HN user
The joke is on him - I used to get this functionality for free way back in the day when (what I presume was) RF noise generated during the processing of ethernet traffic would get picked up by my cheap ISA sound card and sent to the speakers. I never built a sequencer out of it though.
it's quite possible that they're intentionally irrational as a bargaining or maneuvering tactic.
You're giving them too much credit. This is more of a "some men just want to watch the world burn" situation than a "4-D chess" situation.
I won't go so far as to claim that we are in a Manchurian Candidate scenario, but I also cannot exclude that possibility.
You probably know this already, but you don't need to. The relevant question is not "Is the president working on behalf of America's adversaries?"; rather it is "If he was, what would he be doing differently?"
The best answer is a reference from All the President's Men: "The truth is these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."