As I’m writing this on Thursday morning, Donald Trump has not tweeted. His Twitter silence is deafening. There’s an eerie sort of silence around the White House too – Politico, WaPo and other media outlets haven’t gotten anything from anybody on the record. Off the record, Trump staffers are scared sh-tless. They’re scared about what James Comey will do next. They’re scared that everything comes back to Mike Flynn and the Russians. They’re scared that everyone will find out the extent of Trump’s leaking to the Russians. But don’t worry, Trump White House. Your new daddy Vlad Putin has your back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow could provide a recording of the exchange between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US President Donald Trump, who is accused of sharing classified intelligence.
“If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation between Lavrov and Trump to the US Congress and Senate,” Putin said during a press conference.
I mean… if Putin wasn’t destroying America brick by brick, I might have to give a slow clap. His troll game is on point and game recognizes game. Putin’s like, “Yeah, that meeting in the Oval Office? WE WERE RECORDING IT.” And then he goes even f–king further with it, saying he’ll provide the receipts to Congress. Of course, Putin also “lashed out” at politicians who can’t just let Trump do his thing and Make Russia Great Again.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has lashed out at U.S. politicians whipping up what he described as “anti-Russian sentiment” for being either “stupid” or “dangerous.”
Speaking at a joint news conference with the visiting Italian prime minister, Putin said on Wednesday Moscow initially found debates about Russia’s meddling in U.S. politics as “funny” but said Moscow is now “concerned because it’s hard to imagine what the people who produce such nonsense can come up with next.”
Putin dismissed the U.S. politicians, whom he did not identify, as either being “stupid” or “dangerous and unscrupulous” who are wittingly “causing the damage to their own country.”
Asked what he thinks of Trump presidency, Putin said it’s up to the American people to judge but his performance can only be rated “only when he’s allowed to work at full capacity,” implying that someone is hampering Trump’s efforts.
Congrats, Republicans. After decades of calling yourselves the Foreign Policy Party and the War Party, you’ve given away America to an internet troll in Russia. And you a–holes did it for tax cuts (for the rich) and your long-standing commitment to limit women’s access to healthcare.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
But of course he does.
Putin must enjoy it so much that he owns the US thanks to Trump.
Ole Vlad is having a great time.
Yeah, you gotta give him some credit. Instead of going to war he just put a virus within the white house. Brilliant!
haha tells me there probably are tapes of every conversation any Russian Putin stooges has had a transaction with anyone on the Trump team. Odd the haven’t commented on those right?
Can you imagine the blackmail material Putin must have if his emissaries have been taping their interactions with Team Trump
Is Trump smart enough to know when he’s being blackmailed? I have doubts.
And yea they have recordings. And probably have bugs there. Or did because you just know the oval has been turned out page by page sweeping for bugs.
Don’t get too excited. If the Russian word is the ambiguous one that I suspect, it can easily mean just a written record. And of course even audio can be manipulated by gaps. Video would be the hardest to manipulate successfully but not impossible.
Jwoolman is right, they use the word stenogramma, which is a stenographic record, which is a regular practice during official meetings in Russia…in fact, this word means only a written record…
Ok. Ok. Maybe it’s a written record.
Ugh… you know Putin has video and audio every chance he gets. And I believe he takes full advantage of it.
Oh let’s not forget the speculation about footage of Drumpf at the hotel in Moscow during Miss Universe. The footage with Drumpf in the same suite where the Obamas stayed. With prostitutes pissing I don’t recall where? On his person? If true, maybe that’s where again, according to speculation, the blackmail started. Drumpf can piss alright, but better if he just pissed off and leave the WH.
The golden showers allegedly were aimed at the mattress the Obamas used during a prior visit….
Only an idiot would trust anything in the way of evidence that Putin is offering. This is the guy who provided his “evidence” that the missile that blew up a passenger plane full of people from all nations was not Russian and then claimed that the nation being attacked and invaded by Russians (Ukraine) launched the missile. He continues to lie about invading a sovereign neighboring country despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. He also continues to state that the missile that downed the plane was launched by Ukrainians defending their borders despite the fact that investigation teams from several european nations have collected irrefutable evidence that it was undeniably a Russian missile that murdered well over a couple hundred people in the plane.
I don’t think anyone is arguing with the notion that only an idiot would trust Putin. The problem is, rather, that one such idiot is living in the White House and has the nuclear codes.
