Josh Marshall TPM - "He Burst the Bubble"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/he-burst-the-bubble

By JOSH MARSHALL Published JULY 12, 2017 3:13 PM

There is something I was thinking about yesterday that went beyond the specific confines and parameters of the Don Jr story and his meeting with that “Russian government lawyer.” It is a point illustrated quite nicely in today’s column by Ross Douthat. Don Jr’s actions, as significant as they are in themselves, have a significance far beyond them in perceptions and conclusions about the Russia probe.

Over the last seven or eight months we’ve been inundated with evidence of motive, opportunity, deception, lots of actions, meetings that are hard to make sense of absent some nefarious motive and plan. It is almost as though every link in the chain has been assembled except the clear and specific evidence of collusive behavior. Of course, that’s not some minor technicality. That’s the biggest deal in the world. At trial you’ve got to prove the case, not line everything up except the proof.

But beyond the proof, there’s something else that I think has shaped many people’s view of the story, even myself to a significant degree. For all the ‘him scratching their back while they’re scratching his’, for all the common motive and demonstrable recklessness, it’s just very hard to imagine that any significant player in the Trump campaign would literally or figuratively sit down with a representative of the Russian government and say, “We hate Hillary. You hate Hillary. We’re on the same team. Let’s work together and make this happen.”

I’ve often told colleagues that for whatever reputation I may have for aggressive reporting and commentary, I’ve always been aware that I’m … well, chronically a bit naive. It’s a bit hard to get my head around the idea that people consciously, knowingly, cynically commit bad acts. In many ways, this turns out to be a perverse advantage since you don’t assume things you don’t know.

snip - much more

[Leith]

1. Excellent Point

How the hell do people get to the point where they make a literal deal with the devil to get what they want? Most people wouldn't do that, no matter how much they may hate an adversary. So how and why did we get so many together at the same time to do the same treasonous thing so eagerly?

It may be a factor of many things:
- It's how cutthroat business is done.
- Decades of propaganda teaching people to hate Democrats, liberals, and especially the Clintons.
- They thought they wouldn't get caught.
- A group mentality. They are surrounded by likeminded people who all have a hatred of political opponents and it festered in the groupthink.
- Maybe the Milgram Experiment could explain it.

They had nothing to slow them down. Nobody ever suggested that they think things through before going ahead. It never occurred to anyone that they shouldn't do "it" (whatever "it" was). Since everyone in that circle felt the same way, there was no way that someone would put the brakes on anything. There was nobody brave enough to even say it.