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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe crazy new evidence that Trump's Russia problem is far worse than we all thought
The crazy new evidence that Trumps Russia problem is far worse than we all thought
http://www.philly.com/opinion/commentary/trump-russia-scandal-putin-kremlin-talking-points-afghanistan-belarus--20190106.html
The Wall Street Journals influential editorial board is known for being hard on presidents
OK, just the even-numbered ones, in recent years. That would be Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The bible of American finance whose conservative editorial writers never met a corporate tax cut they didnt like, or a Democrat that they did could be ruthless toward the 42nd and 44th presidents, even encouraging some of the loopier conspiracy theories of the Whitewater era.
Thats why it was so jarring last week to see the Rupert Murdoch-owned broadsheet publish an editorial stating, We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President" when that president is a Republican, Donald Trump. The WSJ which maybe isnt as pro-Trump as that diner in southern Ohio that the New York Times has reported from 6,784 times now, but which generally likes POTUS 45 as long as hes reducing marginal tax rates or dropping napalm on the Environmental Protection Agency ripped the current commander in chief in a piece headlined, Trumps Cracked Afghan History.
Yes, its a little weird that an editorial board that was nonplussed (or sometimes mildly concerned) about Trumps 7,000-plus other lies, firing of Jim Comey, shredding of the emoluments clause, etc., etc., would wig out about the presidents strange thoughts on an invasion exactly 40 years ago by a country, the USSR, that technically doesnt exist. But anticommunism both was, and is, central to the Wall Street Journal brand. Lets hear them out on this one.
<<snip>>
Heres the thing. Trump says crazy stuff every day of his presidency. But the Journal was absolutely right to home in on the weirdness and disturbing nature of this particular statement. For one thing, its surprising that the usually assertively anti-intellectual Trump has deep albeit historically incorrect thoughts about foreign policy in the late 70s and 80s, the decade he was busy trying to promote Herschel Walker and bed Marla Maples. Second, not one other person on this side of the Atlantic Ocean holds that notion advanced by the president: that the USSR invasion of Afghanistan was justified or was about anything other than world domination.
But now heres where it gets much, much weirder and much more disturbing. Because it turns out there is one prominent set of voices who just in the last few months started making the argument that the USSR was right to send those troops into Afghanistan, an action that even Russian higher-ups have conceded even before the USSRs 1991 collapse was a horrible mistake, politically and morally.
That would be Vladimir Putin and his allies in the Russian government.
<<snip>>
dalton99a
(81,590 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)I mean, is that some deplorable shit, or what?
onit2day
(1,201 posts)can be no doubt where he got his information and why he paid attention to it. Putin
triron
(22,020 posts)mastermind
(229 posts)that is why they gave him twice as much airtime as HRC during the election.
watoos
(7,142 posts)the M$M is complicit with the far right.
mastermind
(229 posts)eppur_se_muova
(36,290 posts)"Its one more reason why the nightmare of the Trump presidency needs to end long before January 20, 2021."
I like Bunch's writing style. A lot.
He gives a big nod to TRMS for her segment on 45 as the Manchurian Candidate.
watoos
(7,142 posts)SunSeeker
(51,709 posts)Putin has already made it official history in Trump's empty head.
lark
(23,156 posts)He tells PUtin, sorry love, just can't remove the sanctions. I keep trying but congress and the media just won't let me because of the Russia thing. So, master says, OK, that's not good but here's how you start to make it up to me - spread lies making Russia look good and use this exact version that's being run in RT at this time.
mtngirl47
(991 posts)we skipped the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because Russia wouldn't remove their troops from Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, most media folks don't know or remember pesky facts.