There’s something that has been keeping me up at night thinking. Let me walk you through it.
Donald Trump has been claiming over and over that reports of Russian interference in the presidential election are “fake news”. He, and other members of his staff have also been claiming that, even if the Russians did interfere, there is no evidence of collusion between the Russians and himself, his campaign (before the election), or his staff (after he became president).
Friday, the Washington Post published a report that not only was US Intelligence certain that the Russians were actively working to damage Hillary Clinton and help Trump win the election, but that the CIA had proof. Obama was informed last August, and he struggled to find a way to respond. If Obama reacted too strongly it would create mass chaos — the Republicans were already screaming that the election was rigged for Hillary Clinton. Announcing that the election had indeed been compromised could very well help the Russians even more by destroying faith in the US elections and completely destabilizing American democracy.
Obama ended up expelling 35 diplomats and closed two Russian compounds. He also authorized the planting of cyber weapons in Russia’s infrastructure, which was still being done as Obama was leaving office. That left it up to Trump to decide whether to use these weapons to punish Putin and Russia for what WaPo describes as “the crime of the century” — hacking an American presidential election. Of course, Trump never did use those weapons.
Now here’s the part that got me thinking — Trump’s response to the news:
What’s really curious about this is that Donald Trump, who repeatedly denied the existence of Russian meddling, is saying that it is “just out” that Russia meddled in the US elections, but that Obama “did nothing about it”.
So, is Russian meddling “fake news”? Either it is or it isn’t. If it is, then why would Obama need to do anything about it? If it is real, then why the hell did president Trump keep telling us it was fake news?
How can Trump claim that he just found out about the Russian meddling? He is the president, and the CIA (with their evidence and proof) reports to him. There is no way he didn’t know this.
Even far, far worse, within days after Trump became president, he started trying to remove the sanctions that Obama had placed on the Russians and reopen their compounds. In his tweet, Trump complains that Obama did nothing, but while it is debatable whether he did the right thing or enough, he didn’t do “nothing”, and yet Trump, who absolutely must have known about the Russian meddling, was trying to undo the sanctions. So the sanctions must have been something, otherwise, why would Trump try to undo them?
It became even more curious when Congress started working on a bill to impose stronger sanctions against Russia, which included a clause that prohibited Trump from removing the sanctions without the approval of Congress. Did they know something about Trump that we didn’t know? And Trump is threatening to veto that bill.
Why did members of Trump’s administration have so many contacts with Russians (and then lied about them). And why did Trump’s son-in-law and advisor try to set up a direct channel to Russia, so he could talk to them without the CIA listening in?
Instead, everyone is debating whether Obama made the proper response to the Russian meddling! Why? Why aren’t we wondering why Trump tried to help the Russians, even after he knew that they had meddled in our election? Even readers of this blog have been taken in by this con.
I keep trying to think of a fallacy in this line of reasoning, but I can’t come up with one. The bottom line: we elected a con man, who almost certainly committed high treason. And yet somehow we are blaming Obama.
UPDATE: The White House is doubling down on their attacks on Obama, asking “Why didn’t Obama stop us from colluding with Russia?”. Lesson? Never do anything nice for Trump, because he will fuck you over for it.
The White House also pointed out that Trump created a commission on election integrity (headed by VP Pence), which of course is spending their time investigating voter fraud (which doesn’t actually exist) and registration fraud (which wouldn’t matter even if it did exist) instead of actual foreign hacking (which illegally helped Trump win).
57 Comments
The best defense is a good offense? Change the focus of the discussion, blame someone for something unrelated or wrongly. The American public is easily distracted and easily lied to. That’s what con men do. Look at this shiny object over here while I snatch the money over there. Promise the moon but give them a turd. A pretty, well wrapped turd, but a turd none the less. Do it well and many will vow to their dying days that they never got a turd.
This presidency is probably going to be the biggest and bestest con ever.
What I read was that he tried to warn many states of the interference. They weren’t interested in listening.
My surmise on this whole thing goes back to 2008 when the Trumps could no longer borrow money from the US banks because of their bankruptcies. “we can get all the money we want from Russia.” Last year, his income in the 2 plus billion mark was less than his debts of 3 billion. Now surmise is that the money is being laundered (casinos are good for that) Trump, Trump’s father, Trump’s grandfather has never honored any vow he has made. This debt to Russia gives them total control of Trump and family. and as you said, “deflect the blame”
My sister nearly 80 now asked me “why would anyone vote for Trump?” I returned with “Would you vote for Elvis Presley?” Without hesitation, she said “yes” People vote for celebrities without knowing the context
It’s not reasonable to expect anything truthful, logical, reasonable or consistent to come from Trump. Stop expecting him to be mortified by his obvious lies and contradictions.
