Comrade Trump

[tooblue]

Libertarians believe in a national defense, dum dum. Time for some libertarian 101: https://www.libertarianism.org/guide...tional-defense

Who says I refuse to pay taxes? You are confusing me with Bill Browder, who gave up his US citizenship because he refused (or elected not) to pay taxes. Therefore, the US is not obligated to provide him any national defense against the big, bad Putin and the rest of Russia.

I didn’t say any thing about a national defence The fact that you espouse the idea that government should provide for the individual needs of it’s citizens, so long as the individual citizen pays his /her taxes is at heart socialist ideology. That means at heart you are a socialist; good to know.

[BlueK]

At least he is beginning to care what public opinion is. For a while he just did whatever he wanted. Now he's starting to react, even if it is after the fact.

It also shows the few times Congress has pushed back on him he backs down. I wish the GOP in Congress when they don't agree with him, which is actually pretty often, that they would do their freaking job and push back (tariffs, etc.). it's really annoying how deathly afraid they are of him.

[BlueK]

I didn’t say any thing about a national defence The fact that you espouse the idea that government should provide for the individual needs of it’s citizens, so long as the individual citizen pays his /her taxes is at heart socialist ideology. That means at heart you are a socialist; good to know.

Correction, the alt-right are National socialists.

[Uncle Ted]

Knowing the full story on what Russia/Putin did to Bill Browder (and everyone else involved in that case), it seems shameless to me that you would go down this road. Good grief.

Bill Browder is not an US citizen (he gave that up)... he is a subject to the Queen. Therefore, it is a matter between Putin and the Queen. I don't even know why Putin is asking Drumpf if they can interview him. Putin needs to take it up with the Queen of England

[tooblue]

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...skeptic-219022

Why I’m No Longer a Russiagate Skeptic - Facts are piling up, and it’s getting harder to deny what’s staring us in the face.

"When I wrote, back in February, that I was skeptical that President Donald Trump would ever be proved to have secretly colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election in his favor, I mistyped.

What I meant to write was that I wasn’t skeptical."

[BlueK]

https://www.politico.com/magazine/st...skeptic-219022

Why I’m No Longer a Russiagate Skeptic - Facts are piling up, and it’s getting harder to deny what’s staring us in the face.

"When I wrote, back in February, that I was skeptical that President Donald Trump would ever be proved to have secretly colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election in his favor, I mistyped.

What I meant to write was that I wasn’t skeptical."

"Politically speaking, Trump’s devotion to his pro-Putin line doesn’t make sense. Yes, the GOP base is impressionable, and perhaps Republican voters would accept it if Trump came out and said, “You bet, Russia helped get me elected, and wasn’t that a good thing? We couldn’t let Crooked Hillary win!” But nobody would say his odd solicitousness toward the Kremlin leader is a political winner, and it certainly causes an unnecessary amount of friction with Republicans in Congress. He’s kept it up at great political cost to himself, and that suggests either that he is possessed by an anomalous level of conviction on this one issue, despite his extraordinary malleability on everything else—or that he’s beholden to Putin in some way."


Agreed. It has become highly illogical to conclude that there absolutely nothing there with him and Russia.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Bill Browder is not an US citizen (he gave that up)... he is a subject to the Queen. Therefore, it is a matter between Putin and the Queen. I don't even know why Putin is asking Drumpf if they can interview him. Putin needs to take it up with the Queen of England

We should be giving medals to Bill Browder and supporting him however we can. The guy is frigging hero for standing up to Putin in spite of several of his associates being murdered by Russian operatives.

Is this really a thing in the alt-right world now? Trashing Bill Browder? Shame on all of you.

[Crockett]

"Politically speaking, Trump’s devotion to his pro-Putin line doesn’t make sense. Yes, the GOP base is impressionable, and perhaps Republican voters would accept it if Trump came out and said, “You bet, Russia helped get me elected, and wasn’t that a good thing? We couldn’t let Crooked Hillary win!” But nobody would say his odd solicitousness toward the Kremlin leader is a political winner, and it certainly causes an unnecessary amount of friction with Republicans in Congress. He’s kept it up at great political cost to himself, and that suggests either that he is possessed by an anomalous level of conviction on this one issue, despite his extraordinary malleability on everything else—or that he’s beholden to Putin in some way."


Agreed. It has become highly illogical to conclude that there absolutely nothing there with him and Russia.

