Some amazing things happened in America this week.
We all saw them and we all heard them, but we should take a moment to consider the new potential possibilities these events have suggested. Most of us who have been paying real attention over the last 20 months were well aware that Donald Trump doesn’t believe that Russia staged an elaborate attack on our democracy by way of psychological manipulation and cyber warfare.
He literally can’t bring himself to say he agrees with unanimous conclusions of the NSA, CIA, FBI, and the rest of the intelligence community about Russia’s intrusion into the 2016 election without diluting the issue with phantom “others” that he alone says were involved or bringing up Hillary’s email server, or “the Pakistan IT guy” who had nothing to do with anything. He literally pulled a Charlottesville and “both sided” the election attacks when we have more than 25 indictments of Russians sitting on the desk.
But that wasn’t the amazing thing. That was entirely predictable, simply by looking at his tweets about the “Witch Hunt” for the last year. No, what was amazing was that the slumbering part of America and the Republican Party that has been trapped in a cultish thrall with Donald John Trump finally seemed to wake up for just a moment.
They finally seemed to actually notice the fucked up, shitty thing that Trump did this time. Wow.
They didn't notice when the Trump administration gave the highest security access to a serial wife abuser. They didn’t notice as Scott Pruitt gutted environmental protections, putting the life and health of hundreds of thousands of Americans at risk while he pranced around with 24/7 security to get from the Get Smart Cone of Silence inside his biometrically locked office to race down the street with sirens blaring to catch his private jet flights from Morocco to Paris and back to his $50-a-day sweetheart condo deal, which was provided by a wife of a frequent EPA lobbyist. They didn't notice when he tried to basically ban every Muslim on the planet from America, many of them while they were in mid-air with legal visas in hand on their way to U.S. airports.
They didn’t notice when he had multiple white nationalist/supremacist, neo-Nazi, anti-Islamist, and sexual abuse-enabling advisers on the White House payroll including Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, Stephen Miller, John Bolton, and Bill Shine. They didn’t notice when he illegally tore asylum-seeking children away from their parents and slammed them into cages, thousands of miles from their family, then apparently lost track of them. They didn’t notice when he insulted and berated our NATO allies over money that they don’t owe us, while repeatedly praising brutal dictators around the world from Xi, to Erdogan, to Duterte, and of course, Putin.
All of that hardly made them blink.
But seeing Trump standing next to Putin and make excuses for his attack on America finally made them perk up. His repeating of his demented tweet-speak from behind the podium suddenly made them realize that this—person—just might be unhinged?
Yeah—no shit, Sherlock.
Three days before the #SurrenderSummit, Trump was tweeting this:
“The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administrations,” Trump said on Twitter.
“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?”
“….Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t the FBI take possession of it? Deep State?” Trump asked.
Why exactly should we have expected him to say something different when standing next to Putin? THIS BULLSHIT is what he really believes. He really does believe in Deep State conspiracy theories that the Obama administration spied on him inside Trump Tower, and the DNC paid an ex-British spy to write a bogus dossier which started a biased FBI investigation of him and his campaign, led by hard-core partisans and Trump haters like Peter Strzok—who is technically a registered Republican—who then sent a secret informant to spy on George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.
But George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians and their allies, which he says was personally authorized by Trump, including the fact that way back in April 2016 they told him that they had “thousands of Hillary’s emails” (which were actually the DCCC and DNC email hacks) and even gave him a preview of what they might look like when released. But instead of reporting this information to the FBI, Jeff Sessions told him to “find out everything he could” about it.
That’s collusion (and conspiracy to defraud the U.S.) right there.
Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russians. Rick Gates has pleaded guilty to doing illegal business and money-laundering with Russians. Alex Van Der Zwaan has pleaded guilty and already served 30 days in federal prison for lying about Gates being in communication with known GRU asset Konstantin Kilimnick, who himself has also been indicted alongside former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort.
Besides Richard Pinedo Jr., Mueller has indicated at least other 12 Russian intelligence operatives in addition to Kilimnick, and another 13 Russians who operated the St. Petersburg troll farm. On top of the ongoing investigation into Michael Cohen—who really did travel to Prague, where Russian hacker Yevgeni Nikulin was later arrested for stealing LinkedIn login IDs—his business partner in his taxi medallion business, Russian immigrant Yevgeni Friedman, has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and promised to cooperate with state prosecutors.
Apparently quite of few “witches” have been found, indicted, and/or pled guilty.
Still, even during his attempt the “clean up” the mess he made in Helsinki with the “would/wouldn’t" and “’No means No more questions” shuffle and two-step, Trump still claims “There were no Russians, there’s been no collusion. There’s been no talk of Russia. There were no phone calls.”
But there was all of that. The existing guilty pleas already prove it and so does the letter of intent to build Trump Tower Moscow that he signed in 2016.