This is what I think about any time people talk about Putin. He has killed people in cold blood, that should say EVERYTHING about his character and the kind of person he is.
It’s Putin, the only time he will show us the truth is when he wants to bring Donald down.
He doesn’t want to bring Drumpf down. It’s about the USA. Drumpf is a minion.
Yeah Vlad will never release the whole recordings.
why not? the Russians obv. planned to record the conversation so they were for sure smart about what to say. And they are way better at this game (especially Lavrov) than Donald the Unready who just got played bigly.
Except for Lavrov being the world’s WORST liar/actor when he feigned shock and disapproval at the firing of Comey ( after Andrea Mitchell’s question ). Truly a joke, as is the tremendous tool in the Oval Office being played by the Russians like Perlman on a Stradivarius.
Yes, Lavrov’s weird joking around about the Comey firing was actually rather creepy. It suggested a familiarity with domestic affairs that seems uncomfortable to me. Kind of supported the idea that the Russians really do own Trump and keep a close watch over their pet.
Because I think he is not done playing with Trump and wants to keep him in the WH.
I dunno. Bigly has proven he’s a loose cannon. Pence will be easier to control, just ask his wife.
Pence, who was likely aware of much of this? Who used campaign contributions to pay his mortgage, who is anti women’s health care, and who publicly stated women shouldn’t be in the military? It isn’t like Pence being in charge is a good option either. He’s sitting back waiting, but this will likely take him down too.
Putin has an open line of Intel now. And unlike Trump won’t burn that bridge on a whim. He knows the value. He’s just playing with our goverment like a cat with a wounded mouse.
Trump is not yet “allowed to work at full capacity” for the Russian government, according to Putin’s statement.
Sad.
No, really.
Just referenced this on the other thread. This could get really interesting really quick!
He really does look like Dobby.
http://www.unzcloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/putin-dobby.jpg
Keeping with our Harry Potter theme.
I cannot look at Lavrov and not see an aged Fredrik Eklund.
lol
I actually think Clapper looks more like Dobby.
Fits better, too.
A known spy “taping” the president in the Oval Office.
I don’t have words. I can’t even laugh at how putin just outplayed trump (again) and on a global scale.
I know. They taped their meeting! They taped it! It’s insane! The CLASSIFIED info that trump divulged is on tape. It’s on tape!
I mean I’m not really surprised that conversation would be taped. I’m betting that is basic protocol. It’s more a matter of his making a statement about it which is particularly troll worthy.
Luca76- That’s been the peculiarity all along since Wikileaks. It’s not unusual for governments to hack databases. But it’s extremely unusual for them to publicize the stolen data, in particular to openly push for a particular candidate in a Presidential election.
The Russians aren’t even trying to hide their actions any more. Maybe they realize Trump can’t deliver on his promise to lift sanctions now, making him useless. and are just messing with us in general or with Trump in particular.
And this is not frightening, how? Did the orange idiot know the Russians were recording the meeting? He claims not to know they were photographing him.
Right? I imagine Putin is having a really good time right now.
Looking forward to Trump’s tweets on this!
Don’t ya know they “tricked him”, just like they “tricked him” with the photographer being from TASS and not an official Kremlin photographer! (eyes rolling now!)
If we had any doubts that office was compromised with bugs before, we definitely know it is now.
My goodness. We are so screwed
Internet hugs to you, stranger. From europe. Where we have our own problems to deal with, oh my, but none of them are orange and retarded. I am so incredibly sorry for the shit that you are currently going through. On a positive note: I don’t think this ridiculous play will go on for much longer. They have to start an impeachment eventually. *hug*
Impeachment will not happen until 2018. We really need to let that fantasy go for now and focus on the upcoming mid-terms.
Thanks stranger. Keep it strong across the way. I may need to move
I agree Kitten there are no good republicans to begin impeachment. Problem is I want Trump in long enough to take down Pence, Ryan and McConnell. And the racist Sessions. Then he can go.
Midterms are what we need. GOP members are going to be fired…but more than mditerms we need to focus on local elections. Dems are notoriously lazy with local elections which is why red members control every facet of the government. We need to begin flipping everything from the bottom up
Right Kitten! Vote them out. They have supported him since the very beginning. He has been delusional & incompetent since the beginning, even when the Russian stuff came up in the summer. Vote them out in 2018.