Actually, it's not illogical. I think the more accurate lens here is one of Trump's ego. I think Trump's massively oversized ego has especially hurt him this past week. I think Trump's recent comments are mostly due to Trump conflating Russian meddling with collusion accusations. If Trump concedes the Russians meddled, then it makes his win seem illegitimate so he doesn't want to give an inch on this. Russians meddled, but they did not cause Trump to win. Trump won legitimately, yet his ego prevents him from acknowledging what Russia did do. The Russians' goal was to sow chaos, which they have succeeded in beyond their wildest dreams. (Thanks fake news and unhinged Trump haters for the toxic environment you have helped to create.) BTW, the Russians tried to hack the RNC, too, but the DNC was the one they were able to access.

Also, another lens here is Trump as an alpha male highly respects other alpha males, even thuggish, tyrannical ones like Putin. I think Trump also likes flattery and tries to use flattery to make deals, even with thuggish, tyrannical counterparties like Putin.

If you look at a number of Trump's actions, they are the opposite of friendly to the Russians: killing Russian mercenaries in Syria, Trump approved sending lethal weapons to Ukraine and Georgia (which Obama refused to do), Trump has imposed sanctions on lots of Russian oligarchs, and he's harshed the Germans for spending so much on Russian energy after foolishing trying to move to green energy too far too fast. These are not the actions of someone doing Putin's bidding.

[Crockett]

We should be giving medals to Bill Browder and supporting him however we can. The guy is frigging hero for standing up to Putin in spite of several of his associates being murdered by Russian operatives.

Is this really a thing in the alt-right world now? Trashing Bill Browder? Shame on all of you.

I agree with you, but I'm not on the alt-right.

[BlueK]

the arms to Ukraine thing is interesting given that Trump very suddenly switched positions on that even after going through all the trouble of taking out support for Ukraine from the GOP platform in the convention. It turns out Mueller's team was working in Ukraine investigating Paul Manafort's ties there to the former pro-Putin leader. Then someone from Trump's team talked to them and suddenly Ukraine withdraws permission for Mueller to continue to investigate and interview people there and Ukraine suddenly gets weapons. Now Trump's team uses it as an example of being tough on Russia.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...s-sales-report

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/w...-missiles.html

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-sto...gave-it-908322

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...ile-bribe.html

[Moliere]

Comrade Trump

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:rockon2:

[Uncle Ted]

FISA Applications Confirm: The FBI Relied on the Unverified Steele Dossier

On a sleepy summer Saturday, after months of stonewalling, the FBI dumped 412 pages of documents related to the Carter Page FISA surveillance warrants — the applications, the certifications, and the warrants themselves. Now that we can see it all in black and white — mostly black, as they are heavily redacted — it is crystal clear that the Steele dossier, an unverified Clinton-campaign product, was the driving force behind the Trump–Russia investigation.

Based on the dossier, the FBI told the FISA court it believed that Carter Page, who had been identified by the Trump campaign as an adviser, was coordinating with the Russian government in an espionage conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.

This sensational allegation came from Christopher Steele, the former British spy. The FISA court was not told that the Clinton campaign was behind Steele’s work. Nor did the FBI and Justice Department inform the court that Steele’s allegations had never been verified. To the contrary, each FISA application — the original one in October 2016, and the three renewals at 90-day intervals — is labeled “VERIFIED APPLICATION” (bold caps in original). And each one makes this breathtaking representation:

The FBI has reviewed this verified application for accuracy in accordance with its April 5, 2001 procedures, which include sending a copy of the draft to the appropriate field office(s).

In reality, the applications were never verified for accuracy.
[...]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/.../?amp_js_v=0.1

There may be a FISA court judge somewhere that is very upset for being misled by the FBI.

[Moliere]

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/.../?amp_js_v=0.1

There may be a FISA court judge somewhere that is very upset for being misled by the FBI.

If they don’t find anything to get Trump in all those Cohen files, then they will never get him.

[Commando]

Something tells me Mueller will decline this generous offer.

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[tooblue]

https://www.wired.com/story/why-trum...t-carter-page/

WHY TRUMP WON'T STOP TALKING ABOUT THE CARTER PAGE WIRETAP

“I don’t see anything that supports chairman Nunes’s or the president’s allegations that the FISA process was misused in any way in the documents that were released,” says Carrie Cordero, an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School and former DoJ national security lawyer. “The information that was released does indicate that all of the proper law and procedure and process was followed, and that there was a fulsome, factual explanation provided to the court.”