Trump says there was “nothing with Russia.”
Oh yeah? Then what did Flynn, Gates and Van Der Zwaan plead guilty to? Cheating at badminton? Who authorized Papadopoulos to go talk to Russia in violation of either the Crimea sanctions and/or the Logan Act?
Oh wait, that was you—wasn't it, Donald?
He doesn’t accept what Clapper, Brennan, and Comey had to say about Russia, but he does accept what Coats, Pompeo and Wray have to say about Russia which is the exact same thing: they attacked us, and they’re still attacking our democracy.
But again, none of that is surprising. That’s the delusion in operation. That's the gaslighting. The fact is that since Papadopoulos and Sessions knew about the Russia attacks on the DNC and DCCC emails way back in April 2016, it’s highly likely that they also told Trump about it right from the beginning. He’s probably known since then, and all of his behavior is intended to cover up that fact because it incriminates him as being complicit with the hacks and everything the Russians did against America from that point forward. If he knew, which is likely, along with various members of his staff including Papadopoulos, Sessions, Page and probably Don jr, he was a co-conspirator and collaborator with the Russian attacks the entire time.
He can’t admit that. He’s never going to admit any of that, not even under oath to Mueller, which is why his lawyers including Rudy Giuliani are desperate to keep him out of that hot seat.
If he pulls a Helsinki performance before Mueller, he's toast, and the GOP probably know it—which is why they did the unthinkable: they told him to cool it.
- When he pulled this deluded act in front of the world with Putin standing right there, members of the GOP and others reacted like this:
- Trump said the Putin meeting was a “very good start” but didn't really say what it is he’s starting.
- Writer-activist Sam Husseini, who had valid press credentials from The Nation, was forcibly removed because he’s holding a sign that says “Nuclear Ban Treaty.”
- Putin again denied election interference and offered to allow Mueller’s investigator to watch the indicted Russians be interrogated by his people, but only if they fill out the proper paperwork (which they already have, and have been rejected) and in exchange for similar access to people Bill Browder and U.S. intel that Russia has pending (and bogus) charges against.
- Trump said “we’re all to blame” for the decline in Russia-U.S. relations when asked about Russia’s invasion of Crimea and election attacks. [Nope, we ALL didn’t do that.] Then he goes on to blame the “stupidity” of the Mueller probe, just as he did in his tweet earlier that day, saying it's a “disaster for our country". He brags that he defeated Hillary Clinton in a “clean” battle [No, not really, Mr. Pussy Grabber.]
- Putin said he doesn’t have any “dirt” on Trump and that he didn’t even know that he was in Moscow in 2013. [Which is a lie.]
- Asked if he believes his own intel and Mueller (or Putin) about 2016 meddling Trump, said basically he believes both, somehow, then goes on to trash the Mueller and Hillary Clinton email probes in a rant of conspiracy theories that he’s previously tweeted about her server. He also brings up a former congressional IT guy, Imran Awan, who is a Pakistani national who pleaded guilty for bank fraud involving a personal home equity loan, but never had anything to do with the DNC servers because those aren't located at Congress. And also his indictment says this: "The Government has uncovered no evidence that your client violated federal law with respect to the House computer system." So what’s he got to do with anything?
- The press conference drew some immediate sharp criticism.
- Anderson Cooper said it’s one of most “disgraceful performances” by a president he’s ever seen. [And he’s not wrong...]
- Sen. Jeff Flake said Trump's performance was “shameful”.
- GOP Rep. Justin Amash "Something is not right here.” [No, kidding — ya think?]
- Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh: “I'll never support Trump again.”
- Former CIA Director Brennan called for Kelly, Bolton, and Pompeo to resign in protest: “Trump clearly fears Putin.”
- Sen. Lindsey Graham weakly said it was a “missed opportunity.” [To what? Cup Putin’s balls a little harder?]
- Sen. Ben Sasse: America is not to blame for Russia’s aggression.
- Fox’s Neal Cavuto says that it was “disgusting and wrong.” although he then says “Maybe it was jet lag.”
- GOP Rep. Darryl Issa said it’s “fair to cast doubt" on the Mueller probe because of Peter Strzok (who hasn’t been part of the investigation for over a year.]
- Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: “Very Disturbing.”
- Sen. Orrin Hatch said he still trusts U.S. Intel services even after Trump leaves them hanging out to dry.
- Fox News host Abby Huntsman (whose father Jon Huntsman is current ambassador to Russia) says “No negotiation is worth throwing your own country under the bus.” [Yeah, what most of us—plus 3 million—said in November 2016!]
- Paul Ryan: Trump must appreciate that “Russia is not our ally.” [No, he doesn’t—not even a little, because they are already HIS ally.]
- Sen. Bob Corker: “Trump cares more about how foreign leaders treat him than defending the nation.” [Ah, yep.]