Kitten, my fear is that 2018 is also a fantasy. Republicans have enough power now to gerrymander and suppress votes to insure certain victory in 2018. They are not afraid of losing, at all. With no term limits, this nightmare may never end. We have to hustle to get people registered and to the polls!
Are all of you reading Mike Farb on twitter? Terrifying crap about the Republican control of our vote through nefarious means.
Impeachment is a long process and requires more solid Congressional resolve than exists right now. As long as Congress is controlled by Republicans, it’s unlikely. The next chance to change the Party in control is November 2018 (taking office in January 2019). But Americans often ignore the mod-term elections. Plus we will have the same problems with voter suppression and doubts about the validity of the vote, since few people are taking the vulnerability of those damned machines seriously.
I’m hoping this is resolved much sooner by persuading Trump to resign. He’s just getting more obviously unstable and paranoid by the minute. His recent commencement address to the Coast Guard Academy degenerated into a “the press are against me” self-defense.
If they let Trump go abroad as planned, he could have a real meltdown any time and it will be very difficult to cover it up. I don’t think even his daughter has a calming effect on him anymore. I wonder if they are planning to sedate him or are trying that now. He does not do well under stress. The White House is leaking more than ever because people there are really afraid of what they are seeing – a President heading toward complete psychological breakdown, raging all the way.
This is Vlad’s way of telling his b-tch (Trump) that he’s in charge. It’s subtle blackmail. Trump already admitted it. The tape Putin has is probably even more damaging. Vladdy is just reminding him.
I agree!!!!!
Oh and as if they’d hand over undoctored tape. They could easily edit the tape to sound however they want.
I think this is the most accurate explanation of why Putin revealed this.
Wonder if Vlad’s recording will have an 18 minute gap?
It will be edited to perfection..then the editor will disappear
Yep
THIS. Sigh.
LOL I should have read one comment down before posting! My thoughts exactly
And when will America get rid of Trump, the traitor?
Simplified: The House draws up articles of impeachment, the trial is held by the Senate. As both the House and the Senate are controlled by Republicans nothing like impeachment is going to happen unless they feel their control over Congress is in danger. And perhaps not even then. Party over country and all that.
I’ll also note that it took a long long time for Republicans to finally accept that Nixon had to go, and that was when Republicans were more sane.
Dear USA, I have a doctored recording I can sell you real cheap. Love, Vlad.
PS There is also this bridge I can sell you, in a place called Brookleen
Didn’t Russia use to be our enemy? At what point did Republicans decide to roll over and play dead about Trump cooperating with Putin – who is a terrifying guy? Trump has been gladhanding all kinds of creepy leaders while pissing off our longstanding allies. Israel is NOT going to like his latest stunt. And he just made the US more dangerous, not safer. Sh*thead.
I think Trump’s ignorance and that of his voters created this “Russia’s not so bad” climate that we’re witnessing. People who haven’t paid attention to history and want to “make America great again” based on the fear and platitudes fed to them by the propaganda they consume. Plus Russians are white. JMO.
Well, more than 140 nationalities live in Russia, so, to be precise, Russians – citizens of Russia – are not necessarily white.
It’s probably more accurate to say that Russia isn’t considered part of the “strange” and “mysterious” Orient. The nationality may contain mixed ethnicities, but much of its cultural norms as Americans know it reflect Euro-centric ideas and appearances.
Another Nina – most Americans are not aware of the tremendous ethnic and religious and linguistic diversity in Russia. They think of Moscow and the current leadership, who look white to them.
Jwoolman – and on top of that roughly 30 pct of the population of Moscow consists of former citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan, there is a solid Armenian diaspora as well as high representation of Caucasian republics…and I would not be so sure about Euro-centric ideas either…
Yes, Moscow itself is quite diverse now.
But the American impression still seems to be “white” and “European”, even though Russia has followed its own path for many centuries and the current diversity you mention has an important effect also.
I don’t disagree, and should have clarified that I meant that “white” is likely Trump supporters’ idea of Russia, vs the “more menacing Islamic threat” coming from Syria, etc.
Sh*t’s unraveling. The long woooosh you hear is Orange Dump in free-fall.
