Freak Out Friday – July 20, 2018

We really don’t have to break the comments down into sections this week. We are faced with a hard truth that has been presented with indisputable proof in the last weeks in general, and this last week in particular.

The hard truth is that Donald J. Trump is a traitor.

The fact that he met for two and a half hours with Putin all by himself, with no American present aside from the translator (who is sworn to secrecy) should alone be enough to trigger all manner of concerns, which it already has. His subsequent personal appearance with Putin was a complete and utter disaster by any definition of the word.

Since then he has desperately been trying to walk back his moronic comments, including–most conspicuously–asserting that he meant to say “wouldn’t” rather than “would” when discussing whether the Russians interfered with the election.

Let us make a couple of things clear:

Of course they interfered with the election.

Of course Putin ordered it. It’s a dictatorship. He’s the dictator. They dob’t take a dump without him signing off on it.

Over the past weeks we have witnessed Trump doing exactly what a traitor who became POTUS would do. He has done his level best to shred the relationship between the U.S. and its allies of over half a century. He wants to destroy NATO. And he speaks highly and allies himself with Putin, a vicious dictator who punishes and/or kills local reporters or dissidents, poisons them when they’re abroad, and invades and annexes other countries. This gøddámņ dictator, to the addled mind of Trump, is an ideal leader because everyone lives in terror of him and that’s what Trump wants for himself. This isn’t me making speculation. He’s made “jokes” about how the U.S. government should work and how everyone would show him total obedience and kowtow to his every desire. When Putin offers to have Russians work with the FBI to “investigate” the action they themselves undertook, in exchange for having the opportunity to interview people they want such as former U.S. ambassador Michael McFaul, anyone with a lick of sense knows this is a non-starter. Yet during the press conference Trump described it as “an incredible offer.” Now technically he’s correct, if one is considering the exact definition of incredible, which means “impossible to believe.” But I think we’re all reasonably sure that he meant it was remarkable, amazing, and something to be strongly considered. Especially because even Sarah Sanders, when asked about it, initially refused to say that it was off the table. How could it ever be on the table. It shouldn’t even be in the same room as the table.

We are left wondering if Putin has something on Trump, or if Trump is just that monumentally stupid. Honestly, I don’t see why it can’t be both. The pee tape might have just been the triggering device to put Trump squarely in Putin’s pocket, but he may have come to firmly believe in getting orders from someone smart enough to force him to accommodate him.

Meantime we’ve learned that Michael Cohen did indeed tape Trump in conversation about coughing up money to buy the story of a Playboy model’s affair with him. That of course will not make the slightest difference to his incredibly venal and stupid base (90% of Republicans still support him, according to a Gallup Poll) but what it does give is proof that Cohen indeed does have recordings of Trump, and maybe one of them will be demonstrably illegal.

We can only hope.

PAD

70 comments on “Freak Out Friday – July 20, 2018

  1. I think you meant “They don’t take a ‘Trump’ without him signing off on it.” 🙂

  2. The above is a Louisiana re-posting of a Washington Post report on Trump’s financial ties to Russia, from June 17, 2016.

  3. So when Putin comes to the White House, it won’t be for a summit, but rather him checking out his house via his marriage to trump. Trump is the dumbest person I have ever seen or met and his stupidity is going to make us the new Russia.

  4. Have to disagree here. I think there is a political strategy at play here.

    Trump is trying to make peace with Russia and push it eastwards against China. Trump is using some concessions to Russia as bait and try to break up the Russia-China bloc and set Russia against China.

    Don’t let your hatred of Trump blind you to alternative interpretations Mr David.

    The Sinister History Behind the Right’s Putin-Mania

    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/sinister-history-behind-the-rights-putin-mania-steve-bannon-china

    Is Trump Implementing the ‘Bannon Strategy’ by Courting Russia?

    https://therealnews.com/stories/is-trump-implementing-the-bannon-strategy-by-courting-russia

    1. In short, what you’re saying is that Steve Bannon wants to do what the western powers tried to do with Hitler, by putting him against Stalin in order to weaken, if not destroy Uncle Joe ? It didn’t work very well when they tried it, if I remember my history classes correctly.

      In fact, the current climate reminds me so much of the 1930s that I fear for the end of the decade. I hope to be wrong, but…

      1. Gerard Morvan, I am quite surprised that you have a view that UK under Chamberlain had a policy of pushing Germany eastwards to destroy Soviet Union. This is indeed the correct interpretation of appeasement but this is not a common view in western histories. Very few historians from west will interpret Chamberlain that way. How come you accept such a view?

    2. He’s really not trying to set Russia against China. That is the exact same thinking that Trump created his áššhølë persona during the campaign and would cast it aside to become more presidential once his term started. It wasn’t and he didn’t. Trump has no clever plan. For anything. He’s entirely on the surface.