Trump has never been held meaningfully accountable for any of his crimes and may be the oldest living (certainly the most famous) sufferer of affluenza. This is why he views everything as being subject to negotiation, bargaining, influence … etc.
This is why when he does finally face his comeuppance it is imperative that he not be offered a Nixonian get out of jail free card. What this country needs most now, is to send a message to the wealthy criminal class that they’re not above the law and must pay the same way poor people, working people, wage earners pay for their crimes.
No luxury prison option either – http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-pay-to-stay-seal-beach/. Hard time down on the farm, where the residents like their bitches soft, flabby and orange.
“Your fault that I got away with it.”
In my dreams, James. In my dreams.
Call it the Bluto Retort:
“You fucked up; you trusted me.”
No, this is not the right version, the real version is pure irony.
There was no collusion, that’s the fake news.
There was meddling, just like we do, just like they have done in the past. This time they got sloppy. Obama did not want to do much about it till after the election because he, like the all other Dems, thought Hillary was going to win. And if he said there was meddling then republicans would say there was Russian collusion and interference that cost them the election.
That my friends is hilarious IRONY. And it also the truth.
I think two separate issues are being mixed into one. One issue is that Russia intervened in the US election and based on WaPo reports it seems that the attempts by the previous administration to stop it or prevent it were weak and ineffective. Moreover any measures taken by the admin to punish Russia were quite weak as well.
The second issue is Trump and his “satellites” being used by the russians.
These are two separate issues and I hope everyone sees it that way and assigns blame accordingly. Any administration should take the appropriate steps to ensure democratic elections. That one the most important things the US is respected for. If we can’t hold the obama administration accountable for that I’m curious what they be held accountable for? Or were the 8 years spotless?
Regarding Trump, I don’t knows who’s silly enough to fall for his claims of Obama being responsible for him colluding with the russians. They are mutually exclusive issues. I think we should be pragmatic enough to treat them as such.
This is so fun, here is more information to make you go Hmmmmm.
http://nypost.com/2017/06/24/inside-the-shadowy-intelligence-firm-behind-the-trump-dossier/
The plot thickens, you can almost cut the intrigue with a knife.
Apologies to math aficionados for incorrectly using the term “mutually exclusive”. I meant separate issues. 🙂
Also if Trump or his satellites didnt collude, why is he falling over himself trying to stop or slow down the investigation into russian meddling. I think what would be hugely ironical would be if Trump did indeed not collude directly with the russians but somehow became aware of maybe Flynn colluding and in then trying to prevent an investigation from happening (for whatever reason) committed a crime.
The plot thickens. Do Dems see danger in perusing this strategy, or are the afraid of something in the closet…
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/339248-dems-push-leaders-to-talk-less-about-russia
https://www.buzzfeed.com/passantino/cnn-russia-coverage-publishing-restrictions?utm_term=.sgL08dlKP#.mv5q5N48e
What I don’t understand is that I live in Appalsia where a
Trump is terrified of the investigation into his relationship with Russia — and he should be
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-russia-investigation-scared-2017-6
Sorry about that, kitten on post. I live in Appalachia where all but me vot R. All have TV except me. Russia was brought up way before the election. People in the country; especially the vets abhor communism. So they voted for the Russians and communism. Maybe Fox News didn’t mention the Russian interference
Jonah, thanks for the link in your post (#13). It is indeed very difficult to believe that Mueller will not find something (and probably multiple things) that Trump has done that is a “high crime or misdemeanor“, especially when he gets ahold of Trump’s financial records (including tax returns).
Let’s not brush aside this actual ( evidence based) criminal act
2 prominent Dems seem to see something wrong with Lynch telling Comey to call it a matter
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/25/second-dem-made-queasy-by-lynch-interference-in-clinton-email-investigation/
Whoosh, Making America Great Again! Or at least Work again.
Unemployment rate among Blacks lowest in 17 years
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000006
Conservatives trying to govern and reign in Gov waste.
Conservatives asking for a long overdue audit of the defense dept
http://www.oann.com/conservatives-seek-pentagon-audit/
I really like this one, because there is a lot of waste and inefficiency at DOD.
