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Wherever Trumpdum ends up on this latest Putin-active-measures episode, it will not be good for their on-going efforts to “fool half of the people — some of the time” …
Because no matter how you slice it, the bottom-line is: “Donald J Trump is unfit to lead.”
The Russian bounties on US troops in Afghanistan scandal, explained
Russia seems to have put bounties on US troops in Afghanistan. Trump seems to have been warned — and did nothing.
Whatever the explanation, it’s a bona fide scandal
Let’s take each of the three scenarios in turn.
1) Trump was never briefed on the intelligence, and all of the intelligence officials saying otherwise are lying to the press
This is extremely hard to believe.
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2) Trump was briefed on the intelligence several times and wasn’t paying attention, didn’t think it was important or credible enough to pay attention to, or just forgot about it (over and over)
It may be hard to believe that a president might not remember being briefed about a Russian plot to kill American soldiers, but in Trump’s case, it’s certainly believable.
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3) Trump was briefed on the intelligence and remembers it, and is lying to the American people
That the president and his staff lie all the time is something we’ve all just come to accept.
But in this case, lying would be particularly disturbing. The president has a strangely warm relationship with Russia’s strongman leader, to the point where it seems like he doesn’t take objectively threatening behavior from Russia all that seriously.
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And according to the candidate of the Democracy Party, slated to replace Trump, there is an Option 4) that Trump is guilty of:
Biden Says Trump Is Guilty Of Dereliction Of Duty If He Didn’t Read Russia Bounty Briefing
by Jason Easley, www.politicususa.com — June 30, 2020
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The evidence and reports are mounting that Trump was briefed on the Russian bounty that was placed on US troops in Afghanistan. The White House knew about the bounty in 2019 and tried to keep it a secret. Biden is right not reading the briefing is a dereliction of duty. The president takes an oath to protect the country, and Trump violated his oath when he ignored intelligence that Russia had put a price on the heads of US troops.
Initially the White House “damage control” response brigade chose Option 1) “They never told him.”
The White House has maintained that Trump, who within the past year has said he wanted Russia to rejoin the alliance of world leaders known as the Group of 7, had not been briefed on the reported intelligence findings.
As recently as Monday afternoon, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump “has not been briefed on the matter” — even after Trump tweeted Sunday night, “Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me.”
www.cnbc.com — June 30, 2020
However insiders at the White House explicitly say it was Option 2) “Trump doesn’t read.”
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This is consistent with every insider account of the White House we’ve heard, from Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury to Bolton’s The Room Where It Happened: The president doesn’t read and just doesn’t seem to care about learning things about the country he leads. It’s entirely possible this disinterest in knowledge and policy explains why he’s done nothing to respond to what sure seems like a Russian plot to kill Americans.
www.vox.com— June 30, 2020
As reported by Mark Sumner, Scandal Option 3) seems likely: Trump was personally told about the Russian Bounties, and then proceeded to do nothing ...
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But even that innocence-through-illiteracy position doesn’t seem sustained in light of information included in the AP report. While previous stories have been sourced anonymously, the latest information comes with a name: former national security adviser John Bolton. Not only was the information on Russia’s program of offering bounties included in the daily briefings, Bolton assured others at the White House that he had personally briefed Trump on the information. The information on Russia buying the death of American soldiers wasn’t just one item in a list of things presented by Bolton, it was the only item on the agenda—the sole purpose of the meeting.
What does Donald Trump himself, say about the importance of “intel briefings”?
[Please see jayden’s comment below, about the inaccuracies in this Trump Tweet.]
Donald J Trump calls them “Presidential Priorities.” So does that mean Trump agrees with the Scandal Option number 4)
— that he himself is “Guilty Of Dereliction Of Duty,” as his likely successor now asserts?
From the Bully’s tweeting mouth itself, it would seem so: Scandal Option 4) is the winner.
Or put more simply — “Donald J Trump is unfit to lead.”
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PS. The J must stand for Jack-ass, given how the J Trump’s excuses, change day by day, even hour by hour. Depending of the tantrum-level he finds himself in, because of any given News cycle.
Lately he’s been at DEFCON: Desperate. With an unhealthy dose of Denial, as his basement-level default setting.
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