    3. Well, if nothing else, many Trump supporters, excusers, and apologists keep proving they have more creativity than Trump does. Whenever he screws up, does something stupid, or embarrasses this country, you can be rest assured there will be people crawling out of the woodwork to tell you how it’s all a part of the master plan of Trumpian genius that will save the country, save the people, and save the world while making America the greatest superpower and shining light of freedom on Earth once again.
      .
      Jesus…
      .
      You know, watching Trump supporters and apologists do everything they can to explain away the damage he’s doing truly is fascinating. It’s doubly so when one contrasts it to the previous eight years.
      .
      Obama came into office during the height of the W Bush era’s economic crash. From the end of 2007 through the beginning of 2009, the country saw one of the biggest drops in manufacturing jobs since the 2001-2004 drop-off. Pulling the economic back from the brink, we saw an increase of 832,000 manufacturing jobs under Obama; one of the largest increases since the 1990s.
      .
      As these jobs were coming back, people getting their jobs back would still get in front of a camera and talk about how Obama was destroying the economy and destroying jobs.
      .
      A number of Trump’s lies and actions, especially his tariff stupidity, has seen manufacturing jobs closing and/or looking at moving oversees.
      .
      We’ve also seen smaller, family owned farms hurting under Trump.
      .
      We have crops withering in the fields. We have farms in the US right now that, because of Trump’s actions, cannot harvest their crops before most of them are spoiled or can but simply cannot afford to spend the money to harvest them all because they no longer have the demand from some foreign markets to get that money back at the market.
      .
      And, dámņ, the news from other day really should have put a chill in some people. Japan and the EU have been trying to work out a trade deal for years now and not been able to get on the same page with each other; in part because the deals with the US worked better for each of them. As a direct response to Trump’s stupidity, they not only went back to the table to find that same page to be on, but they made the deal better for each country than they had been originally working towards making it.
      .
      EU and Japan reach free trade deal
      https://www.bbc.com/news/business-40520218
      .
      The winners?
      EU farmers and Japanese automotive workers.
      .
      The losers?
      American farmers and auto workers.
      .
      But put a camera in front of most of these people and what do you get? They start talking about how they have faith in Donald Trump and his master plans. Sure, their life just got worse, but, hey, in the end it’s all going to be good just as soon as his tough negotiating and dealing with the other countries have us doing better than ever before in no time at all.
      .
      Trump attacks and belittles our allies while cozying up to dictators. He lashes out at the ties we have with other countries, almost always either lying about the matter or simply getting every fact out of his mouth mostly or completely wrong.
      .
      The countries we have been the closest to during my lifetime he openly talks about in demeaning and hostile ways, but he kisses the áššëš of dictators.
      .
      I mean, seriously, the morning of the meeting with Putin he literally excused Putin’s bad actions over the last few decades by both blaming and, frankly, insulting and attacking America.
      .
      Donald J. Trump
      @realDonaldTrump
      .
      Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!
      .
      11:05 PM – 15 Jul 2018
      .
      But, hey, that kind of thing is really nothing new for conservatives of the last two decades.
      .
      I want you to think about what the Trump supporters you know would have said if that was an Obama tweet. I mean, most conservatives spent years falsely claiming Obama was on apology tours or apologizing for America whenever he went to another country or spoke about past issues with relations between the US and another country. They called it a form treason.
      .
      Hëll, forget Obama. Conservatives went on a rampage because one of the Dixie Chicks said in a concert in London that she was “ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.”
      .
      They spun that into the Dixie Chicks were actually attacking America; and claiming it was all the more traitorous because they attacked America while standing on foreign soil.
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      Trump went overseas, and made tweets and comments while on foreign soil where he insulted America and excused the actions of a brutal, murdering dictator by blaming America as excuse for him or some of his many actions.
      .
      Trump supporter outrage? Nonexistent.
      .
      As a matter of fact, they’re totally fine with it and excusing it. I’ve actually had Trump supporters tell me I’m crazy to think that standing next to Putin in front of the world was the right place or the right time for a US President to say anything negative about him, his actions, or the actions of his country.
      .
      These same people have in the past complained that Obama was weak because he didn’t rip into some world leaders at such events. The funny thing is Obama would actually say something. More than once he politely raised the point that certain actions against a country’s neighbors or its own people was unacceptable and had to be addressed before better relations or easing sanctions could be addresses further.
      .
      But that was weakness by Obama.
      .
      However, Trump fawning over Putin and looking like a scared puppy around the pack Alpha while kowtowing and agreeing with Putin to the point that the only thing missing was hearing “You bet, Boss” pass Trump’s lips is strength. Not saying anything about Putin’s actions then and there is just Trump the genius negotiator knowing the right time and place.
      .
      Trump went to North Korea and gave Kim almost everything he could have wanted- things NK’s dictators have wanted for years now -and he did it with practically no conditions and for nothing more than a handshake. Trump then declared victory and his supporters went to social media to praise this great leader’s victory and tell critics how wrong they were and how amazing it was that we no longer had to worry about a nuclear North Korea.
      .
      But North Korea continues to expand their programs, and Trump’s administration recently and quietly let slip that there really is no timetable in place or really being discussed for North Korea to do anything at all.
      .
      But the stuff Trump told Kim he would do even as it threw our ally South Korea under the bus? That’s effective immediately.
      .
      But it’s not weakness, they’ll tell you. It’s not foolishness, they’ll tell you. It’s not that Trump is just a fûçkìņg idiot, they’ll scream at you.
      .
      No… All of this and more is the genius of Donald Trump as he manipulates the world and other world leaders while pulling the strings to enact his super secret master plans to #MAGA.
      .
      Oh, and do you know Trump loves this country more than anyone and he has a heart of gold? It’s true, just ask them. Sure, he’s brusque and has a rough nature and exterior, but under that is one of the most caring, most generous, most wonderful, and most Christian souls to ever occupy the Oval Office.
      .
      I swear to God, it’s like walking into a home where a woman has a busted face and bruises on her body, but the second you start trying to arrest the husband she jumps up and starts begging you to not arrest him because he’s really a good man and he loves her and it’s bad now but he cares so much and is really so wonderful and things will get better and etc, etc, etc…
      .
      I have two cousins who are really not happy with a thing I said about some of Trump’s most diehard cult members. They probably really got offended because, deep down, even if I wasn’t thinking of them when I wrote it on Facebook, they likely know they would be two of the people to do this.
      .
      Trump’s cult of the most diehard of his followers will excuse anything he does and even declare the wonderfulness of it despite the fact that it hurts them. Donald Trump could drive to their homes at dinner time, walk into their houses, drop his pants, take a massive dump on the food they had just prepared, and then leave without saying a word to them and they would excuse that action. More than excuse it, they would, if word got out about it, explain to critics of the action that, no, no, it was Donald the Magnificent and Wonderful once again looking out for the little guy and the people he loves. After all, well, middle-age spread is kicking in and some dieting could do them some good. And, hey, having to replace that food means more money went into the local economy and it went to those American workers who need it. Hëll, as far as they’re concerned, Donald could come back the next day and take a massive crap in their fridge because it’s all part of the master plan to #MAGA and they don’t mind sacrificing a little to do their part.
      .
      Or, you know, they can try to join the reality based community and realize that Trump is a complete idiot who is in way over his head and doing more damage to this country and its standing in the world than any President in my lifetime.

  5. The hard truth is that Donald J. Trump is a traitor.
    Let us make a couple of things clear:
    Of course they interfered with the election.

