The Trump-Russia-NRA Connection: Heres What You Need to Know

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Did a shadowy Russian banker close to Vladimir Putin illegally give money to the National Rifle Association to support the presidential campaign of Donald Trump? That's the subject of an active FBI investigation, according to an explosive report by McClatchy.

Here's what you need to know:

Unprecedented Trump Support

The National Rifle Association spent tens of millions of dollars backing Trump's presidential bid in 2016. The NRA endorsed Trump in May 2016. And the NRA disclosed it spent at least $30 million on Trump's behalf and attacking Hillary Clinton. That level of support is unprecedented – more than twice what the NRA disclosed it spent on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential run.

The true sum the NRA spent to install Trump in the White House may be far higher. Campaign finance disclosures do not cover spending on unregulated Internet advertising or voter mobilization; citing two sources close to the gun group, McClatchy suggests the NRA may have spent upwards of $70 million on Trump's presidential bid.

President Trump is clearly indebted: "You came through for me, and I am going to come through for you," Trump promised the NRA at its 2017 convention. "I will never, ever let you down."

Dark Money

In the age of Citizens United and unlimited campaign donations, the NRA has emerged as an important "dark money" hub in Republican politics. Under its tax code designation, the NRA is a "social welfare" organization, largely exempt from disclosing its donors. To skirt disclosure, other big-dollar political players – including a SuperPAC linked to Karl Rove and a "chamber of commerce" controlled by the Koch Brothers – have routinely steered money into the NRA, confident that the gun group's spending will advance the GOP cause.

-more-

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-trump-russia-nra-connection-heres-what-you-need-to-know-w515615?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=011918_12

[dlk]

1. Putin is Very Much Against the Right to Bear Arms

One reason enormous Russian contributions to the NRA smell funny.

[Turbineguy]

2. Right wing nut jobs in the USA are no threat to Putin.

Putin has Fox News, the GOP and the drug addiction epidemic working for him.

[paleotn]

4. Putin is for anything that makes him money and gives him influence.

No nation state is afraid of a few yee haws running around with off the shelf firearms. They're nothing but a minor nuisance compared to nation state power. It's the mentality that's developed via the propaganda fed to them that matters. Guns are just a vehicle for said propaganda. Let them have a few guns to "protect themselves from tyranny" (snort! giggle!) and it's easier to get them to vote against their own best interests on things that really matter. Or gladly accept tyranny from which they're supposedly protecting themselves. One of the great ironies of our time.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. "social welfare" my ass. . . . . nt