The leaking of the Kremlin Papers shows that Russia actively tried to nudge Mr. Trump over the finish line in his first presidential contest. (Whether they did or did not has yet to be proven.) My initial suspicions were that Trump was ignorant of these attempts to secure him the presidency, because Mr. Trump has shown himself to be ignorant of almost everything.
But Mr. Trump’s obsequiousness toward Vladimir Putin is hard to explain otherwise. In business Mr. Trump’s persona is that he is the biggest bully on the block or the whole city if you wanted to know. So, to be in character, Mr. Trump should have been chesty with Mr. Putin. Yet his persona was that of an underling toward a mafia don.
So, the big question is: what did he know about these Russian efforts and when did he know it. If he knew of them before his election and did nothing, he has committed treason. If he knew about them after his election and said nothing, which his ego would propel him to do, then he is guilty of several felonies. His ego, of course, would require that he won that election because he was Donald Fucking Trump, a proven winner, don’t you know.
His obsequious behavior toward Putin was a stupid move either way, because it created doubts in people’s minds as being otherwise inexplicable. Remember when we were trying to figure out what hold Putin had over Trump? Mr. Trump would have been better off posturing (chest beating, etc.; he knows the drill) in public and going “wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean” in private with Mr. Putin. Putin would have understood, as he was getting exactly what he wanted in either case.
So, what did Mr. Trump know about these Russian efforts and when did he know it?
Uncommon Sense 
Even if he didn’t “know” it, he obviously reaped the benefits … and there’s little doubt that he thanked his benefactor during that behind-closed-doors-nobody-else-can-be present meeting.
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Comment by Nan — July 18, 2021 @ 2:39 pm |
I despise the man but to get him behind bars we need proof, lots of it.
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Comment by Steve Ruis — July 18, 2021 @ 6:27 pm |
Manafort handed the Russians polling data, which is essential to target individuals. Explain that. There was collusion, but it wasn’t the kind of collusion where both parties plan things out over a table. Putin has Trump on money/money laundering.
The real question here is why (and why) were these docs leaked? The Kremlin doesn’t leak… so is Vlad just trying to stir things up a bit?
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Comment by john zande — July 18, 2021 @ 6:51 pm |
*who (and why)
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Comment by john zande — July 18, 2021 @ 6:53 pm |
Re ” so is Vlad just trying to stir things up a bit?” That’s my guess. A very cheap second round and he gets to take credit for putting one over on the US, which makes him look very good at home.
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Comment by Steve Ruis — July 18, 2021 @ 9:08 pm |
You have to remember putin was a kgb intelligence officer for sixteen years. You can be sure that the kgb resources did not simply disappear with the fall of the Soviet Union. They know who is bribing who, who’s being blackmailed and for what, etc. With all of you-know-who’s shady dealings, sexual misconduct, etc. he was ripe for the picking.
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Comment by grouchyfarmer — July 18, 2021 @ 10:42 pm |
I want it to be true but is it?
“There’s an admonition given to researchers in many fields: Beware of finding answers that are too close to your own assumptions. It doesn’t matter if your subject matter is science, history, or politics, when you find exactly what you expected to find, there are good reasons to be on guard. Things just rarely come out quite so neatly. Which is just one of the reasons why a potential blockbuster story that appeared in The Guardian on Thursday morning has reporters everywhere trapped in the gray space between “holy @#$@” and “tell me another.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/7/15/2040070/-Memo-could-provide-blockbuster-proof-of-how-Russia-used-Trump-to-damage-America-if-it-s-real
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Comment by James Cross — July 19, 2021 @ 6:45 am |
Part of the problem is many media outlets do not want to rile Trump supporters (they are on a long list with many other people and organizations). So the coverage of this “news” is less than useful. Plus the news media have scrapped a large portion of their investigative expertise because it doesn’t make profits like what they are doing now.
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Comment by Steve Ruis — July 19, 2021 @ 9:24 am |
True but probably they’ve been burned more than once by falsified evidence so they aren’t as quick to buy into this report. Sumner does make a good point that the report almost seems too good to be true. Likely 90% or more of it is true but there may be enough falsifications in it to completely discredit the report and the media outlet if they bite on it. Somebody may be just waiting for CBS or CNN to report on it to drop some information to discredit it and outlet.
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Comment by James Cross — July 19, 2021 @ 9:38 am |
The Russians are clever enough at this sort of thing to use it to sow even more discord . . . .
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Comment by Steve Ruis — July 19, 2021 @ 1:06 pm |
Exactly. Suddenly the story is shifted from what Trump did to how the media gets it wrong and it will look like Trump did nothing wrong to a lot of people.
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Comment by James Cross — July 20, 2021 @ 6:22 am |
The orange cheeto is guilty. Period. Guilty on many levels. Of many crimes. The walking sack of crap is the epitome of guilty. His lies betray any innocence he may have ever known, if he ever had any. I get the feeling that guy was the fat kid at school, you know the one I’m talking about, the conscienceless bastard who bullied kids 3 years younger and 100 pounds lighter, just because he could.
That is the guy so many adore. Turns my stomach.
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Comment by shelldigger — July 19, 2021 @ 10:17 am |
Yeah, but tell us what you really feel! :o) Mr. Trump is indeed a despicable human being and I would love to see him in court and behind bars. But I want that done in such a way that brings us together and not tears us apart.
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Comment by Steve Ruis — July 19, 2021 @ 1:08 pm |
I don’t believe there is any way that he could be brought to justice in a way that would unite people. I think it’s impossible to prosecute trump in any way that wouldn’t cause massive problems and almost certainly violence. Almost 50% (in some areas even more) of republicans believe everything the man says, believe all the conspiracy theories, etc. All of them are going to believe he’s being persecuted by the ‘evil liberals’. And Biden and his team know that which is why they haven’t been going after him and have been letting New York go after him rather than at a federal level.
Oh, don’t know if you’ve been following this story, but Sonny Perdue is now being investigated for ADM selling a grain facility they paid $4 million for to Perdue for just $250,000.
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Comment by grouchyfarmer — July 20, 2021 @ 6:53 am |
Gosh, you don’t think they could be in cahoots, do you? :o)
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Comment by Steve Ruis — July 20, 2021 @ 7:31 am |
I really feel like he doesn’t need to be dignified with the mention even of his name. I’d name a disgusting, low down, flea bitten mongrel, of a dog. I don’t think that highly of the orange idiot.
I would assume, they are working on how to do exactly that. It will be a slow, long thought out process, but I really feel like behind the scenes, the justice system is moving towards serious charges. They will roll them out slowly and build one upon the next. Rather than hoping I’m right, I will hope I’m just not wrong…
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Comment by shelldigger — July 19, 2021 @ 3:39 pm |