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bucolic_frolic

bucolic_frolic's Journal
bucolic_frolic's Journal
June 4, 2018

Katy Tur Blows Up Trump's 4 Point Strategy For Surviving The Russia Investigation

https://www.politicususa.com/2018/06/04/katy-tur-blows-up-trumps-4-point-strategy-for-surviving-the-russia-investigation.html



Point two, discredit the investigation. Trump has tweeted about the investigation and that it is a witch hunt specifically 52 times. This morning he tried to again claim the investigators are biased. Quote, the never-ending witch hunt led by 13 very angry and conflicted Democrats and others continues into the mid-terms.”

Point three. Muddy the waters to confuse the public. Like this. Paul manafort came into the campaign very late, Trump says, and was with us for a short period of time. Again, not true!

…..

Finally, point four, paint Donald Trump the victim. Trump blamed the FBI for not warning him about his campaign chairman. Quote, we should have been told that Comey and the boys were doing a number on him and he wouldn’t have been hired.” Huh. So our big question today — if Donald Trump is innocent, why is he doing everything he can to take down the investigation?

Trump is trying to confuse enough people, or create just enough doubt to keep himself in office. It is a strategy that would have had zero chance of success in another era, but Trump has Fox News on his side, and they are endlessly pumping out propaganda to 2-3 million diehard Trump supporters. The Trump strategy is about creating distraction, confusion, and doubt. It is the same approach that he used during the 2016 election. The Mueller investigation has replaced Hillary Clinton, but the tactics are the same.

____________________________

Politicus has earned its credibility these many months, and Katy Tur really nails this one.
June 4, 2018

Frum, Frum, Frum, Frum .....

Quite a number of people are comparing President Trump's claim of a right to self-pardon to George III. In fact, Trump is asserting a much much greater power than George III ever imagined - a power for which Charles I lost his head and James II lost his throne ... more ...

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1003691119404707840

The Stuart monarchs asserted a "dispensing power" that permitted them to absolve individual subjects of the duty to comply with laws.

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1003691450427740160

This "dispensing power" was grievance number 6 in the famous Nineteen Propositions adopted by Parliament in 1642, leading to outright civil war.

June 4, 2018

Trump/Russia: Follow the Money

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/trumprussia:-follow-the-money/9833588

It's the story of the century: The US President and his connections to Russia.

In a Four Corners special series, award winning investigative reporter Sarah Ferguson follows the spies and the money trail from Washington, to London, to Moscow.

In this three-part series, Four Corners delivers a riveting account of the allegations and evidence from the characters central to the drama that has gripped the world.

A three-part investigative special series reported and presented by Sarah Ferguson, begins Monday 4th June at 8.30pm. It is replayed on Tuesday 5th June at 1.00pm and Wednesday 6th at 11.20pm. It can also be seen on ABC NEWS channel on Saturday at 8.10pm AEST, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/trumprussia:-follow-the-money/9833588
May 27, 2018

Trump's land of delusion: Disregard the sycophants; the wheels are coming off, if they were ever on

Trump’s land of delusion: Disregard the sycophants; the wheels are coming off, if they were ever on

Rick Wilson

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/trump-land-delusion-article-1.4010243

~snip~

The denials from Team Trump that they have anything to do with Russia, their assertions that they have no business in Russia, didn't collude with Russia, didn't coordinate with Russia, never borrowed money from Russians, didn't accept dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russia, don't know any Russians, have never met any Russians and have never heard of the country of Russia ring more hollow with every revelation.

~snip~

Trump's diplomatic pratfall on North Korea forced a pullout from the summit he had sold as the best thing since Trump University, and came just weeks after his breathless followers demanded that the Nobel Institute give Trump the Peace Prize. They did everything but fuel up Air Force One for a trip to Oslo, believing the deal to strip North Korea of its nuclear arsenal and intercontinental ballistic missiles to be done (Trump had basically tweeted as much), with nothing left to do but raise a champagne toast in Singapore.

Almost no one in the diplomatic, military or intelligence community believed for a moment that Kim Jong Un would fulfill his promises; Kim is a con man, conning a con man. Trump never understood that he is the mark in this con game, played by Kim with a helpful assist from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

~snip~

No matter how much he spins it, no matter how many cute brand names and catchphrases he tries to jam into the media flow, at his core, Donald Trump is a man in a rising sea of legal peril, political risk and catastrophic failures. This explains his increasingly erratic behavior and dangerous efforts to corrupt the special counsel process, the Justice Department, and American institutions more broadly.

May 26, 2018

James Clapper Russia Assessment Calls Donald Trump Legitimacy Into Question Rachel Maddow MSNBC



Also Sen. Jeff Flake's Harvard Speech, Paul Wood's January 2017 article on, essentially, collusion, Ukraine meeting with Trump that Cohen arranged.
May 24, 2018

Bipartisan U.S. election probe briefing expected in June: White House

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of congressional leaders will receive a briefing on the FBI probe into Russian election meddling, likely in early June, the White House said on Wednesday, following one planned for Thursday to which no Democrats were invited.

The briefing for the leaders from the Senate and House of Representatives, known as the Gang of 8, would take place after the Memorial Day congressional recess, White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement.

Two Republican lawmakers, and no Democrats, are expected to attend the Thursday meeting to review classified information relating to U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion the FBI might have used an informant to gather information on his 2016 election campaign.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has called the plan to review classified information highly inappropriate and said such a meeting must include Democrats as a “check on the disturbing tendency of the president’s allies to distort facts and undermine the investigation and the people conducting it.”

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-congress/bipartisan-u-s-election-probe-briefing-expected-in-june-white-house-idUSKCN1IP001?il=0



It gets worse from there, though the article does place the onus on Trump for saying a spy may have been implanted in his campaign for "political purposes". Depends on whether you think espionage is no big deal or not.
May 22, 2018

Lawrence: DOJ Adapts Against President Donald Trump Attacks The Last Word MSNBC



"At some point, someone's going to have to fight." - David Frum
May 19, 2018

Donald Trump Toys With Abuse Of Office In Beef Against Washington Post Rachel Maddow MSNBC



Nixon weaponizing the IRS. Audits for political reasons. Political enemies list. Nixon hates the LA Times, directs IRS audits of the owners' tax returns looking for illegal immigrant employees, also used Immigration and Naturalization Service. Attorney General John Mitchell signed off on it for Nixon. This was the basis for Article 2 of Impeachment case against Nixon.
May 10, 2018

The Chickens, the Chickens, the Nunes Chickens are coming home to roost!

https://twitter.com/funder/status/994637881753919488

BREAKING: A GOP Hill staffer just told me she was instructed today to keep her distance from Devin Nunes, his staff and the GOP House Intel Cmte staff, because it looks like they are targets "of multiple ongoing investigations by Special Counsel Mueller's office/FBI and the DoJ."

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