Pat, I don’t think you can give any credit to Trump for the jobs numbers. Anyone in the St. Louis area who can’t get a job is probably never going to have a job. I hardly pass a business without a hiring sign in the window. The thing is, it’s been that way for many months now. My 17 year old grandson has not been able to get a job, but he doesn’t want a job, his mother wants him to have a job, so I suspect he’s found a way to turn off prospective employers so he can have a non working summer. It interferes with his game playing. Next stop a gaming house. Over his mom’s dead body of course.
Wildwood, I can feel your disappointment. I learned long ago that a certain amount of stress is necessary and good. If someone can lay on the couch while someone else pays the bills and buys them batteries and internet why would they work. Some folks need to have the stress of being a little hungry or not having their usual creature comforts to convince them to get off the couch.
In the case of my sons (1 just finished college, the other has 2 more years) it’s always been my wife and my position that he who does not work will have no toys, many chores and persistent nagging. Just to make them uncomfortable. It has worked thus far.
As to Trump getting credit or not, my opinion is if we have credit to Obama then Trump deserves at least a little. In some of the red states they added a work requirement for public assistance. The assistance receiver numbers went down, but I don’t know if their was a corresponding increase in employment or not. But none the less I’ll take any positive improvement for our black communities who were hit hardest by the recession.
PSgt, did you even look at the numbers you quoted in comment #17? Look at the graph, then look at the dates. They are in *years*.
Message of graph: when Obama was inaugurated, black unemployment was going through the roof. He turned that around and the black unemployment rate steadily decreased until now.
You are going to credit this to Trump? Seriously? When his new budget (not passed yet) basically kills everything Obama did to get the economy going again? (And throws lots more money at the military).
As for your comment #18, people have been asking for an audit of the DoD for a very long time (on both sides of the aisle). Call me when they actually make it happen. Until then, I’m tired of Trump promising “terrific” things, like health insurance where everyone is covered and it costs less, and then coming up with a bill that increases the deficit while kicking millions of people off their insurance. But then again, if everyone who gets sick without insurance is just supposed to die, then I suppose that that most people (those who survive) will have insurance and we won’t have to insure sick people any more, so it might even save money. (/sarcasm).
Step 1. Do a little extra research and pull out the years form 2001
Step 2. Apologize to the PSGT.
Oh never mind I’ll do it for you.
https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet
And yes, the healthcare issue is far from over. At least someone is trying to fix it. It’s easy for Dems to sit on the sidelines not putting any of their own ideas on the table while criticizing those who are.
So what’s up with Bernie and Lynch?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/06/23/senators-investigate-whether-loretta-lynch-tried-stifle-clinton-email-probe/103140596/?siteID=je6NUbpObpQ-lWuCh8IfJYORyBWEVZ5lnw
And exactly what did Bill tell Loretta on a tarmac in Phoenix? Hmmmm.
Any ideas?
Ohh and be sure your readers don’t miss this
http://www.oann.com/oann-to-expose-fake-news-on-steroids-exclusive-video-from-project-veritas-on-oann-11a-m-et-tues/
Ok IK, so here’s the deep dive into unemployment. And yes Obama started it . Now we’ve just got to get people training themselves upward to take advantage. From here on out it’s up to Trump.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.yahoo.com/amphtml/finance/news/black-unemployment-rate-hits-16-12-year-low-162635060.html
Actually sarge, I think you owe a lot of people on this site an apology with some of your comments since Trump was elected. Lighten up man!
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
That was July 2016.
BTW, in a worst case scenario Trump can pardon himself. Nixon didn’t do it because he wasn’t a total sleaze, but Trump’s sleaze has no limit.
JWat- as soon as this site, CNN and MSNBC start reporting on the all the hypocrisy, irony and fake news on the left I would be glad to lighten up.
Max – I agree that was an awesome joke that ended in complete irony.
Everybody refuses to call out incidents that have “actual” evidence of wrong doing, including Lynch, Hillary, Donna Brazil, Queen Debbie, Bill Clinton. The progressive Hollywood, and on and on.
Trump is far stretch from a ideal President and politician. But the people who elected him are tired of politicians. So we’ll take the good with the bad.
We have not even had a new budget yet, still collecting record revenue and can’t get the deficit down to 100 billion. Something’s got to give. If we balanced the budget and had a 500 Billion a year surplus, it would still take us 40 years to pay down the principle on our debt. We still owe another 20 Trillion in interest. Let’s get real, we cannot pay for everything. The American people, all of us, need to do our part to fix this.
The buying of 33 vacant acres for 1 million dollars was absolutely absurd. The going rate in western NY would be $66,000. Bernie and Jane have no assets and no sense of money. You will see by this graph which party believes in “he who dies with the most toys wins”
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2017/Senate/Maps/Jun26.html#item-7
Trump is making a fortune while in office. A more miserable man, I’ve never seen.
