Saturday, July 14, 2018

Memo for Trump: Belittle & Insult Our Allies With Care — They Will Repay in Spades

Trump must be surrounded by loyal all-pleasing kowtowing lackeys
(Or else Hell to pay)

Round-up on the following story updated here from Trump (from USA TODAY via MSN), and my previous other post on this same subject.

The previous news that broke last week: Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein announced that the DOJ had officially indicted 12 Russian intelligence agency officials on charges of hacking Democratic emails during 2016 and releasing them months before voters went to the polls via WikiLeaks.

Trump’s response, while he is traveling to get ready to meet with Putin in Helsinki next week and from USA TODAY story above is totally expected from him: He blames Obama for that back in 2016, not stopping it, and everything in between since. 

(I note: I believe that will be Trump's message to Putin – don’t blame me, it was Obama’s fault — see below).

LONDON – President Trump blamed his predecessor today (Saturday, July 14, 2018) for not doing more to prevent and punish Russia's cyber-attacks on Democratic email servers in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Trump in another tweet said: “The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration.” 

Note: That was Trump’s first response to the indictments of those 12 Russian intelligence officers in the hacking scheme. 

That new 12-person indictment accuses the Russian operatives of a far-ranging plot to disrupt the democratic process by stealing tens of thousands of emails from Democratic Party officials and some Clinton campaign operatives, and leaking them via a website called DC Leaks (key facts here from the Mueller indictment).

More: Those leaked DNC emails became the source for countless news stories portraying Clinton in unflattering terms as she engaged in a hard-fought campaign with Trump. 

Trump said Obama could have stopped the leaks saying: “Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?” 

So, what did Mr. Obama do? 

He ordered an investigation into the hackings and confronted Putin about the cyberattacks in September 2016. Plus, Obama was hesitant to go public because of worries Obama would be seen as trying to influence the election himself in favor of Hillary Clinton just like the previous and later FBI Director James Comey in his two different announcements – the last just a few weeks before the election in November 2016.

(My Note: Obama was in no way able to stop the hacking is and followed the FBI golden rule: “No discussion or talking about any on-going investigation.” But as we know Trump does not give a damn about on-going investigations especially against his side and he proves regularly with his FBI bashing one day and then phony kudos for them the very next day – what a sorry hypocrite he truly is).

Trump also advanced a vague and unsourced conspiracy theory just like Alex Jones or Sean Hannity tweeting: “Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t the FBI take possession of it? Deep State?"

That response was almost identical to his reaction back in February to the indictment of 16 Russians accused of carrying out a social media propaganda campaign to influence the 2016 election. 

The differences now: 

These new indictments have thrown a new variable into the already uncertain agenda since Trump is ready to meet Putin in Helsinki on July 16.

One key highlight worth keeping from that phony GOP House-run Strozk grilling from the DEM on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who said what a lot of us know about the GOP: “The most offensive thing is the degree to which the Republicans are, day in and day out, trying to undermine a legitimate investigation into Russian interference in our election by S/C Robert Mueller that they have sold their souls for Donald Trump.”

Impact is worrisome: The Republicans are creating a sideshow at a time when another opportunity for Russian meddling in elections in right around the corner in the November midterms and public polling tends to show that their support for the Mueller investigation is slipping. Why? Obvious: the GOP anti-everything is working – the raw ugliness and division they sustain is totally amazing and damn scary, too. Why?

Here from that joint committee grilling of FBI Agent Peter Strozk – the highlight of his statements.

His opening statement says what millions of Americans already know and boy did he nail it: “I understand we're living in a political era in which insults and insinuation often drown out honesty and integrity. But the honest truth is that Russian interference in our elections constitutes a grave attack on our democracy. Most disturbingly, it has been wildly successful, sowing discord in our nation and shaking faith in our intuitions.”

Trump in London recently with our #1 ally the UK: Citizens turned out to “greet” Trump shortly after he blasted PM May and then changed his mind as usual to fluff her later as he was leaving London to prep for his BFF, Vlad Putin. 

Some 100,000 marchers swarmed into central London in a show of collective anger at a U.S. president more divisive than any in living memory.

One good example:

From Paul Robert, age 45, who works in customer service, who said: “I am struggling to use words you can print (he told The Independent reporter). I just think he is a complete idiot. He does not understand how the world works. He does not understand what people think. He is aggressive. He is a narcissist. He is a misogynist. I think the world would be better off if he stuck to business, not politics. He likes to get angry and get people that are already angry, angrier. He is a spark to kindling and wants anything that gets him attention.”

Attention is something Trump certainly had on London's streets. According to organizers of the “Together Against Trump” demonstration, police told them that more than 100,000 protesters had joined the march by mid-afternoon

While the president described the relationship between the U.S. and the UK as being at “the highest level of special.” protesters in the capital chanted: “Donald Trump’s not welcome here.”

My 2 cents: Put all this put together, foreign and domestic, and I have to suggest: “Mr.  Proof meet Mr. Pudding.”

Trump never trusts any proverb or truth


Thanks for stopping by.


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