I’m going to leave this link here (I hope that’s allowed):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdZ-RbL7pmw
It’s a dutch news doc on Trump’s business ties to the mob and other nefarious dealings. It’s crazy to see these things laid out although I can’t speak to the source’s bias as I’m unfamiliar with it.
I saw both parts this weekend – and it was shocking!
The human trafficking part made me feel sick and left me wondering just how far off the ‘Trump with a prostitute in the Obama suite’ really was.
the human trafficking, and his close ties to the guy who owns the biggest blood diamond mine (that was in part 2 I think) – and Jared’s funding of west bank settlements while he is being put in charge of “peace in the middle east” is kind of horrifying. If you havent seen both parts, do it. They are equally disturbing 🙁
absolutely horrifying to think of all the abuse happening in those mines. It almost feels like the government corruption via Western corporations that has long plagued Africa (and a lot of South America) is infecting closer to the root now.
Brazil is (from my perspective at least) in the throws of the biggest corporate coup of all time. It’s hard not to see a lot of Trumpian malarkey in all of that mess, a sort of global vulnerability in the global market. Certainly time for a reckoning over the flaws that are leading to a global corporate tyranny.
Scary times indeed.
Sometimes I still just can’t even believe this is happening, can’t believe that this is our country now, can’t believe that we wake up every day to yet more madness like this. I feel so disheartened at the fact that there are some people who still support the Orange Emperor.
It’s probably just the area where I live, but some days it feels like it’s not just “some people.” It feels like everyone. Everyone around me thinks he’s doing a GREAT job! It’s disgusting and disheartening. I have to come here to gain a little sanity.
I really still don’t understand how this is being allowed to happen, how is this happening? How is Trump an actual thing? I still don’t understand this whole thing…I really really don’t understand. So basically Putin is like his handler?-it makes no sense.
I wouldn’t be surprised me if Kislyak, the Chief Spy left a few bugs amongst the potted plants in the Oval Office. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they were still there. SMDH
The end to this nightmare is near, everyone.
Not only is this hilariously embarrassing —- embarrassingly hilarious? — but it just makes you wonder- why would Putin say that. It obviously embarrasses Trump and the US on the global scale (big goal, bring us down, period- loss of power and credibility) but it also could be a great way to hold Trump for ransom. “Let me advise you on relations, or I release the tape of you sounding like Baldwin”, so to say. Or?
I think Trump made Putin promises about sanctions, that oil project, backing Assaud (oil again) and now that everyone is watching Trump is trying to back out.
If Putin can’t get what was likely offered, he’ll settle for throwing gasoline onto the current superpower in hopes that Russia will rise from the ashes…
It’s all about distraction from Putin’s threats against his neighbors and the situation in Ukraine especially. He doesn’t really want to take over the US any more than we have ever realistically wanted to take over Russian or the old USSR. Too big, too ornery, not worth the trouble in both cases. But Putin does benefit from a distracted US government.
And Trump is a yuuuuge distraction. He’s brought all sorts of inconvenient things (from Putin’s viewpoint) to a standstill both deliberately and accidentally. If Europe just doesn’t rely on the US, they can handle Putin. But it’s hard to re-orient thinking to disregard any support from the US, since that’s been the status quo since WWII. Everything is so chaotic here right now and is likely to remain so for an indefinite period.
Even if Trump resigns, we still will have President Pence, who isn’t mentally unstable but isn’t too bright and is just as uninterested in climate change work as Trump and also believes the planet is only six thousand years old…. Plus his religious beliefs also welcome conflict in the Middle East as a sign of the Second Coming of their rather violent Jesus, so I would be careful assuming Pence will sincerely work for peace in that area. He will support Israel no matter what their government does, though, since Israel has to exist in order to be the first destroyed in the prelude to the Rapture.
This is Putin throwing Bigly boy under the bus in order to protect Russian interests.
Did he really say recording? Is there any way this was translated muddily or that the Russian word can mean something other than an actual recording? I mean … whatever happens next can’t be good. If there’s a recording, it doesn’t even matter what’s on it. The prez was taped in the Oval. If it’s just a memo, that’s no proof. And who the eff would even believe Putin? Does he have anything at all or is he just having a laugh? This can’t possibly end well.
Per the Telegraph, he clarified and said it was a “transcript,” not a “recording.”
In the Uk press it’s being reported as a transcript.
