Russia Investigation Heating Up

[Rheisia]

Corrected for accuracy.

Your denial is fascinating. You are handing a President a blank check at this point- letting him do whatever he pleases with no consequences.

You're watching him:

1) fire the people investigating him and his campaign (including attempting to fire the special prosecutor- which is literally Nixon-level corruption)

2) try to convince the entire country that a foreign power didn't meddle in our elections (even though he knows for a fact they did) to keep said country from protecting itself

3) leverage the DoJ to go after political rivals (which is literally Putin-level corruption)

4) Attack critical democratic institutions and norms

5) Cozy up to the world's authoritarian dictators

6) Accuse people of treason for not applauding him (Even Putin doesn't do that)

And you're cheering him on.

The United States is supposed to exist long after this one person. You're watching him burn the kingdom down- which means you actually think this one human being is more important than our democracy, our sovereignty, and our rule of law. We'll be repairing the damage for a generation at least- all for four silly years. And one man who is uniquely bad at governing but uniquely good at destroying what he can't control.

I'm not a particularly political person by nature, but I've learned over the last year or so that I can't afford that stance any longer. You're an excellent reminder of why.

If nothing else, I'll thank you for that one.

[cwolff]

trump sigint.jpg


Eric Garland
‏
Verified account

@ericgarland

Buried lede in the new one from @20committee: We have Kremlin SIGINT all about their conspiracy to get Trump elected. Pwned!

[Androidpk]

And you're cheering him on.

The only thing Parkbandit cares about in politics is the issue of R's vs D's. He's never once offered anything of substance beyond, "Democrats are retarded."

[Rheisia]

The only thing Parkbandit cares about in politics is the issue of R's vs D's. He's never once offered anything of substance beyond, "Democrats are retarded."

And yet, Trump routinely attacks the Republican party. I'm sure PB hates Ryan and McConnell.

There seems to be a group of people who are both drawn to authoritarian qualities in a leader and who have a deep-seated anger that Trump has tapped into.

Trump has engaged in a hostile takeover of the Republican party, but he's not the Republican party. If he were to break off from the GOP, about 20% of this country would follow him. I don't particularly know a lot about PB, but he strikes me as one of those people.

[cwolff]

And yet, Trump routinely attacks the Republican party. I'm sure PB hates Ryan and McConnell.

There seems to be a group of people who are both drawn to authoritarian qualities in a leader and who have a deep-seated anger that Trump has tapped into.

Trump has engaged in a hostile takeover of the Republican party, but he's not the Republican party. If he were to break off from the GOP, about 20% of this country would follow him. I don't particularly know a lot about PB, but he strikes me as one of those people.

Except for a few outliers; George Will, Kristol, Romney (?), the Bushes, Schwartz...and some others, the GOP has simply rolled over for trump and exposed their bellies like a submissive dog. Nothing Grand about the submission of the Grand Old Party. It's a shame because we do need a sensible conservative party. I guess we lost that a few years ago considering that moderates like Bush and Kasich get shit all over now a days and freaks like Cruz and Trump go head to head to be their new leader

[Rheisia]

Except for a few outliers; George Will, Kristol, Romney (?), the Bushes, Schwartz...and some others, the GOP has simply rolled over for trump and exposed their bellies like a submissive dog. Nothing Grand about the submission of the Grand Old Party. It's a shame because we do need a sensible conservative party. I guess we lost that a few years ago considering that moderates like Bush and Kasich get shit all over now a days and freaks like Cruz and Trump go head to head to be their new leader

They're just trying to keep their jobs. That doesn't excuse it, but most of us fight pretty hard to keep our jobs.

The one bright spot was how Republicans reacted to Mueller's latest indictments. I think a lot of them see a light at the end of the tunnel on that one. Once Trump's witch hunt/hoax spin starts falling apart, it opens up the possibility of Republicans turning on him. I think they all get that suddenly their stalling tactics and disinformation campaigns could turn into a liability pretty soon. Deep down inside, I'm betting that's what most of them want.

