Two Weasels Lip Locking and Cut From the Same Cloth @Liars Я Us

Note: This is not mine 

This is mural spotted outside a bar in Vilnius, Lithuania

(May 2016)

By way of introducing this post, here is a very short clip about that mural and Trump statement about Putin, both clip and mural story come from USA Today.

                                                                         

Heads up: This post is long.

How much more will Trump embrace and support Putin and Russia with his outrageous statements and tweets, all the while denying any connection?

Recently: Trump has publicly refused to accept the conclusion that Russia is responsible for the hacking attacks. Trump this week escalated his criticism of our entire intelligence teams of professionals, such as DNI James Clapper and the CIA Dir John Brennan, by tweeting, without evidence, that an upcoming briefing on the suspected Russian hacking had been delayed until Friday, saying: “Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!”

I note: All intelligence officials have said there had been no delay – no whatsoever.

How much more of Trump blatant lies will or must the public take – how in the hell Donald J. Trump be trusted or believed on anything down the road?

More of his support for Putin about Russia and reputed “I have no ties to Russia” statements, this classic:

When asked about his affection for Russian president Vladimir Putin, Trump said any inference that a connection exists between the two is absurd and the stuff of conspiracy, and added “I have ZERO investments in Russia” in a tweet after the DNC hack and the Podesta emails released by Wiki Leaks on the eve of the DNC convention.

A few hard and proven facts from TIME in August 2016:

Most of the coverage of the links between Trump and Putin’s Russia takes the GOP presidential nominee at his word — that he has lusted after a Trump tower in Moscow, and come up spectacularly short. But Trump’s dodge — that he has no businesses in Russia, so there is no connection to Putin — is a classic magician’s trick. Show one idle hand, while the other is actually doing the work.

The truth, as several columnists and reporters have painstakingly shown since the first hack of a Clinton-affiliated group took place in late May or early June, is that several of Trump’s businesses outside of Russia are entangled with Russian financiers inside Putin’s circle.

So, yes, it’s true that Trump has failed to land a business venture inside Russia. But the real truth is that, as major banks in America stopped lending him money following his many bankruptcies, the Trump organization was forced to seek financing from non-traditional institutions.

Several had direct ties to Russian financial interests in ways that have raised eyebrows. What’s more, several of Trump’s senior advisers have business ties to Russia or its satellite politicians.

“The Trump-Russia links beneath the surface are even more extensive,” Max Boot wrote in the Los Angeles Times. “Trump has sought and received funding from Russian investors for his business ventures, especially after most American banks stopped lending to him following his multiple bankruptcies.”

What’s more, three of Trump’s top advisers all have extensive financial and business ties to Russian financiers, wrote Boot, the former editor of the Op Ed page of the Wall Street Journal and now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was a longtime consultant to Viktor Yanukovich, the Russian-backed president of Ukraine who was overthrown in 2014. Manafort also has done multimillion-dollar business deals with Russian oligarchs. Trump’s foreign policy advisor Carter Page has his own business ties to the state-controlled Russian oil giant Gazprom.

Trump foreign policy advisor, and NSA nominee, Ret. Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, flew to Moscow last year to attend a gala banquet celebrating Russia Today, the Kremlin’s propaganda channel, and was seated at the head table near Putin.

Rex Tillerson, now Secretary of State nominee is up to his oil tankers with Russia and a potential $500 billion deal, on hold due to sanctions, that BTW Trump could lift after he is in office… plus, Tillerson will get a $170 million severance package from Exxon very soon.

Now more hard facts – from the VP debate last October Kaine v. Pence from Mother Jones:

Sen. Tim Kaine dropped Vladimir Putin's name more than 20 times in their VP debate, suggesting that Gov. Mike Pence and Donald Trump shared an unseemly admiration for the Russian president. Kaine said: “You guys love Russia… You both have said Vladimir Putin is a better leader than the president.” (Kaine referred to recent statements by Trump that contrasted Putin's supposed strength with President Barack Obama's weakness). Pence pushed back, calling Putin “small and bullying,” saying that a Trump administration would respond to Russian provocation “with strong, broad-shouldered American leadership.”

Now a list of some really hard stuff -  hang on tight – may overload your memory bank – but keep in mind the Trump voters who put him in the winner’s seat probably did not know this, or if they did, didn’t care and that too is a very serious concern:

Trump continues to say he has no ties to or love for Putin and Russia.

(I note post below tons to show his trail of lies that is a country mile long, cite this laundry list):

June 2012 (As President Obama meets with Putin, Trump tweets): “Putin has no respect for our President – really bad body language."

June 2013 (Shortly after Russia passes anti-gay laws banning gay “propaganda,” Trump tweets): “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow—if so, will he become my new best friend?”

March 2014 (At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump boasts): “I was in Moscow a couple of months ago, I own the Miss Universe Pageant and they treated me so great. Putin even sent me a present, a beautiful present.”

(Recall that Trump has said a number of times: “I have never met Putin – don’t know him.”) (Refer to more notes below that blatantly contradict this double talk).

(This just after Russia annexes Crimea from Ukraine, Trump tweets): “I believe Putin will continue to re-build the Russian Empire. He has zero respect for Obama or the U.S.!”

“Putin has become a big hero in Russia with an all-time high popularity. Obama, on the other hand, has fallen to his lowest ever numbers. SAD.”

April 2014 (Doubling down on his earlier tweet, Trump casts Obama as a weakling compared to Putin): “America is at a great disadvantage. Putin is ex-KGB, Obama is a community organizer. Unfair.”

(I note: NATO had just condemned Russia's “illegal intervention” of the Ukraine).

