The Muscovite Candidate

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:06 pm

wesw wrote:and that general nastiness is why your party is gonna lose..., again.

And why would you say that? It was that sort of nastiness that whipped up Trump's supporters and sent him into the White House.

Burning Petard · Post by **Burning Petard** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:20 pm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... dd648e4dbb

"Ahead of the meeting, staffers provided President Trump with some 100 pages of briefing materials aimed at laying out a tough posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Trump ignored most of it, according to one person familiar with the discussions."

But did he read the stuff? Is there any evidence that he can read anything written above a 6th grade reading level?

Now that he has a former Fox news exec on his communication team, perhaps they can set up a faux Fox News Studio and 'broadcast' his daily briefings to the tv screen in POTUS's bedroom tv so it will be in a format he can accept.

snailgate

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 1:46 pm

Yesterday Trump added impetus for an additional line of inquiry for the Russiagate investigation...

When collusion/conspiracy is discussed it's generally talked about in terms of the campaign; ie, "did Trump or officials in his campaign collude or conspire with the Russians to win the election?"

The post-election part of the investigation has been primarily about obstruction of justice, and Trump's efforts to use the Presidency to derail and discredit investigations into previous possible criminal wrong-doing by himself, his family, and his associates in regards to Russia...

Now, as a result of his disgraceful performance yesterday, an additional major focus for the investigation is needed... (If Mueller isn't already on this trail, and he very well may be)

An investigation into the possibility of Trump's being in conspiracy/collusion post inauguration with Putin and the Russians, to the deliberate detriment of the United States...

An ongoing conspiracy/collusion which continues right to the present day...

Of course another word for this type of conspiracy/collusion would be "treason"...

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:57 pm

Yesterday, more than two dozen GOP members of Congress and other prominent Republicans (some who have been staunch supporters of Trump like Newt Gingrich) condemned and criticized Trump's disgusting, anti-American performance with Putin...

One praised him...

Guess who is the only one Trump is mentioning today?

President Trump defends Vladimir Putin performance by citing Sen. Rand Paul

WASHINGTON — The day after his much-criticized news conference with Russia's Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump defended himself Tuesday by citing the thoughts of a rare supporter who stuck up for him.

"Thank you @RandPaul, you really get it!" Trump tweeted, citing a comment by the Kentucky senator that "the President has gone through a year and a half of totally partisan investigations - what’s he supposed think?”

Paul was one of the few Republicans to defend Trump after a news conference in which he accepted Putin's denials that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 presidential election, taking the Russian president's word over that of U.S. intelligence officials.

While taking Putin's side, Trump also condemned the ongoing investigation of Russia as a "disaster" driving a wedge between the United States and Russia.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 788602002/

This indicates that Trump has no inclination to follow the good advice given to him on CNN this morning by supporter Anthony Scaramucci to find some way to admit he "misspoke" and reverse course...

Instead, it looks like he's getting ready to do one of his famous "double-down on atrocious" moves...

Which should come as good news to anyone hoping for a Democratic take over of the House this fall...

You go Donald! Don't take back a word! Tell us again how you believe Vladimir Putin over your own Director of National Intelligence!

wesw · Post by **wesw** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:26 pm

nah, RR, it was Hope and Change.....

RayThom · Post by **RayThom** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:53 pm

Oopsie Woopsie!

Lord Dampnut misspoke after all.

Trump's Remarkable Attempt to Walk Back His Russia Comments
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... in/565436/

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:55 pm

Unbelievable. But nothing surprises me with him. Tomorrow it will be the fault of the fake news reporting--he never said it; we just need doublespeak and doublethink and everything will be OK.

Econoline · Post by **Econoline** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:10 pm

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:14 pm

His "correction" is ridiculous, since it covers only one of more than a dozen despicable, anti-American things he said...

And of course even while he was making this silly and completely inadequete correction, he still couldn't help himself from going off script yet again muddying the waters:

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, pounded by criticism after a summit with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, insisted Tuesday that he really does believe U.S. intelligence agencies' consensus that Russia meddled in the 2016 election.

But he undermined that explanation by also asserting that "other people" besides Russians could have been involved.