    .
    There is an ocean of difference between collusion and Russian meddling. The former requires active participation, the latter is just what governments do.
    .
    The rest of this post was written back in February to comment on the Freak Out Friday of February 16th. I decided not to post it then because who needs the grief? But the claim that Trump is a traitor has changed my mind.
    .
    “While Trump claimed that the efforts did not affect the election (it did) and of course there was ‘no collusion,’ which is going to be a huge meme once he’s convicted of collusion…”
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    Rob Rosenstein disagrees. From MSN News: “Rosenstein noted there is no allegation in the indictment that any American had any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy, and that the Russian defendants took steps to conceal their efforts. He also said there is nothing in the indictment that concludes the effort altered the election.”
    .
    Were you this alarmed about the Russians in 2012?
    .
    In 2012 during talks about a US-led NATO missile Obama told then-Russian president Dimitri Medvedev that “This is my last election … after my election I have more flexibility.” That doesn’t sound like colluding?
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    Did you agree with Mitt Romney about the Russian threat when Obama said, “The eighties called. They want their foreign policy back.”
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    Yes, the Russians attempted to affect the election, but what did they do; criticize Hillary and promote Trump? You don’t have to be Russian to do that. Russia could have bought a billion dollars in ads and not changed any minds. How do I know? Hillary bought half a billion bucks in ads and lost.
    .
    The Obama administration attempted to defeat Benjamin Netanyahu in the Israeli election of 2015 because they didn’t like his opposition to Iranian agreement the administration was working on.
    .
    The “Anyone but Bibi” mission was headed by Jeremy Bird, Obama’s National Field Director in his successful presidential campaigns. Under Bird, a group called “Victory 15” has been set up. It has recruited the young activists from Israel’s 2013 social protest movement and manned a massive social network and personal contact campaign to defeat Netanyahu. Victory 15 was financed by an NGO called “One Voice” whose motto is to be “the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians.” Research finds that One Voice was funded by John Kerry’s State Department.
    .
    Interfering in foreign governments is de rigueur in global politics.
    .
    The Russians also organized anti-Trump rallies after the election. Michael Moore participated in one. They never expected Trump to win. Their goal all along has been to foment discord no matter who won, and in that regard they have succeeded.

    And blogs like this, which make it a point to freak out every Friday, stating opinions as if they are facts, collude with the Russians by supporting that discord.

    1. Do you have sources for this, George?

      Also, did anything Obama did involve hacking and stealing party info? Creating fake news on social media? Where the activities you describe done in secret, or out in the open? And how did the leaders of those countries react to learning of this? How did they treat Obama and/or leaders of other countries who interfered in their elections? Did they treat them as Trump has treated Putin?

      1. Do you have sources for this, George?

        Yes. Do you think I would just make this up and not expect to be called on it? You can certainly Google “Anyone but Bibi” and find that the Obama administration attempted to defeat Netanyahu. But it you can’t, here’s one:
        .
        https://canadafreepress.com/article/obamas-team-in-israel-to-defeat-netanyahu
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        YouTube has many copies of the video of Obama reassuring Medvedev of his obliging attitude. Surely this can’t be news to you. Even Snopes admits it’s true.
        .
        Also, did anything Obama did involve hacking and stealing party info?
        >
        You seem to be implying that Trump was involved in hacking and stealing party info? Do you have sources for this Luigi?
        .
        How did they treat Obama and/or leaders of other countries who interfered in their elections? Did they treat them as Trump has treated Putin?
        .
        Well, since Trump has increased sanctions on the Russia, expelled diplomats and armed the Ukrainian government in its fight against Russia, I’d have to say, “No Netanyahu did not treat Obama as Trump has treated Putin.”

      2. “YouTube has many copies of the video of Obama reassuring Medvedev of his obliging attitude. Surely this can’t be news to you. Even Snopes admits it’s true.”
        .
        Yeah, George, okay.
        .
        You know when a conservative is reaching or trying to pad his list of “Horrible Obama Presidency Moments” for discussions like this? They cite Obama’s comment to Dmitry Medvedev just after we knew Medvedev was on his way out and Putin was on his way back in and before we knew what was going to happen in the US election.
        .
        *yawn*
        .
        Oh, the humanity!!! Dmitry Medvedev was trying to push Obama to nail down specifics on things and Obama politely blew him off and gave him an excuse about why things had to wait.
        .
        By the way, George, maybe you can do what no other conservative can do and tell me what wonderful deals Obama made with Russia after he won the 2012 election or the great moments he had with Putin that match the idiocy Trump just displayed.
        .
        What big and great deals did Obama do after telling Medvedev to give him space until after the elections and waiting until 2013 when he had more flexibility?
        .
        Was it when he issued sanctions against them?
        https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/world/europe/us-issues-penalties-against-russians-for-rights-violations.html
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        Was it when he stepped up the sanctions the next year?
        https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/us/politics/us-expanding-sanctions-against-russia-over-ukraine.html
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        Was it when he pushed for Europe to keep the newest sanctions up?
        https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/08/politics/g7-russia-sanctions-barack-obama/index.html
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        Oh, yeah… the OUTRAGE… How dare Obama blow off doing a deal with the outgoing President of Russia and then put sanctions in place when the new one came in and acted like an ášš on the world stage.
        .
        He said this to outgoing Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, essentially blowing him off at an event because neither of them were in a position to start doing deals that one of them wouldn’t be around to finish and the other might not have been around to finish. One government had a new administration coming in that operated as a somewhat different party, the other might have had one coming in that operated as a completely different party.
        .
        Then, once Obama won and Putin came into power in Russia, Obama pushed for sanctions on Russia when Putin started acting like he did during his prior time in power.
        .
        So… We’re supposed to be outraged about that… Why?
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        I mean, sure, Obama didn’t say he looked the man in the eye and was able to get a sense of his soul as W Bush did, nor did he act like a trained puppy on a leash next to him as Trump did yesterday.
        .
        Is that what we should be outraged at Obama about? Is that what we should see as somehow the same as what Trump just did?
        .
        Seriously, why not bring up Obama’s tan suit and his taste for Dijon mustard on his burgers while your at it?

      3. That is a very interesting and partisan interpretation of that event, but I had no expectation otherwise. However I must ask, if Obama was merely trying to extricate himself politely from this situation by explaining that any agreement now would be premature because of the possible changes in government, why did was it caught on a hot microphone? As you explain it, it would have been perfectly acceptable to tell Medvedev this out loud. But he didn’t. He said it under his breath, citing more flexibility after the election. Why flexibility? Because blow-back from voters would not be a factor, (for him at least).

