I think the promise was to Netanyahu to go to war with Iran.

[yardwork]

The Republicans have been itching for a war with Iran. I think Bolton talked Trump into it.

Then, I think Trump changed his mind and backed away from the plan, enraging Bolton, causing him to quit.

Trump is an impulsive fool with the emotional intelligence of a sociopathic two year old. He is easily talked into something, then talked out of it by the next person he sees.

Pure speculation, but looking at what's been going on this summer, I guess the call was to Bibi and involved a promise to go to war with Iran.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Possibly but I don't think there's a call to Netanyahu during that period

Unless it was somehow hidden from the record.

[yardwork]

2. Trump is on his cell phone all the time. Who knows who he talks to.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

11. Promise to go to war, but not to Bibi

If there was a promise to go to war it was likely made to MBS. Trump is clearly beholden to the Saudis for their deep pockets. It may be that Bibi was also brought into the loop, but I think it is more likely that Trump and Jared are more interested in pleasing the money than they are in pleasing Bibi. Just my 2 cents.

[Vinca]

3. Maybe, but I'm betting on a call to Vlad that somehow related to the CIA operative

pulled out of the Kremlin and somehow endangers his life and/or the lives of other agents.

[yardwork]

4. I thought the operative was pulled in early 2017?

Maybe the whistleblower reported an old call. Why wait until now?

[CincyDem]

5. I wonder if he promised to look the other way if there was an "accident" on US soil? n/t

[Vinca]

6. Don probably didn't know about it until a journalist called someone

at the White House for comment. Who knows. It could be anything. One thing I think the crime family is forgetting is that the whistleblower always has the option to come forward so trying to hide whatever it is might only work temporarily. If it's as bad as it sounds, that might happen. Keep an eye on the Washington Post and the New York Times.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. We have many operatives

Trump likely gave one of them up.

[dalton99a]

16. +1. Something that shocked the conscience of a spook

The whistleblower works in intelligence

[kentuck]

7. Very possible.

The word in Israel, I have heard, is that Trump recently called Netanyahu, and that call did not go over well with the general population of Israel? They thought he might be too close to a certain other leader?

[moondust]

8. Drone attack

on Saudi oil came three days before the Israeli election. Gantz has said in the past that there is "no daylight" between him and Netanyahu on Iran, although it's obviously strongman Netanyahu who has a long history of using Iran as a boogeyman.

A Jerusalem Post article from March 2018 titled "How Israel became a leader in drone technology" claimed:

~
Israel is the world’s largest exporter of military drones...
~
...That makes (Israel's) Airobotics drones ideal for monitoring tough-to-reach industrial sites like mines, ports and assets owned by oil and gas companies.
~

Israel appears to be a little farther away from those Saudi oil fields than Yemen.

Just sayin'...

[William Seger]

9. Trump is conflicted; war with Iran would mean no Nobel Peace Prize

[yardwork]

12. War is bad for Trump's businesses, but good for the Bush-Cheney-Bolton arm.

Trump's businesses are real estate, hospitality, and apparently human trafficking.

The Bush Crime Family business is war. They make money from military contracts.

I think that Bolton and others are pushing Trump to invade Iran but he can't focus long enough. Then somebody reminds him that war is bad for their businesses and he veers away.

I think that's why Bolton quit.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. If true, we should investigate how often a US president. candidate for the

presidency, or a party has been complicit in such a farce to protect an election.

From what I remember, wasn't Nixon's election bolstered by extending the Vietnam War? And then there are questions about 9/11. The one thing that stands clear today is that the FBI knew the Saudis were responsible, but they didn't share it with the War commission.

And now we have Trump who plays the "Corruption for the sake of self-preservation" game. And does it well.

[lark]

14. That actually sounds about right.

He's so fucking criminal & traitorous, it really could be a lot of things, but your scenario certainly checks a lot of the boxes.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. Everyone's speculating, yours a reasonable guess

I wonder if it involves NATO, he's really ragged on them for awhile, and some type of pledge to stand down.

Something big is up. The Intelligence Community has been too quiet too long, and it's just like the Mueller Report, what the public is told is rumor and speculation mixed with chunks of truth, so speculation is all the public knows. May stay that way for decades.

[McKim]

17. I Agree

I agree. This was the source of our hostility with Iran from the very beginning of Bush’s Axis of Evil speech. Right wing forces in Israel want Iran destroyed. This would be a terrible mistake on the part of the US. We could be trading with a technologically advanced modern scientific country of 89 million people, but no, war is more important? China has taken the opportunity of going around our sanctions and is buying Iranian oil, planning to put its New Silk Road through Iran and trading with them. Our Neanderthal leaders only think of raw power.

[Greybnk48]

18. I would put your guess in the top two.

Putin/Crimea or Bebe.