"I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place," Trump said. But he added, "Could be other people also. A lot of people out there."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politic ... n-meddling

Guinevere · Post by **Guinevere** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:43 pm

More goodness from my latest fave columnist - one George F. Will

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... f6581c627e

By George F. Will
Opinion writer
July 17 at 2:57 PM
Email the author
America’s child president had a play date with a KGB alumnus, who surely enjoyed providing day care. It was a useful, because illuminating, event: Now we shall see how many Republicans retain a capacity for embarrassment.

Jeane Kirkpatrick, a Democrat closely associated with such Democratic national security stalwarts as former senator Henry Jackson and former senator and former vice president Hubert Humphrey, was President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to the United Nations. In her speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, she explained her disaffection from her party: “They always blame America first.” In Helsinki, the president who bandies the phrase “America First” put himself first, as always, and America last, behind President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Because the Democrats had just held their convention in San Francisco, Kirkpatrick branded the “blame America first” cohort as “San Francisco Democrats.” Thirty-four years on, how numerous are the “Helsinki Republicans”?

What, precisely, did President Trump say about the diametrically opposed statements concerning Russia and the 2016 U.S. elections by U.S. intelligence agencies (and the Senate Intelligence Committee) and by Putin concerning Russia and the 2016 U.S. elections? Precision is not part of Trump’s repertoire: He speaks English as though it is a second language that he learned from someone who learned English last week. So, it is usually difficult to sift meanings from Trump’s word salads. But in Helsinki he was, for him, crystal clear about feeling no allegiance to the intelligence institutions that work at his direction and under leaders he chose.

Speaking of Republicans incapable of blushing — those with the peculiar strength that comes from being incapable of embarrassment — consider Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who for years enjoyed derivative gravitas from his association with John McCain (Ariz.). Graham tweeted about Helsinki: “Missed opportunity by President Trump to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling and deliver a strong warning regarding future elections.” A “missed opportunity” by a man who does not acknowledge the meddling?

Contrast Graham’s mush with this on Monday from McCain, still vinegary: “Today’s press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” Or this from Arizona’s other senator, Jeff Flake (R): “I never thought I would see the day when our American president would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression.” Blame America only.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and others might believe that they must stay in their positions lest there be no adult supervision of the Oval playpen. This is a serious worry, but so is this: Can those people do their jobs for someone who has neither respect nor loyalty for them?

Like the purloined letter in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story with that title, collusion with Russia is hiding in plain sight. We shall learn from Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation whether in 2016 there was collusion with Russia by members of the Trump campaign. The world, however, saw in Helsinki something more grave — ongoing collusion between Trump, now in power, and Russia. The collusion is in what Trump says (refusing to back the United States’ intelligence agencies) and in what evidently went unsaid (such as: You ought to stop disrupting Ukraine, downing civilian airliners, attempting to assassinate people abroad using poisons, and so on, and on).

Americans elected a president who — this is a safe surmise — knew that he had more to fear from making his tax returns public than from keeping them secret. The most innocent inference is that for decades he has depended on an American weakness, susceptibility to the tacky charisma of wealth, which would evaporate when his tax returns revealed that he has always lied about his wealth, too. A more ominous explanation might be that his redundantly demonstrated incompetence as a businessman tumbled him into unsavory financial dependencies on Russians. A still more sinister explanation might be that the Russians have something else, something worse, to keep him compliant.

The explanation is in doubt; what needs to be explained — his compliance — is not. Granted, Trump has a weak man’s banal fascination with strong men whose disdain for him is evidently unimaginable to him. And, yes, he only perfunctorily pretends to have priorities beyond personal aggrandizement. But just as astronomers inferred, from anomalies in the orbits of the planet Uranus, the existence of Neptune before actually seeing it, Mueller might infer, and then find, still-hidden sources of the behavior of this sad, embarrassing wreck of a man.

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:52 pm

Thanks Guin--I love this:

The explanation is in doubt; what needs to be explained — his compliance — is not. Granted, Trump has a weak man’s banal fascination with strong men whose disdain for him is evidently unimaginable to him. And, yes, he only perfunctorily pretends to have priorities beyond personal aggrandizement. But just as astronomers inferred, from anomalies in the orbits of the planet Uranus, the existence of Neptune before actually seeing it, Mueller might infer, and then find, still-hidden sources of the behavior of this sad, embarrassing wreck of a man.

Sums it up in a nutshell.