    2. “The rest of this post was written back in February to comment on the Freak Out Friday of February 16th. I decided not to post it then because who needs the grief? But the claim that Trump is a traitor has changed my mind.”
      .
      So, basically, you wrote this months ago and before multiple revelations that have come to light in the last few months and certainly before Trump got up on the world stage next to Putin and showed everyone who was watching that he’s more than happy with letting Putin grab him by his privates and lead him around like a puppet and totally happy to agree with Putin on things that no one in their right mind would agree with.
      .
      So, yeah, super relevant post then.

      1. Do you think that if I thought that recent revelations in any way mitigated the relevancy of that post that I would still have posted it? The uproar over Trump’s interaction with Putin makes it more topical than ever, especially my last sentence. Hence my decision to finally post it.

      2. So far as i’ve observed, nothing causes you to change your mind once you’ve made it up, so, in answer to your question:

        Do you think that if I thought that recent revelations in any way mitigated the relevancy of that post that I would still have posted it?

        …actually?
        .
        I figure you would have.

    3. I checked your “source”, George Haberbeger — it’s a propaganda website about as objective as Pravda or TAAS.
      .
      You almost make me wonder if you’re a Russian assigned to troll Peter’s website, because you’re posting right down what used to be called the Party line.

      1. David Klaus, did you do a search to see if any other news organization, perhaps one more in line with you bias, reported on this? Here are a couple more. The second one is a video.
        .
        https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/12/obama-admin-sent-taxpayer-money-oust-netanyahu/
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        https://finance.yahoo.com/video/fmr-shiloh-israel-mayor-obama-154712119.html
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        You almost make me wonder if you’re a Russian assigned to troll Peter’s website, because you’re posting right down what used to be called the Party line.
        .
        Ha! This response seems appropriate.
        Wow. Thats such a hugely stupid statement that I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t bother. I will just let it sit there and stew in its own idiocy.

      2. The Washington Times is also a right-leaning publication.
        .
        Biases aside, the funds in question were intended to encourage a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and not for a presidential campaign. How they ended up directed to Victory 15 is a good question, but it’s unclear based on the reliable sources I’ve read that Obama had knowledge of this, let alone that he directed it. Much less does it make Trump’s behavior in Helsinki any less disloyal to his country.

    4. George Haberberger: “Do you think I would just make this up and not expect to be called on it?”
      Luigi Novi: No. I think that my question was a perfectly reasonable one, which is why I ask it when appropriate, and why I include sources when I make posts with claims on controversial matters. Even though there are persons on the Net who “make things up” (or to be more precise, who repeat unverified claims from unvetted sources), and who do not expect to be called on it, I made no such assumption about you, since I don’t recall interacting with you. I prefer to assume the best, and therefore, to assume that you did have sources for it. I simply asked in what I thought was a flat, polite manner. There is no reason to react as you did.
      .
      George Haberberger: “You can certainly Google “Anyone but Bibi” and find that the Obama administration attempted to defeat Netanyahu.”
      Luigi Novi: I did indeed after I first read your post, and couldn’t find anything on it.
      .
      George Haberberger: “here’s one: https://canadafreepress.com/article/obamas-team-in-israel-to-defeat-netanyahu”
      Luigi Novi: So the best source you can supply me with is a story on an obscure website I had never heard of, that looks like it was put together last week by someone who just took a source in web design, which is rated by Media Bias/Fact Check to have a Right Bias (https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/canada-free-press/), whose right sidebar list a list of links to the right-wing propaganda publication NewsMax, and whose second paragraphs begins, “According to the rumor mill…”? Really, George? So there are no major publications with high reputations for reliability that could substantiate this?
      .
      And apart from that, you mention YouTube videos (again, a great source!) that you never link to, and the claim that “Even Snopes admits it’s true”, even though I searched for “Anyone but Bibi, Jeremy Bird, Obama” at Snopes’ search engine, and got zero results.
      .
      I tried looking again for material on this, and aside from more unreliable sources like Israeli blogs and Fox News, there weren’t a lot of apparently reliable sources for this. I did find a Politifact story and a Politico story, the latter of which that indicated that a bipartisan investigation found that neither the Obama investigation nor his State Department committed any wrong doing, but oddly, criticized the use of taxpayer funds for a campaign to defeat a Middle East ally:
      .
      ***********************************************
      “The report found no legal wrongdoing by the State Department, since the $349,000 in grants for OneVoice were used to further the Middle East process as intended. But shortly after Netanyahu called an election for 2015, the voter databases constructed with the grant money were activated for Victory 15, an unsuccessful effort to defeat Netanyahu.”
      .
      “’The State Department ignored warning signs and funded a politically active group in a politically sensitive environment with inadequate safeguards,’ Portman said. ‘It is completely unacceptable that U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to build a political campaign infrastructure that was deployed — immediately after the grant ended — against the leader of our closest ally in the Middle East.’”
      .

      “The investigation is notable for its bipartisan sheen. McCaskill highlighted the conclusion that it showed ‘no wrongdoing’ by President Barack Obama’s administration but said the report ‘certainly highlights deficiencies in the Department’s policies that should be addressed in order to best protect taxpayer dollars.’”
      .
      “Despite OneVoice’s previous political activism in the 2013 Israeli election, the Department failed to take any steps to guard against the risk that OneVoice could engage in political activities using State-funded grassroots campaign infrastructure after the grant period,” the report found.”
      https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/state-department-grant-netanyahu-225414
      ***********************************************
      .
      Waitaminute—how can the State Department fund such a group and be found to have committed “no wrongdoing”? It “ignored warning signs” and “failed to take any steps”? Warning signs of what? Warning signs of its OWN ACTIONS? This doesn’t make any sense to me. The article says that after Netanyahu called an election for 2015, the voter databases constructed with the grant money were “activated” for Victory 15. “Activated” by WHO? Who did the activating? Was it Byrd? Why is neither he nor any other person’s name given here?
      .
      In any event, sources say that One Voice’s mission was to work toward a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. How or why its funds went to V15 is unknown, but it is certainly not clear that this occurred with Obama’s knowledge, or his direction.
      https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/mar/25/blog-posting/blog-claims-us-funded-anti-netanyahu-election-effo/
      .
      George Haberberger: “You seem to be implying that Trump was involved in hacking and stealing party info?”
      Luigi Novi: I have implied no such thing. It was Putin who has been well-documented by all 17 of our intelligence agencies who have hacked and stole party info, and Russians met with Donald Jr. at Trump Tower to offer them assistance in defeating Hillary Clinton.
      .
      But let’s be generous, here:
      .
      Let’s pretend that what you claim about Obama is true.
      .
      Do you feel that that makes Trump’s performance at Helsinki defensible? Do you think it was acceptable for him to again throw all 17 of our intelligence agencies under the bus, and sell out his country in order to yet again fawn over a dictator who murders political dissidents, his personal enemies and journalists by using radioactive substances and nerve gas on foreign soil? Do you think it was acceptable to have a secret one-on-one meeting without any transparency, with no one present but translators?