And if the Dems take the House, I think we'll see support for Trump start to collapse enough for any negative reports by Mueller to suddenly be taken very seriously.

Having said that, never underestimate what Trump is willing to do to avoid consequences. I don't think there's any moral core there, and I don't think he's actually capable of empathy for anyone he doesn't regard as his close family. (Even Melania doesn't seem to qualify) That's what worries me most. If he senses Republicans are turning on him, he'll get desperate.

There are only a few ways to suddenly get an entire country to rally around their leader, and all of them are scary.

[cwolff]

They're just trying to keep their jobs. That doesn't excuse it, but most of us fight pretty hard to keep our jobs.

The one bright spot was how Republicans reacted to Mueller's latest indictments. I think a lot of them see a light at the end of the tunnel on that one. Once Trump's witch hunt/hoax spin starts falling apart, it opens up the possibility of Republicans turning on him. I think they all get that suddenly their stalling tactics and disinformation campaigns could turn into a liability pretty soon. Deep down inside, I'm betting that's what most of them want.

And if the Dems take the House, I think we'll see support for Trump start to collapse enough for any negative reports by Mueller to suddenly be taken very seriously.

Having said that, never underestimate what Trump is willing to do to avoid consequences. I don't think there's any moral core there, and I don't think he's actually capable of empathy for anyone he doesn't regard as his close family. (Even Melania doesn't seem to qualify) That's what worries me most. If he senses Republicans are turning on him, he'll get desperate.

There are only a few ways to suddenly get an entire country to rally around their leader, and all of them are scary.

I fully expect things to get worse before they get better. For one thing we are utterly exposed to bad actors. The president is attacking his own intelligence community and the state dept. is in shambles. The rest of government is being cored from the inside out by cabinet level leaders who despise the institutions they're supposed to lead. The whole apparatus of government is weakening. Beyond that, a demagogue will false flag the hell out of something to stay in power. He just doesn't have it in him to gracefully bow out and go away if that time comes. It'll be scorched earth.

[Androidpk]

A former top aide to Donald Trump's presidential campaign will plead guilty to fraud-related charges within days – and has made clear to prosecutors that he would testify against Paul J. Manafort Jr., the lawyer-lobbyist who once managed the campaign.

The change of heart by Trump's former deputy campaign manager, Richard W. Gates III, who had pleaded not guilty after being indicted in October on charges similar to Manafort's, was described in interviews by people familiar with the case.

"Rick Gates is going to change his plea to guilty,'' said a person with direct knowledge of the new developments, adding that the revised plea will be presented in federal court in Washington "within the next few days.''

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-n...218-story.html

[Methais]

We'll be repairing the damage for a generation at least- all for four silly years. And one man who is uniquely bad at governing but uniquely good at destroying what he can't control.

But Obama was in office for 8 years, not 4. Try to keep up.

[Neveragain]

They're just trying to keep their jobs. That doesn't excuse it, but most of us fight pretty hard to keep our jobs.

The one bright spot was how Republicans reacted to Mueller's latest indictments. I think a lot of them see a light at the end of the tunnel on that one. Once Trump's witch hunt/hoax spin starts falling apart, it opens up the possibility of Republicans turning on him. I think they all get that suddenly their stalling tactics and disinformation campaigns could turn into a liability pretty soon. Deep down inside, I'm betting that's what most of them want.

And if the Dems take the House, I think we'll see support for Trump start to collapse enough for any negative reports by Mueller to suddenly be taken very seriously.

Having said that, never underestimate what Trump is willing to do to avoid consequences. I don't think there's any moral core there, and I don't think he's actually capable of empathy for anyone he doesn't regard as his close family. (Even Melania doesn't seem to qualify) That's what worries me most. If he senses Republicans are turning on him, he'll get desperate.

There are only a few ways to suddenly get an entire country to rally around their leader, and all of them are scary.

The only thing that could make this more precious is if another SCJ retires or passes.