Ah, now this story makes more sense. I’m sure mixing up “recording” and “transcript” was an innocent mistake. /s
The word Zapis’ actually can be used to describe an audio recording or video recording or transcript. Putin meant stenogramma, because otherwise they use the word audiozapis’ or videozapis’. If it just says zapis’ , it’s a transcript…looks like it got lost in translation…
He said “stenogramma”, which is a stenographic record, which can only be in a written form…it’seems a regular practice…
There’s a Russian word that is very vague (cognate for the English word registration) which can mean written record as well as automatic or manual recording by any kind of machine or device (in my work, by such things as spectrometers or photomultipliers, for example, sometimes we would even just say detection in techie talk). It’s a royal pain translating it sufficiently vaguely when I’m not sure what process was used in techie translation at least. I’m not familiar with how it is used in ordinary language and don’t know if that’s what was used here, but I would expect it could be used for audio video recording as well as by pen and paper.
The English verb “to record” and noun “record” are actually just as ambiguous. You record data in a lab notebook using a pen, record a conversation on a tape recorder or with a camera, etc.
From the way the U.K. Press is reporting it, this might just be a detailed written memo. But we use transcript to mean something written taken from audio or video, so I really don’t know what Putin meant.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone at the meeting was recording audio, just to be sure to have an exact record of what was said. I would expect this as normal practice for both the Americans and the Russians rather than as nefarious.
Another Nina gave the actual Russian word used (zapis’) and definitely that’s another ambiguous word that can mean just a written record (including handwritten, such as lab reports pre-computer) as well as something recorded by machine. In techie work, it’s even used just to talk about writing an equation. (The root of the word is the Russian for writing.) I only see it as plain “zapis”” in my purely technical work, but Another Nina’s suggestion that a more specific form would have been used if an audio recording or video was meant makes a lot of sense to me.
Wow. I don’t know what else to say.
As a descendant of White Russians, I can say with some authority:
Never
Trust
Russians
Mmmmmmmm White Russian. I could use one right now. Is it too early to start drinking hard liquor?
It is always 5 o’clock somewhere
As a descendent of families from a tiny Baltic country, I would concur.
A quick reminder that Bolshevic revolution finally succeeded only because of the help of Latvian military forces)…
Yeah and Stalin was from Georgia.
I’m really confused as to why, say, antisemitism, is a crime, and russo phobia is a cute topic for discussion? I’m asking it as a descendant of White and Red Russians as well as citizens of Baltic states…
This isn’t about Russians as people but rather about the Russian government. Same thing when distinguishing between American citizens and the US government. Both our governments have very bad habits going back centuries….
@Another Nina
Russian government has always fought for their “interests” with the attitude “all is fair if it is for our own good”. Even if it damages the russian people themselves. Like killing their own people with a bomb in an apartment building to have a “justification” to start war with Chechnya again.
So, I would say russophobia is just as cute as the russian government raping and pillaging all their neighbouring countries all through history.
What country do you live in, Nina?
I live in one of the Baltic states and half of my family was executed for the reasons of ethnic cleansing (in their own home country) once the russians occupied us in world war 2.
Before WW2 we had 5 % of you, when the occupation ended, we had 35%
The history books during soviet union were full of lies. People disappeared and were shipped off to concentration camps way bigger that Hitlers Germany ever had.
The difference is, German government has acknowledged their actions, and apologized for it, payed reparations etc. but the Russian one never will and Putin is even smug about it in the face of irrevocable evidence.
That will make you a tiny bit suspicious when it comes to any present or future dealings with our “great and cultured Russian friends who always and only mean well”
I could be typing a whole essay about executions of my family by various governments in various countries (I happen to be Jewish and cossack and Russian and Latvian and Danish, etc. And my family (and me) lived in many countries) …But what for? To provoke more hatred? Do you distinguish between nation and political regime? Whom did I bang-bang in your country, klo? I would say that russo phobia is as repulsive as racism or antisemitism
The only point of my “essay” was that you know damn well why “russophobia” exists.
What you call russophobia is in my opinion just healthy fear for an active and uncontrollable aggressor. (see #ukraine #crimea)
But we can always agree to disagree. You are obviously an intelligent person and well capable of that.