      1. The Washington Times is also a right-leaning publication.
        .
        I’m sorry but if “right-leaning” is an automatic disqualifier of credibility then you are living in a bubble of your own making. I read stories from a variety of sources. The mainstream media didn’t cover “Anyone But Bibi”. That was something that reflected negatively of President Obama so it was ignored. It isn’t that news organizations purposefully slant their reporting, it is what they decide to report and what they decide to ignore.

    5. With regard to the Washington Times, setting aside the wire service reports, every other purported news article reads like an opinion piece with all the internal biases one would expect to see in such.
      .
      The Yahoo / Stuart Varney video and what was in the W. T. both agreed that no U.S. law was violated, with an admission in the latter that money sent for legitimate aid purpose was dishonestly diverted by the Israeli organization. There was no evidence of conspiracy on the part of anyone at the State Department.
      .
      Also, the United States government has made no (known / admitted) attempts to infiltrate Israeli military and infrastructure computer systems.
      .
      The Varney piece made a dangerously false equivalency.
      .
      Israel isn’t an enemy of the United States, nor are we to them, unless you want to count the 1967 U.S.S. Liberty incident. There are thousands of nuclear warheads in the Russian Federation aimed at the United States and thousands of nuclear warheads in the United States aimed at the Russian Federation.

      This is not what I personally call “peace,” summits and space stations notwithstanding.
      .
      This is an enemy foreign power which endeavored to subvert our political system, which breaks into our domestic computer systems seemingly at will, something a power at war with us would do, not a power in peaceful relations. It isn’t the early ’90s anymore, the years after the fall of the Wall, when many thought the nuclear Sword of Damocles was going to be presently removed from over our heads and genuine peace was coming.
      .
      And one could tell the ex-mayor from Shiloh was full of baloney when he said that faithful Christian Barack Obama was sympathetic to an organization which he (the ex-mayor) claimed was devoted to the destruction of both the Christian and Jewish religions, nonsense on the same level as Kenyan-birtherism.
      .
      Your sources are non-credible in their support of a three-card Monte interpretation of events — which means that for the sake of this discussion, you are not credible.
      .
      And I wrote that “You almost make me wonder if you’re a Russian assigned to troll….”

      “That was a joke, I say, son, that was a joke! (This boy ain’t got a lick o’ sense.)”
      .
      I’m sorry your horse was unable to leap the sarchasm.
      .
      Bored now.

  6. “The uproar over Trump’s interaction with Putin makes it more topical than ever, especially my last sentence. “
    .
    “And blogs like this, which make it a point to freak out every Friday, stating opinions as if they are facts, collude with the Russians by supporting that discord.”
    .
    Translation: “It’s not actually relevant, but it’s Trumpian 101. Project your side onto the other side. No puppet… No Puppet… You’re the puppet!”

    1. I was just thinking that the “criticizing the president gives aid and comfort to the enemy” propaganda was about due for a comeback…

      1. I was just thinking that the “criticizing the president gives aid and comfort to the enemy” propaganda was about due for a comeback…
        .
        Criticizing the president is perfectly appropriate. I certainly do it now and did it to the previous president but then of course, it not was called giving aid and comfort to the enemy, it was called racism. However it is not appropriate to criticize him for for things you think he has done, want to believe he has done or need him to have done, to justify that criticism.

    2. Then your argment doesn’t apply in a lot of these cases, George, since he’s being criticized for a lot of things that he DID do and aren’t imaginary no matter how many times he may insist he didn’t do them the next day. And no matter how reasonable you try to sound, it’s still justification. No rational person of any party should tolerate someone who provably lies on a regular basis and makes it a priority to tweet insults at people he doesn’t like first thing in the morning. That’s not “love”, that’s not “leadership”, that’s not “strength”, and it’s certainly not “getting the news out to the people directly”. It’s childish bullying no matter how you try to color it.

  7. I see it as likely that Trump’s inner circle is taking a page out from Neville Chamberlain’s playbook:

    “…And by this date, certain members of the Milner Group and of the British Conservative government had reached the fantastic idea that they could kill two birds with one stone by setting Germany and Russia against one another in Eastern Europe.

    In this way they felt that the two enemies would stalemate one another, or that Germany would become satisfied with the oil of Rumania and the wheat of the Ukraine.

    It never occurred to anyone in a responsible position that Germany and Russia might make common cause, even temporarily, against the West. Even less did it occur to them that Russia might beat Germany and thus open all Central Europe to Bolshevism.

    This idea of bringing Germany into a collision with Russia was not to be found, so far as the evidence shows, among any members of the inner circle of the Milner Group. Rather it was to be found among the personal associates of Neville Chamberlain…

    …In order to carry out this plan of allowing Germany to drive eastward against Russia, it was necessary to do three things:

    (1) to liquidate all the countries standing between Germany and Russia;

    (2) to prevent France from honoring her alliances with these countries; and

    (3) to hoodwink the English people into accepting this as a necessary, indeed, the only solution to the international problem.

    The Chamberlain group were so successful in all three of these things that they came within an ace of succeeding, and failed only because of the obstinacy of the Poles, the unseemly haste of Hitler, and the fact that at the eleventh hour the Milner Group realized the implications of their policy and tried to reverse it…”

    http://www.yamaguchy.com/library/quigley/anglo_12b.html
    http://www.carrollquigley.net/books.htm

  8. My, oh My! Where to begin…

    Once again we have a week in which all the anti-trump fantacists get out, and trumpet their favorite fantasies. “Trump is a Traitor!” “Trump colluded with the Russians!” Trump has small children as his breakfast meat!” Whether there is any evidence for any of these fantasies doesn’t seem to matter.