My motto, “Be happy and don’t hurt anyone” So simple. His whole object in life is to make all around him including his wife miserable. Makes him feel good.
Don’t forget the day of the inaugural, they went to the White House before the event. Trump got out of the car and climbed the steep steps, leaving his wife in the car and do it on her own with four inch heels.
Re: The e-mails. If I was Jewish (and I may have a bit back before the 1600s) “STop, stop, stop with Benghazi and the e-mails.” It is surmised that the e-mails were safer on her server that no one knew about than a government server that the hackers were watching. Nothing ever got hacked on her server.
And here are the ambassadors killed. Do you remember committee after committee wasting their time going over and over the facts of their death?
https://history.state.gov/about/faq/ambassadors-killed
Unfortunately this is a risk in public service. We honor Stevens
I’m dying to know whats been good about trump so far. The major drivers of our deficit have not been cut. In fact military spending, one of the biggest drivers, is increasing. His foreign policy is alienating us from even our closest allies which will require even more defense spending. Regulations protecting our environment have been shredded. Discrimination is rampant. Our allies are mocking us and there seems to be less respect in this country as a whole.
Hold on I’ve just thought of one thing Trump has been positive for. Late night comedy.
All this losing is exhausting. When is the winning going to start?
I’ll also add that Trumps frequent golf outings are definitely not reducing our deficit.
Pat, I doubt you or your wife can out nag my daughter. She has removed the cables from his computer and I’ve been instructed to shut down the Internet when he is not doing what he is supposed to be doing so he can’t use his wireless devices. He is a good kid, with decent grades, working on a pilots license and just needs his butt kicked once in a while. As of last night, the plans are for him to go visit his dad for a few weeks, so getting a job now would not work. Dad is traveling around the rodeo circuit with two horses and a dog right now. That should be a change of pace for a lot of the rest of his summer. He will be spending it in a horse trailer and mucking and riding.
“How dare you not arrest me?”
Wildwood, that’s great he’s interested in flying. I read an article 1-2 weeks ago saying there is a real shortage of Airline pilots in the US. Seems like a possibility. I might also recommend the Air Force Academy. If accepted it would cost nothing, he’d have a guaranteed job upon graduating and after serving his required time he’d be an experienced pilot and walk right into a great career. Most of the pilots in the AF don’t fly fighter’s they have a lot of big transport aircraft which translates directly to the commercial airliners.
Nudge him in that direction.
Jonah, I know. The Dems certainly have been on a crazy losing streak, like 7 years running. Ask Pelosi, she’s the de facto leader now. But just remind her that Trump is president because she seems to forget a lot and still thinks Bush is president. Or ask Bernie, oh I forgot he’s lawyered up and not answering questions. Ummm let me see uh, maybe try Hillary, she might have an answer for you. Oh that’s right it’s the Russians, and the DNC and Comey and anybody but her is the problem.
Meanwhile, in reality.
Ohh did you see this….
http://www.veritaslive.com/06-26-2017/americanpravdacnn.html
Looks like CNN got busted.
The POTUS was right again!
Jonah, did you see the 9-0 ruling by the SCOTUS overturning the liberal circuit courts unconstituional ruling? That’s our POTUS, making us safe again.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/on-travel-ban-the-supreme-court-provides-adult-supervision-for-lower-courts-gone-wild/article/2627192
Because this is the enemy we face
http://nypost.com/2017/06/27/isis-tricks-starving-yazidi-sex-slave-to-eat-her-young-son/
And guess what, there here thanks to those judges and the last administration. As soon as we drive them out of Iraq and Syria they’ll be in your backyard. Invite them in and fix them dinner, they’ll convert guaranteed right?
Pat, daughter works for an airline and manages their pilots. She is aware of the shortage and he did ROTC freshman and sophomore years and I think is scheduled for it again next year. She has his life all planned. It remains to be seen if and when he balks, or decides he wants to be basket weaver instead. I just sit back and smile. He’s a bit of a late bloomer and is just beginning to find his voice. When he does, Katie bar the door.
I’m beginning to think that someone has stolen the handle of the nice rational PATRIOTSGT that we have known since 2008 on this site. NYpost is not a credible newspaper.
American Pravda: CNN Producer Says Russia Narrative “bullsh*t” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdP8TiKY8dE&feature=youtu.be
So Ebdoug how about AOL
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/06/27/reports-unsuspecting-yazidi-sex-slave-fed-her-own-child-isis/23005103/
I think CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post are actually not real “news” outlets.