Another Nina – you’re making a really good point. I’ve been torn myself since at least Americans aren’t demonizing Russians so much now, as was used as an excuse for the insanity called the Cold War that was a shadow over my own childhood. (The moral debate of the day was if it was moral to shoot your neighbor for trying to get into your fallout shelter, and the usual answer was “yes”.) I’ve talked with Americans who wanted to just nuke the entire Soviet Union because they were that afraid of every man, woman, and child there. I’ve seen the same demonization of Vietnamese (and the same desire to nuke them all) and now Muslims.
So although the kindlier attitude toward Russians as regular people is welcome, we still have the problem of the Russian government’s bad behavior. People tend to be sloppy and say “the Americans” and “the Russians” when they really mean the governments, although I would also argue that we are all responsible for what our governments think they can get away with. But the ones primarily responsible are the ones with the actual direct power. Putin himself is the major problem at the moment, along with his best buds. Most Russians, like most Americans, are paying most attention to dealing with their own personal problems and families and workplaces. People often don’t have a lot of energy left over to try to deal with the sins of their governments.
The irony of course is all the times the US government has messed up other countries by the same kind of pre-computer meddling. For example, the 1954 CIA coup in Guatemala (all because the elected president was serious about land reform to deal with hungry Guatemalans) resulted in decades of an oppressive military government. There are many other examples of such long-term misery caused by the US government by various types of interference, including extensive disinformation campaigns. But is the first time to my knowledge that we Americans have directly experienced the major effects of being on the receiving end of successful meddling by a foreign government. We’ve occasionally had scandals about candidates illegally receiving funds from foreign sources, but nothing this extensive.
Computers and the internet really made it possible in our case – Putin could use the net as a tool, which worked because so many of us depend on the net for information. I don’t recall ever before seeing so many obvious paid trolls in political discussions online, for example. I had seen Scientology do this and occasionally celebrities (especially those in legal trouble like Lindsay Lohan for a while, when she was in her constant courtroom phase and trying to smear the jewelers who objected to her theft). But the political trolls seemed new to me. And quite a few did sound as though their native language was not English. Their pattern was to pretend they were just ordinary Americans who happened to see or hear some disturbing thing and were innocently asking about it, then they would launch into Breitbart-like standard talking points.
@jwoolman all in all – what is everyday for the spider, is chaos for the fly. In that respect, bigger countries like the US and Russia are similar in a way – a conflict with a smaller country will not affect them that much, but for the smaller countries those conflicts are often a matter of life and death.
So of course, the big countries /nations dont understand what the big deal is when they bully the small ones. Because it doesnt really affect themselves.
And they dont even understand why those small countries/nations exist, because the small ones seem too ridiculous to even exist.
In a way Trump is a good president (haha) because he represents the most naive, misogynistic, dumb thoughts of the people in the US. He is a president who shows his own country its ass. It is funny as hell but also terrifying.
Klo- well said about spiders and flies. I think you also have a good point about Trump exposing our not-so-wonderful side. I was rather startled myself at how many people were ok with how he talked and acted. Scary, actually.
I know that if we survive all this, I certainly will bring up how it felt to have our elections manipulated by a foreign government when complaining about the spidery US government’s similar actions against all the little flies.
Klo — Baltic states are currently members of European Union and NATO, so all conversations about helplessness of small states and Russian threat seem to be hypocritical at this point. In retrospect, Lithuania terrorised Russia for about three centuries (was it back in the 17th century and earlier..?) but believe it or not, I don’t hold it against you:) The history of humankind is oozing with wars and there is not much I can change about past. Neither you nor I chose the country to be born it, we both seem to love our respective homeland (plural in my case), so hopefully there is more to agree on than to disagree.
jwoolman– I really appreciate your thoughtful comments! They provide the prospective I never thought of…
@AnotherNina
Baltic states is not a country, but a region with 3 completely different nationalities and languages. I am not Lithuanian btw 🙂
I think the bigger hypocrisy here would be to deny that the main reason my country is in the NATO and European union at all is to protect itself from Russia.
If we would not belong to these unions, events like Crimea would be happening here, now.
Russia actually attempted to overthrow our government just 10 years ago by organizing pro-russia riots and cyber attacks, flying out russian “diplomats” to my country who literally demanded the change of our government (we disagreed lol)
AND we WERE a member of both EU and NATO during that time.
So keep on kidding yourself.
But of course, we are both human beings and I would gladly discuss all of this with you over a beer.