    Is Trump a good president? Well, no worse than the last few ones, and considerably better than the previous one. He actually does things, instead of speaking about doing things. Are they the right things? There, you have a point…

    Simple truth is that the only ones that assisted the Russians in hacking and influencing the election were the Obama administration. They saw evidence of their actions, and expected them to help their cause, so ordered no interference with the Russian activity. Is there any evidence (Real evidence, not suspicions or speculation based on circumstantial evidence) that there was collusion? No, as the political announcement during the summit that there were indictments against 12 Russian nationals but no evidence of any American involvement in political involvement during 2016. Timed to imply that it involved Trump even as the actual announcement cleared him.

    Again, so much hate from the left, the party of hate, against the right, the party of hope…

    And again, I restate that I did not vote for Trump, have never supported Trump, don’t think he is a very good president, but was better than the popular alternative…

    I just prefer truth to fantasy, and love to hate.

    1. Once again we have a week in which all the anti-trump fantacists get out, and trumpet their favorite fantasies. “Trump is a Traitor!” “Trump colluded with the Russians!” Trump has small children as his breakfast meat!”
      .
      You can always tell when someone knows they’re abut to make a bogus argument. They start with a quick build up to misstating what has been said and then arguing against that hyperbole.
      .
      Pretty much everything that follows will be in a similar ridiculous overstatement vein and/or self contradictory. For example, claiming Trump is better than the previous President and immediately following it with acknowledgment that the things Trump is doing aren’t right. But then going on to defend him anyway with with claims there’s no real evidence for the accusations against Trump and following that up immediately with claims against Obama for which there is no evidence.
      .
      Preferring truth to fantasy? Hardly.

      1. Ah, Sean…

        I see you read, but do not understand, as to do so would contradict your worldview.

        Why is Trump better? Because he does things, not just talks nicely about them and hopes they just ‘happen!’ Are they the right things? Not always, but at least he does SOMETHING!

        Is there evidence about Obama? His head of cybersecurity came to him with evidence of Russian activities, and was told to ‘stand down’ from any counter action. Seems like evidence to me…

      2. Come on, Sean, it’s CharlieE. If his past comments have proved nothing else, it’s that he’s the type who would believe the conservative social media circulated Photoshop job showing Putin jerking Obama’s tie and Obama just waving his arms was totally legit.

      3. From NBC news:
        https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/why-didnt-obama-do-more-about-russian-election-hack-n696701
        .
        The Obama administration didn’t respond more forcefully to Russian hacking before the presidential election because they didn’t want to appear to be interfering in the election and they thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win and a potential cyber war with Russia wasn’t worth it, multiple high-level government officials told NBC News.

    2. I just prefer truth to fantasy, and love to hate.

      Let us know when you find some.

    3. That last sentence is pretty much undercut by what preceded it.
      .
      To argue that the GOP is the party of “hope”, and it is somehow the Dems that are the party of “hate”, and that Trump is somehow “no worse” than the last few Presidents, and a better choice than Hillary, requires you to ignore Charlottesville, jokes about police brutality, the child separation policy, the Muslim ban, the attacks upon veterans who served as POWs, gold star families, Mexicans, journalists, the defamation of the Mayor of London, the retweeting of far-right British hate group videos, slashing benefits for the needy, tariffs that are hurting Americans, Trump’s overall ignorance and illiteracy, his refusal to read daily briefings, his inability to even form coherent sentences, his total disregard and ignorance of the Constitution, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and American principles in general, his high regard for dictators, etc., you must be willfully ignorant or be suffering from a severe mental hernia.
      .
      And no, no amount of saying, “I did not vote for Trump” makes what you said any more credible.

      1. CharlieE: Why is Trump better? Because he does things, not just talks nicely about them and hopes they just ‘happen!’ Are they the right things? Not always, but at least he does SOMETHING!
        .
        Luigi Novi: Arguing that Obama spent eight years “just talking nicely”, and not actually “doing things”, is not just a ridiculous statement for which you provided no evidence, and which is flatly contradicted by the evidence we do have (Ending the Iraq War, Obamacare, killing bin Laden), but is evidence of willfull mendacity on your part, which exposes your delusion of objectivity (“I didn’t vote Trump!”) for the retarded sham that it is.

      2. Once again, I shake my head in sorrow…

        Why had the left become the party of hate? Because any criticism, and negative comment that does not toe their party line is immediately ‘hate speech’ where it was so intended, or could be so interpreted by a rational mind.

        The prevailing mindset seems to be “You criticized something I believe in, that makes you a hater!!!!” I am sorry, but that makes you a creature of hatred. I suspect that you will consider this hate speech as well…

      3. And yet, you form this idea despite the fact that no one here had either said nor implied any such thing.

    4. I am still as I type LOLing at “the left, the party of hate, against the right, the party of hope…” Have you ever watched a Republican campaign ad? Listened to a Republican pundit in the last 25 years? Listened to nine-tenths of statements from Republican Congressmen? Or compared the sentiments of the average Democratic voter verses Republican, in interviews or posting to news articles? You very clearly didn’t watch the 2016 Democratic National Convention, nor the Republican….

      1. Luke, come on…
        .
        If you call out xenophobia, jingoism, the demonization of brown skinned immigrants as scapegoats, etc… That’s hateful.
        .
        Now, if you say xenophobic, jingoistic, demonizing, and racist things but hug a flag while saying you want to make America great again… That’s pure love, man, just pure love and hope.

  9. Trump is not a traitor.
    .
    The Constitution defines “treason” rather narrowly and precisely – Article III, Section 3:

    Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

    Trump cannot be a traitor by any actions relevant to Russia, because there is no state of war between the US and Russia.
    .
    This is not to say that he can’t be a collaborator, quisling or Petain … but not a traitor.

    1. because there is no state of war between the US and Russia
      .
      Fair point. The legal definition of treason (as is often the case) is not the same as the general understanding.
      .
      But Trump’s actions and statements have certainly been opposed to and harmful to US interests. He is, more by greed and cowardice than plan, I’m sure, a direct threat to the security of the US.

