tweets (at least some of them). He has said so himself. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/37 "2017-02-09T14:24:38Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > How is he tweeting if he can’t read? He could dictate to someone during the day, but at 3 a.m.? Literacy is not a binary all-or-nothing thing, it exists as a spectrum: > **[National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) - Scoring & Performance...](https://nces.ed.gov/naal/perf_levels.asp)** > > In order to make NAAL scores meaningful, the scores were grouped into performance levels to provide information that could more easily be understood and used by the public and policy makers. The performance levels were developed to characterize the... > [@](#): > > Basic indicates skills necessary to perform simple and everyday literacy activities. > > ``` > reading and understanding information in short, commonplace prose texts > reading and understanding information in simple documents > locating easily identifiable quantitative information and using it to solve simple, one-step problems when the arithmetic operation is specified or easily inferred > > finding in a pamphlet for prospective jurors an explanation of how people were selected for the jury pool > using a television guide to find out what programs are on at a specific time > comparing the ticket prices for two events > > ``` That sounds like more than enough to engage in basic tweeting behavior, but is two levels below the “proficient” that would be needed to understand complex legal documents like leases and executive orders. When you consider the fact that we know he has admitted to not reading both leases and EOs, it’s not too much of a leap to think he might have no better than a basic level of literacy. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/38 "2017-02-10T05:15:15Z")
Now that I think about it, I can dictate to my Android rather than typing. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/39 "2017-02-10T05:37:52Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > What did you expect? A crying confession from Trump himself? I didn’t say it was fact; I said you can make a case and she does. > > Also he does indeed dictate his tweets (at least some of them). He has said so himself. Really every businessman and CEO who ever saves time by dictating to a secretary is obviously illiterate. _Napoleon sometimes dictated three, four, five, six, even seven letters at once on as many subjects to as many secretaries, never getting confused and always having in focus the significant points of the current subject._ **[Crescendo of the Virtuoso](http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft438nb2b6&chunk.id=d0e16721&toc.depth=1&brand=ucpress)** What a loser ! ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149/40 "2017-02-10T05:40:32Z")
But hey, at least you’re talking about him ! That’s what Trump wants. The mechanical generation of outrage at every action big or small furthers his agenda. And is why he does it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-not-know-that-he-was-giving-bannon-a-seat-on-the-nsc/779149.md?page=3)