Wildwood, Its more common I think for kids that age in this generation to not have a real sense of what they want to do. I think that’s ok as well. He’ll get there, just keep talking to him and encouraging the young man. 🙂
I would not know about those sites. I have had no TV since I was 19 years old. I read APraw news.
It’s the height of hypocrisy when our president is a 1st class liar and rails at others about lying.
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/president-trump/fake-news-trump-asked-to-remove-false-time-cover-from-his-golf-resorts-35873732.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html?mcubz=1
Apparantly trumps a closer. LOL. The trick he played with the house is unlikely to gain traction in the senate. No one’s going to support a guy who urges passage of a bill and then calls it “mean” behind their back. Signs of a great leader … not.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/us/health-care-bill-trump-pence.html
PSgt, I think you’ve been drinking too much cool-aid. You keep running back to Hillary but even the Pubican Congress, with the same evidence that the FBI had couldn’t pin anything on her but stupidity for her emails. IT’S BORING, my friend, as is most of the rest of your rantings. I really, really, don’t like Hillary, but enough is enough.
Sarge, the right wing establishment, Trump and Russia want us to believe that our media (referred to as the “PRESS” in the US Constitution) is fake and the “enemy of the people”. Please don’t fall for this or propagate this propaganda. I happen to be believe that our government has been under attack for the last 30-35 years and that sadly Russia has entered into the attack as an ally of those attacking us.
Trump’s fake time cover meme’s are hilarious
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/06/28/trumps-bogus-time-cover-the-fake-news-that-launched-an-army-of-memes/?utm_term=.12cfe2be8086
On a serious note though, the leader of the free world created a fake time cover to satisfy his ego.
NOTYCOON- exactly how I feel about the Trump Russian collusion baloney. As even Van Jones was caught saying off camera, it’s just a big nothing burger, there’s nothing there.
So are you requesting a truce and return to civility? What you and Jonah teal experienced is the same thing I was being forced to listen to CNN 10ft away from my desk for the last 3 months and listening to Cuomo et al go on and on about Trump/Russia conspiracy theories, the same as IK did with the original article.
I’ll quit if you all agree to stop the nonsense. You’re free to criticize or debate policy, or personality, I’ve got no issue with that.
Hey, PSgt. I can’t speak for others. I’m sorry you have to listen to any group of talking heads all the time. I’ve seriously quit doing so. You know the old saying, opinions are like assholes – everyone has one. Sadly, most talking heads have more than the allotted number. Until recently, I’ve always enjoyed your input to this site. I’d like to get back to that.
Thanks NOTYCOON. Hopefully we can do just that.
Stay classy mr president
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
I agree Jonah. Somebody needs to suspend his twitter license and send him to a sensitivity class or a class on class.
Thought you all might find this interesting, apparently it’s not only republicans that receive death threats form the left.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article158738529.html
Filed under Irony.
As a strong believer in the need to move toward universal health care and a resident of California, I’m glad the bill was shelved. Too many giant holes in it. I don’t see how one state can do it while the rest of the nation flounders on with the current and future (worse) system that Congress is working on.
As to death threats, there is plenty of them to go around no matter where one wants to point one’s fingers. They all suck. The greater the polarization, the easier it is to dehumanize those you don’t agree with whether they’re in one’s on political persuasion pool or another. Bah!
I’m glad we agree on something patriotsgt. While I can certainly understand wanting someone fresh, i really dont see how anyone can think that someone with a childish temperament like Trump is the answer. His behavior on twitter alone should shine a light into his inner workings. I’m sure sure those who voted for him prefer him spend time on more pressing issue that they voted him in to tackle rather than dealing with pet peeves. However this is how he behaved on the voting trail and the country is getting exactly what the electoral college made possible to get.
Even if the senate and the house approved every measure that he wanted them to, I would have a hard time believing he has the focus to get things done. As soon as someone says something he doesnt like he’s likely to drop presidential work and vent his anger on twitter or the microphone. He’s petty and the sooner that those who voted him in realize he doesnt care 2 hoots about them the better.
Instead of focusing on the peoples work our president has been busy with his personal vendetta’s
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/30/morning-joe-hosts-suggest-white-house-threatened-to-blackmail-them.html
And the white house defense of he’s only fightling back is childish. Thats the stuff you hear in a nursery for kids and they fight with each other and you pull the kids apart and ask them what happened. If Kim jong-un says something nasty is Trump honestly going to tweet shit about him? How pathetic is this.
Fair and Unbalanced has a good post about this — http://fairandunbalanced.com/?p=6458
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