  10. Ok, I’m just getting a bit amused by this now. All the Trump supporters go running to the definition of treason and then feel vindicated and able to say, “Not treason!” Here’s the thing. They had to go, first, and see what the definition is. In other words, a bit of doubt it seems to me. I said once that you could have told a story about Obama shoving a hamburger into the Queen’s mouth by force and everyone would have gone, “Hold on. Hold on. That didn’t happen.” Wouldn’t even have to look it up. You’d just know right off that was not a correct story. Which is the problem with this administration. Something comes up, perhaps it is erroneous. But it has generated so much doubt and shown so much incompetence, that we literally can’t tell when something outlandish is true or not about it. And often it is. Hey, Trump supporters, if your main defense of a guy is, “He didn’t commit treason”, you might want to look for someone else to support. Let’s try this. If the defense of your boss isn’t “he’s a good guy, I know him, he’s an upstanding person, a man of intelligence, kindness, and distinction” but instead is “he’s not a pedophile”……..you do hear the weakness in this defense right?

    1. So what’s the alternative? Just allow Peter David to say, “We are faced with a hard truth that has been presented with indisputable proof in the last weeks in general, and this last week in particular. The hard truth is that Donald J. Trump is a traitor.”

      Clearly that is wishful thinking on his part but your opinion is to not challenge it. That’s convenient

      1. *sigh* Probably not worth replying. However, if you noticed, I actually did agree that it is not treason of which we are speaking. I just find it amusing that when people shout ‘not treason!’ it seems to be like a universal wiping of the slate clean of all other malfeasance. As if we need go no further in our analysis and criticism. “Not treason”. Carry on. Talk about convenient.

      2. Why is it that people who are only allowed to post here because I encourage debate always feel the need to respond to those who agree with me that they do so because I require lockstep agreement.
        .
        PAD

      3. Why is it that people who are only allowed to post here because I encourage debate always feel the need to respond to those who agree with me that they do so because I require lockstep agreement.

        I don’t think you require lockstep agreement. As I have said, you post your opinions as though they are fact, but anyone who dares to point that out is shown the error of their ways by a loyal group of many fans… repeatedly. Fine, I knew that going in. You however, rarely get involved. This thread, in which I decided to post something I initially kept to myself, as of now, has 58 comments. The Freak Out Friday columns for July 6 and July 13 had 4 comments each. No one jumped in to disagree. Sometimes I think your philosophy is “Let’s you and him fight.”
        .
        Now would be a good time for you to post this: “Wow. Thats such a hugely stupid statement that I don’t even know where to begin. So I won’t bother. I will just let it sit there and stew in its own idiocy.”
        .
        That was the response I got from you about an analogy I posted regarding government money going to Planned Parenthood.

      4. “Why is it that people who are only allowed to post here because I encourage debate always feel the need to respond to those who agree with me that they do so because I require lockstep agreement?”
        .
        .
        Projection.

    2. I am hardly a Trump supporter.

      If Air Force One crashed tomorrow, i would mourn all the innocents aboard who were just doing their jobs … but Trump?
      .
      Let’s start taking contributions for the Donald J Trump Memorial Dancefloor and Urinal.
      .
      However, i have been aware of the definition of treason {can quote the Constitutional definition ALMOST perfectly by heart} for many years – and using it ti describe the actions of almost ANY politician potentially devalues the concept in cases of REAL treason.
      .
      {Just as i am aware that Trump didn’t and can’t commit treason, i am aware that Bill Clinton most famous untruth WASN’T perjury – because the question he was answering was ruled not material…}
      .
      I guess my point is that we should be accurate in the accusations we level – accusing a President of treason could later make it sound as if prosecutors were backing down when they eventually charged him with conspiracy to steal an election or the like…

  11. There is something that has been on my mind since before Trump was even elected: Sixty years ago, or fifty, or even forty, no one who had ties to Russia (or the Soviet Union) would have been elected President. Today, Trump’s fan base are the very people who still equate “liberals” with “communists.” While Bernie Sanders was running for President, people on social media referred to him as a Communist.

  12. I personally do not think Bernie Sanders would have been a good President; I fear he would have been too much like Jimmy Carter. But, at least, he had experience in politics.

      1. No. I don’t think Trump is Putin’s stooge.

        I don’t think Putin knows the deepest and darkest secrets of Donald Trump.

        It is something else.

        There is a larger game being played here.

        There are bigger forces at work.

      2. Yeah… That, improbably, involve Trump being a geopolitical mastermind and genius despite three-plus decades of him doing his absolute best to hide it.

  13. To me, all of this emphasis being placed on the definition of “treason” is hair-splitting, and is beside the point. I never really took the right-wingers seriously when they screamed “treason” for something Obama did, whether it was wearing a tan suit or asking for Dijon mustard for his hot dog or whatever, and I don’t take it that seriously now. I know what the legal definition of treason requires, and that this isn’t what Trump did, so it’s irrelevant. So is the word “traitor”, since that word has looser, more informal usages than just the strict legalistic one.
    .
    What IS the real issue is that he is disloyal to his own country. Never in my lifetime have I encountered this, and I’m not aware of any president in US history being so disloyal to his own country as Trump.