- Rep. Trey Gowdy said to Trump: “Recognizing Russian meddling won’t delegitimatize your election win” [Yeah, but Trump will never believe that. It’s all the same thing to him under that fuzzy hair tangle.]
- Rep. Liz Cheney [yes, THAT Liz Cheney]: ‘I am deeply troubled by President Trump’s defense of Putin’. [????!!]
- Sen. John McCain called the meeting and presser: “A Terrible Mistake.” [No, I’m pretty sure Trump planned this all along ...]
- Trump’s current Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats: “We have been clear in findings of Russian election meddling.” [Sure, but Trump ain’t trying to hear all that.]
- Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger smoked ‘fanboy’ Trump for standing next to Putin like a ‘wet noodle’.
- Rand Paul was trashed by Wolf Blitzer after he claimed those who criticize his summit performance simply “hate Trump.” Blitzer countered with: “It’s not a matter of hating President Trump. It’s a matter of what he did today, what he said today. He met with a President Putin as you know more than two hours, unlike other presidents. Especially on foreign soil, he blamed the United States for the bad relationship with Russia. He declined to back his own intelligence community for its assessment. He declined to support the U.S.”
- MSNBC’S Nicole Wallace: All he had to do is not put on jammies and crawl into bed with Vladimir Putin—and he couldn’t even do that’. [But it’s so snuggly!]
- Ret. Major General Paul Eaton: Trump is “unfit” to command.
- Bill Browder says Trump is like Neville Chamberlain.
- David Duke shows he’s still a Trump fan as he compares him to Jesus and trashes the media and Jews. [Dave never lets us down, does he?]
- Trump goes on the air with Sean Hannity after the summit, where Sean admits that the 2016 election was rigged, then abruptly shuts things down as his guests start criticizing the summit.
All of that was pretty amazing, particularly since just a few days before the summit, Never-Trump conservative Tara Setmeyere was saying that most of the GOP had become part of a cult of Trump-like lovers.
Conservative commentator Tara Setmayer, who was a guest on Friday’s show, said she was aghast that Trump can get away with lying in such obvious ways without his fans ever questioning their faith in him.
“It’s a cult!” she exclaimed.
“Please stop saying that!” an upset McCain interjected. “You said that the last time you were here, it’s so redundant!”
Setmayer, however, would not back down.
“There’s a large group of people who blindly follow what this man says, that don’t think for themselves,” she said. “He can get away with saying things on tape and then calling it fake news! That is a cult!”
Apparently, he can get away with quite a bit—but he couldn’t get away with what he did in Helsinki. Not completely. And that is a potential game change situation.
This is a crack in the dam. This is a point of possible agreement between left and right on the issue of the need to protect America from foreign attack. As we move into the midterm elections, we have a new plank to pursue that can’t simply be chalked up to the Deep State or just being a "Trump Hater,” as Rand Paul yet again attempted to do.
This guy surrendered to Putin on live TV. We all saw it, we all know what it means.
He then seemed to be seriously considering the proposal to surrender 11 American citizens and former U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul to Russia to be interrogated by the FSB over their wild conspiratorial pursuit of U.S. businessman Bill Browder in exchange for (maybe) letting Mueller do his job. Who in their right mind thinks that’s a great deal?
Even though after three days Trump finally said he “disagreed” with Putin on this idea and shut it down, Democrats have an opportunity with all this.
They have a chance to drive a wedge into this crack, and they have an opportunity to show how we are different from Trump’s agenda, how we will not bend and bow to Putin because we are not compromised by our previous actions or delusions.
Democrats will defend America from all attacks by all enemies.
Democrats will stand by our allies in Europe and Canada, not berate them or falsely accuse them of violating our national security in order to excuse a misguided and small-minded trade war.
Democrats will protect our domestic civil liberties and will protect the innocent and vulnerable, not use them as pawns and hostages in a cynical battle over political priorities.
Democrats will protect our environment and also protect our businesses and industry, including both workers and consumers.
Democrats won’t put up with serial abusers and supremacists on their staff or claim “both sides” something something when they stalk the streets of our cities, terrorizing and attacking our citizens.
Democrats don’t need a lesson in civility (certain comediennes and actors notwithstanding) because we will not go around calling our fellow Americans “sons of bitches” for using their right to peacefully demonstrate and redress their grievances with the government, or denigrate immigrants by saying they come from “shithole countries.”
Democrats won’t bow to Putin and kiss his ring.
Democrats are the solution to Trump.
Sunday, Jul 22, 2018 · 10:39:06 PM +00:00 · Frank Vyan Walton
My writing here — like that of so many others — is voluntary. If you appreciate this article any and all support you can offer to make more and better diaries in the future would be deeply and sincerely appreciated. Thanks very much.