John McCain's Epiphany About Paul Manafort

[deminks]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/john-mccains-epiphany-about-paul-manafort/568600/

A central feature of John McCain’s biography was his capacity for change. After he sullied himself in the Savings and Loan scandal of the late eighties, he self-consciously transformed into a warrior on behalf of the cause of political reform. And then, in the course of his insurgent challenge to the anointed candidacy of George W. Bush—which McCain referred to as the “Death Star”—he came to understand how the mindless libertarianism of his early political career didn’t fully reflect his true beliefs. McCain began to criticize the regressive tax cuts that he once supported—what began as a tactical maneuver, then seemingly acquired the weight of conviction. Luke Skywalker didn’t win that fight, but he returned to fight the Bush tax cuts in the Senate.

This is what made McCain so admirable to those who disagree with his politics: a profound sense of humility, openness to learning from his own error, an ability to adjust core beliefs in response to changing evidence, an insatiable hunger for rebellion.

One of John McCain’s mistakes, which he would belatedly rectify, was a relationship with the just-convicted lobbyist Paul Manafort. It was really more of an association. John McCain was the type of man who attracted loyalists, a father-figure who scooped up eager wannabe sons. If you hung around his world long enough, you got a taste for how his closest aides would fight each other for his attention, how they would cudgel and knife one another to achieve primacy in his eyes. Many of these aides have proven themselves as worthy proteges, inheriting the mentor’s eagerness for an internecine fight and forming the core of the Never Trumper movement.

(snip)

Davis Manafort’s most prized client in 2006 was the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest men in the world. At the time, Deripaska had the esteem and ear of Vladimir Putin, who considered him one of his most important proxies. Davis and Manafort helped Deripaska to rub shoulders with McCain. They introduced McCain to Deripaska at a party in Davos in 2007; seven months later, they brought McCain to Deripaska’s yacht, which was anchored off Montenegro, where the oligarch hosted a seventieth birthday party for the Arizona senator. (The actress Anne Hathaway also attended those festivities.) This story is fully told in an outstanding investigative piece, published by The Nation.

(snip)

According to McCain aides, the crucial moment came in the planning for the 2008 convention. I was told that Manafort lobbied desperately to become manager of the Republican National Convention, to take on the role of orchestrating the show. This was the sort of job that he held several times before. It represented the sort of behind-the-scenes power that he sought his entire career. Because of his relationship with Davis, and because of his resume, he thought of the job as something close to his birthright. But McCain didn’t want any further association with Manafort, so he denied him the job, a rejection that sent Manafort into a fit of rage and depression. All the evidence for rejecting Paul Manafort as a man of dubious character was amply available in 2008—and McCain acted upon it.

(end snip)

[kentuck]

1. That's interesting!

Manafort wanted top run the Republican National Convention in 2008? It looks like their plan had been put in place quite a while ago.

[dalton99a]

2. McCain recognized the plot by the traitors in 2016

[1cheapbeemr]

3. ...and McCain acted on it.

Sole and alone, on his side of the aisle.

[B Stieg]

4. WOW.

So Trump was the second attempt to co-opt a presidential candidate!
Vladdie and the Russians couldn't be happier now.

[AlexSFCA]

5. fascinating

[karin_sj]

6. Wow

Manafort trying desperately to become a lynchpin in McCain's presidential election in 2008 and failing. Then, in 2016, he offers to be Trump's campaign chairman for for free and gets the job.

This shows how the Russians have been working persistently on this plan for a very long time and were hoping to make McCain their compromised stooge. It also shows how patient they were to wait and keeping plotting for eight more years until they finally succeeded. Why is this the first time that most of us are hearing about this? Why didn't McCain ever speak of it?

[2naSalit]

7. Answers some questions that need to be asked a little more loudly...nt

[Paka]

8. K&R

Most interesting piece.