  14. I love the fact that the people who didn’t let their inability to use the words “communist” and “socialist” accurately keep them from using the words on an daily basis for eight years are now leaping in to complain that a private citizen expressed an opinion that does not meet the US Code legal definition of a word.
    .
    Guys, let’s make this really, really, simple.
    .
    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    .
    Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!
    .
    11:05 PM – 15 Jul 2018
    .
    That’s your Great Orange Hope giving Putin a pass and attacking the US for Putin’s own actions over the last decade-plus.
    .
    It’s all the fault of that stupid, foolish US making things worse for years now. It’s not Putin’s invasion of Georgia, Putin’s “annexation” of Crimea, Putin’s covert and occasionally somewhat overt attacks on our allies, Putin ordering election interference in US election cycles, etc, etc, etc… No, no, no… It’s ALL because of that stupid, foolish US making things worse.
    .
    This is the same man who, in the course of trying to win an election, got up in front of news cameras and the world and clearly and unequivocally asked a hostile foreign power already engaged in illegal acts against the US to do him the favor of hacking his political opponent for some dirt.
    .
    This is the same man who has repeatedly attacked the United States intelligence agencies and attempted to undercut and discredit them, the media, and anyone else who seeks to address Putin’s actions against this country, yet finds time to routinely praise Putin.
    .
    This is a man who thinks nothing of slandering and attacking US officials and citizens, US allies and their leaders, but stands in front of television cameras and defends Putin. Remember this fun little blast from the past?
    .
    December 20, 2015
    .
    “ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos challenges Donald Trump over the kind words he received this week from Russian president Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump does not accept the premise that Putin is a dictator, asking for proof that Putin has ever killed reporters. “Nobody has proven that he’s killed anyone,” says Trump. “If he has killed reporters, I think that’s terrible. But this isn’t like somebody that’s stood with a gun and he’s, you know, taken the blame or he’s admitted that he’s killed. He’s always denied it.”
    .
    “[Putin] has always denied it. It’s never been proven that he’s killed anybody,” Trump said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday morning. “You’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. It has not been proven that he’s killed reporters.”
    .
    “Have you been able to prove that? Do you know the names of the reporters he has killed?”
    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/12/20/trump_vs_stephanopoulos_has_anybody_proven_putin_has_killed_anybody.html
    .
    Three years ago, that was. Yet Trump has been consistent for three years in his fawning and prasing of Putin and his siding with him against us and our allies. Donald Trump is the man who stood on the world stage next to Putin and, for all the word to see, kowtowed to a dictator while throwing US officials and citizens under the bus whenever Putin gave him his cue.
    .
    We’re sorry, you’re upset that the candidate of your choice acts as he does, but hair splitting over a legal definition when looking at his actions is hilarious when coming from the people who for eight years under Obama couldn’t get the words communist, socialist, dictator, unconstitutional, or thug among others correct, seemed to believe that a Christian was a Muslim, and, in some cases, seemed to believe that Kenya was a province of Hawaii.
    .
    But, please, lecture us about we’re not using a word properly by the federal legal code definition when discussing a man who has repeatedly shown more solidarity and mewling subservience to a foreign dictator who is an enemy of this country than he has shown loyalty to this country or our allies.

  15. Wow…
    .
    Trump has so completely screwed up and screwed over farmers with his tarriff idiocy that he’s pushing for around $12 billion in bribe money for them. Granted, he’s not calling it bribe money, but let’s face facts. He’s doing it right before the election and likely in hopes it will keep the number of Republican seats lost lower.
    .
    Of course, all of the Tea Party are furious with this act of expensive socialism/welfare. Nah, not really. They never really cared about anything they claimed to believe in under Obama.

    1. That’s only an oral promise, legislation hasn’t even been introduced.
      .
      And so if it happened, the time between now and then would be long enough for many small farmers to go broke and have to sell to corporate agri-business.
      .
      And then, if it did happen at all, it would be the corporate agri-business which got the Tariff relief money, not the farmers who went broke.
      .
      And it adds $12,000,000,000 to the deficit and national debt!
      .
      Are we tired of winning yet?

  16. “However I must ask, if Obama was merely trying to extricate himself politely from this situation by explaining that any agreement now would be premature because of the possible changes in government, why did was it caught on a hot microphone?”
    .
    And with one question, George shows he’s never watched the full video and has no real clue what he’s talking about.

    1. And with one question, George shows he’s never watched the full video and has no real clue what he’s talking about.
      .
      Well, I have watched the full video, at least the 21-minute talk to the press. It is obvious that Medvedev understands English since he acknowledges things Obama said before the translation is heard. When Obama says “i will have more flexibility after the election.” there was no translation and this was before the press briefing started because at the end both men stand up and shake hands. They were both seated during the infamous hot mic incident.
      .
      As I said, if Obama’s intention was to politely brush of Medvedev as you say, he certainly could have told him of his concerns about the possible change in government. He didn’t. It was surreptitious. Why?

      1. Because they continued talking when they weren’t speaking publicly and the issue came up.
        .
        And, again, you continue to do the one thing that every conservative who soiled their diapers over this does- You fail to explain why this is even remotely an issue. I mean, my god, the way conservatives like to pretend this was even an issue you’d think Obama was wearing his tan suit and ordering grey mustard on his lunch while doing it.
        .
        He blew off any further discussion on the matter at that time.
        .
        It also has no relevance here.
        .
        I mean, there was some entertainment value in seeing how long you’d keep doing what conservatives have done for, dámņ, six years now with this. Just keep saying that Obama did this without ever actually explaining why it’s supposed to cause outrage. Just a lot of Glenn Beck styled asking, “Hmmm… Why did he do that? I wonder…”
        .
        Well, you’re not just doing what every conservative does with it. Now it’s a convenient bit of smoke to throw up when Trump does something stupid or bad so far beyond the level that this could rise to even if we went along with the fake “outrage” game conservatives love to cling to.
        .
        Trump went to Helsinki and put on a display that made many question if America under Trump’s leadership is still a trusted ally that they can count on. He blamed America for Putin’s vile actions, and he praised the wonderful offers Putin made that anyone with a brain would have seen as something you don’t want to even consider. He fawned over Putin when not being cowed by him, and he smiled and nodded like a useful idiot when Putin attacked people or laws or deals our country and our allies support but Putin hates.
        .
        And he did that after once again spending a few days attacking NATO and our allies.
        .
        BUt the idiot wing of the conservative media has told you and others to rush into the breech whenever anyone condemns these actions by Trump and just start mindlessly regurgitating the talking points by saying, “Oh yeah?!? Well, sure, Trump just threw our allies and country under the bus while cowering next to Putin, but where was your outrage when Obama told a Russian President that he’d have more flexibility to talk deals after he won reelection?!? How about them apples, libtards?!?”
        .
        Okay. Enjoy your fake outrage from six years ago and your false equivalencies.
        .
        Done with you now.

      2. VS the reporting showing there is no real plan and Trump is lashing out and frustrated behind the scenes by nothing working the way he thinks it should or wants it to.
        .
        Okay.
        .
        Trump’s a genius and political mastermind. He’s just spent decades hiding that from everyone.
        .
        Or the mastermind narrative of playing a masterful political chess game is full of šhìŧ.
        .
        Hmmm…. Such a tough call…

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