May 2014: Speaking at the National Press Club, Trump says he's kinda sorta spoken with Putin: “I was in Russia, I was in Moscow recently and I spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer, and we had a tremendous success.”

July 2015: The Republican presidential front-runner, Trump says he'd “get along very well” with the Russian president during an interview with reporters in Scotland (when he opened his latest Golf Course): “I just think so. People say, 'What do you mean?' I think I would get along well with him. He hates Obama, Obama hates him. We have unbelievably bad relationships. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. She was the worst secretary of state in the history of our country. The world blew apart during her reign. Now she wants to be president.”

October 2015: On CBS' Face the Nation, Trump talked about sharing air time with Putin on a 60 Minutes episode: “I think the biggest thing we have is that we were on 60 Minutes together and we had fantastic ratings. One of your best-rated shows in a long time. So that was good, right? So we were stablemates.”

(Note: Trump and Putin were on different continents, were interviewed separately, and according Time, the ratings weren't all that great.)

(I note: Less than two weeks earlier, Russia had launched its first air strikes in Syria in support of the Assad regime).

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Trump insists that there isn't enough proof to point to pro-Russian separatists for shooting down a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in the summer of 2014. “They say it wasn't them.  It may have been their weapon, but they didn't use it, they didn't fire it, they even said the other side fired it to blame them. I mean to be honest with you, you'll probably never know for sure.”

November 2015: During a Republican debate, Trump gets back in the barn with Putin: “I got to know him very well because we were both on 60 Minutes, we were stablemates, and we did very well that night.”

December 17, 2015: In a rare moment of recognition, Putin praises Trump, saying that he is “a very lively man, talented without doubt, an absolute leader in the presidential race.” Before the day ends, Trump returns the favor. “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.” (Trump said of Putin).

“I got to know [Putin] very well because we were both on 60 Minutes… and we did very well that night.”

December 18, 2015: On Morning Joe, Trump defends Putin from allegations that he's murdered journalists and political opponents.

“He's running his country, and at least he's a leader. Unlike what we have in this country. I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe.”

February 17, 2016: At a rally in South Carolina, Trump inserts a little distance between himself and Putin. “I have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius. He said Donald Trump is a genius and he is going to be the leader of the party and he's going to be the leader of the world or something.”

(I note: The word “genius” was Trump's, not Putin's).

April 28, 2016: After Bill O'Reilly asks whether he and Putin would get along well, Trump responds, “Maybe we will, maybe we won't. If we can make a great deal for our country and get along with Russia, that would be a tremendous thing. I would love to try it.”

June 17, 2016: Once again, Putin compliments Trump, calling him a “bright” person.

(I note: That was on the same day, Russia bombs American-backed rebels in Syria).

July 25, 2016: After Democratic National Committee emails are leaked by WikiLeaks, Trump takes to twitter to suggest the Russians were behind the hack because Putin “likes” him.

(Note: This from Trump should or could be declared a crime at the time):

July 27, 2016: Still gleeful over the DNC hack, Trump calls on Moscow to hack Hillary Clinton's email, saying into the cameras: “Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

(I note: He invites foreign hacking).

He then declared: “I never met Putin. I don't know who Putin is. He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius. I said, 'Thank you very much' to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin.” Trump says he'd be firm with Putin, but also refuses to tell him to stay out of the presidential election: "I'm not going to tell Putin what to do. Why should I tell Putin what to do?"

(I note: Trump probably forget this from October 2015, um (that I also referenced above).

“I got to know [Putin] very well because we were both on 60 Minutes… and we did very well that night.”

How about this trial of sick Trump ironies?

September 8, 2016: At a national security forum hosted by Matt Lauer, Trump says the Russian president has been a leader far more than our president has been.

September 14, 2016: Perhaps forgetting his August statement that Russia wouldn't go into Ukraine, Trump tweets about Russia's annexation of Crimea: "Russia took Crimea during the so-called Obama years. Who wouldn't know this and why does Obama get a free pass?"

September 19, 2016: Russia allegedly bombs a United Nations aid convoy outside besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, dashing hopes of reestablishing a US-Russia brokered ceasefire.

This the sickest of all:

October 4, 2016 (During the vice presidential debate, Trump tweets a link to a campaign press release titled): “Clinton's Close Ties to Putin Deserve Scrutiny.:

Yet this man cons his way into the White House as his supporters stare in awe, as most I suspect, wait for him to “hire them” for the millions of the jobs he promises.

Politics, they say, is a combination of luck and timing, ergo: Surely, Donald J. Trump has got to be the luckiest man who ever lived anywhere at any time in history.

You know what Trump reminds me of: The kind of person who can only talk in sound bites as they repeat what they heard on talk radio or read at some crazy-ass forum hosted by an Alex Jones or Michael Savage type. That is the “realDonaldTrump” in my mind.

He should start a new “Reality Show” and call it: “The Trump Daily News Dump.” Then broadcast every segment in 140 characters or less with lots of Trump property and product Ads and 24/7.

Station Call Sign, Colors, and Acronym: TDND on your dial at 24.7

It is abundantly clear to me and I’m sure to many others as well that Donald Trump intends to run the government along with Foreign affairs like a new business venture - a new pet project as it were.

HE WILL USE HIS OWN PERSONAL BUSINESS MODEL – yes, the one that has failed miserably on so many fronts. He intends to do it in the shadows as his two sons and closest daughter, Ivanka, and most of those he is now nominating to run the entire Federal system – act as his front. But, he no matter what or despite what he says, he will be the only only one in control and calling the shot - it's in his DNA. 

That alone should scare the hell out of us and anyone else.

Thanks stopping by – hope I didn’t bore you with this very long post. However, I strongly believe it needed to be said and reinforced – not that it makes any difference or even matters at this point, right?