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:54 pm

The world, however, saw in Helsinki something more grave — ongoing collusion between Trump, now in power, and Russia.

Now, as a result of his disgraceful performance yesterday, an additional major focus for the investigation is needed...

An investigation into the possibility of Trump's being in conspiracy/collusion post inauguration with Putin and the Russians, to the deliberate detriment of the United States...

There's that great minds thinking alike thing...

Econoline · Post by **Econoline** » Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:15 pm

Mitch McConnell Responds to Putin Summit

(credit Andy Borowitz on Facebook)

RayThom · Post by **RayThom** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:15 am

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com ... SX425_.jpg

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 4:56 pm

The boy just can't help himself:

Trump: 'No,' Russia is not targeting the United States

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Russia is no longer targeting the United States with cyber attacks, a conclusion that is at odds with the one repeatedly asserted by Trump's own intelligence services.

During a meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday, Trump was asked by a pool reporter whether Russia is still "targeting" the United States.

"No," said the president.

Dan Coats, Trump's director of national intelligence, had a very different assessment as recently as Monday, however, saying in a statement, "We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy." And on Friday, Coats compared Russia's current cyber efforts to warning signs that emerged before the 9/11 attacks. "The warning lights are blinking red again," Coats said at a Washington, D.C. think tank. "Today, the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack."

Trump's latest round of problematic comments come one day after the president was forced to reverse himself on the key question of whether Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. Trump initially said he saw no reason why it would have been Russia who interfered, despite the clear and unequivocal conclusion reached by his intelligence agencies that it was, in fact, Russia.

Under immense pressure from both sides of the aisle, and from within his own administration, Trump on Tuesday invited cameras into what was billed as a closed meeting and read from a prepared statement. Trump said he had full faith in his intelligence agencies, and he accepted their conclusion that there was meddling in the 2016 presidential election. But, he added, "it could be other people also. Lots of people out there."

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/18/trump-n ... tates.html

Maybe tomorrow he'll come out with a statement saying that when he said "no" he meant to say "yes"...

Lord Jim · Post by **Lord Jim** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:19 pm

And earlier today there was this:

Trump again defiant after rare mea culpa on Russia

The president appears to be walking back his walk-back on Russia interference.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday returned to a defiant posture, insisting his deeply controversial meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin will prove to be a great success “in the long run” and complaining that his critics are suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

One day after issuing a rare mea culpa — in which Trump claimed he meant to say there’s no reason to believe it “wouldn’t” have been Russia that meddled in the U.S. election — Trump appeared to be walking back his walk-back.

“While the NATO meeting in Brussels was an acknowledged triumph, with billions of dollars more being put up by member countries at a faster pace, the meeting with Russia may prove to be, in the long run, an even greater success. Many positive things will come out of that meeting” Trump tweeted.

“So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki,” [I'm sure that's true of those "at the higher ends of intelligence" at the GRU and the SVR RF, but I suspect it would come as news to Dan Coates ] Trump wrote on Twitter early Wednesday morning. “Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!” [That's what every patriotic American should be afraid of... ]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/ ... ets-729068

This is classic Trump, and very reminiscent of his handling of the whole Nazis in Charlottesville thing...

First he says and does things which are repulsive to any decent person, (but which represents what he truly feels and believes)

Then his aides finally get him to read some perfunctory statement where he sounds half-way reasonable to try to contain the damage...

But he bitterly resents having to do an impersonation of a reasonable human being, so in short-order he shits all over the prepared statement and reverts to his original repulsive position that represents his comfort zone...

In this case, he couldn't even get through the statement yesterday that had been prepared for him without undermining it, and today he's basically fed it into the wood chipper...

The good news about this, is that it's going to make it more difficult for the GOP on The Hill to try to hide behind the microscopic-sized fig leaf he handed them yesterday with his pathetic "correction", and keep the pressure up for some actual action to be taken...

Big RR · Post by **Big RR** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:07 pm

We can only hope.

Guinevere · Post by **Guinevere** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 7:15 pm

If only the Republicans in Congress had a backbone between them. And even the ones that talk like they might have found their spine, still don’t act like they have one.

But I’ll still hope.

Econoline · Post by **Econoline** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:17 pm

Econoline · Post by **Econoline** » Thu Jul 19, 2018 2:38 am

Plan B Forum