And if you like this recording, dear little US congresspeople, I can also offer you the following recordings: all Trump conversations with Comey, Ivanka ordering the Syrian airstrike; all Trump conversations with Sessions about shutting down the FBI investigation; Trump discussions on how to lock the media out of the White House press room, except for Fox; Trump’s reaction to Tom Brady skipping the Patriots’ White House visit; and many, many more. I can get it for you wholesale. Just call me at 1-800-Vladtape
Tweetledumb’s official tweeter is probably hiding, while Tweetledumb is yelling at TVs, portraits and anything else in his path.
The puppet is not a bright, capable person. Yet he thinks he’s the smartest, bigliest person ever. It’s always someone else’s fault when something goes wrong. Even his friends are now giving interviews saying this. The gig is about up.
They definitely confiscated the unsecured Android phone from which he tweet-vomits all day long.
Alas, President Tweeter figured out how to access his Twitter account on the new phone. Or at least paid somebody to set it up for him.
When will the GOP say enough is enough? Now Putin is claiming to have tapes of the conversation between Trump and the Russians, and how do we know that he didn’t edit the tape? And people defending Trump last night and this morning said that it was too early to talk about impeachment and obstruction of justice.
That’s a problem with any recording nowadays. With digital technology especially, it is much harder to verify tampering than with old-fashioned spliced tape, even when the sliced tape was re-recorded on a fresh tape. With photoshop and its video equivalent, we can no longer say seeing is believing. It’s a huge shift and I don’t think we have figured out entirely how to deal with it.
Can someone please PLEASE explain to me how this is not impeachable??? The Russians were taping in the Oval Office and we are still here wondering how much further Putin and his minion Trumpy are going to take this? All the while our government is watching this happen. Like, are we witnessing the end of the United States here? The sense of panic I feel right now is irrational, but I can’t help it!!
It’s ALL impeachable. All of it. The problem is a republican controlled Congress which will NOT impeach. If they really cared at all about the constituents who elected them, they would have impeached months ago.
If the Congress doesn’t act towards impeachment, then what? There is no other authority that could do that? I am very curious.
To my knowledge, that’s it. The only way for the people to have their say is to vote out those unwilling to act and vote in people who are willing to do their d*** jobs.
There are numerous grounds for impeachment, starting with the emoluments clause, which he violated on day one. Putin owns McConnell and Ryan is too obsessed with his self-proclaimed “mandate” to care. People need to get to Ryan. Protests in the House balcony, sit-ins at his Office, protests outside his home
Ryan will start salivating for his chance at the OO once the investigations prove damning to the senate. Pence was the head of the transition team, and therefore had to know about Flynn. He’s toast as much as tRump.
Ryan will play it cool until the temperature is too high, then he will step up in a self- righteous, Ayn Rand @ss-licking cloud of stink and become the next POTUS.
Presidents have been committing impeachable offenses with no consequence for decades. Back in the 1980s, I asked my Congressman why Reagan wasn’t impeached for the Grenada invasion, which bypassed Congressional authority to declare war. He said that it was an impeachable offense, but there simply was no will to impeach in the Congress. Our Constitutional safeguard of requiring Congressional approval for war has been eroded for a long time simply because Congress has allowed it to be, allowing Presidents to wage undeclared wars and even take over countries without Congressional approval. Use it or lose it, basically.
Same thing happens with frequent violations of the Bill of Rights. People allow those because they are more afraid of terrorists or protesters or drug dealers or whatever excuse is made than they are of losing those basic protections against tyranny. Most people don’t realize what they have lost until they become the victims themselves.
thanks that was an interesting read
So it’s 9:14am and Trump hasn’t tweeted. He usually unleashes his word vomit around 7am, so I’m wondering what he’s feeling this morning.
They probably hid his phone again.
What Putin is doing is really genius: Helping an idiot become president only to use his stupidity and the even more stupid loyalty of the Republican party to destroy the USA. Congrats American voters, you did a great job! Next time better think what only thinking of your own benefits (“America first!”) will actually do to you and your country.
I think you about summed it up. I don’t know if my anger will ever diminish.
tRump’s 30% base think it is an unjustified witch hunt. They’ll never learn.
I would say they only care about money and businesses, same as most of Trump’s Cabinet.
It’s important to remember that even though the Russian government diligently tried to confuse things with disinformation and targeted Wikileaking, it worked only because people liked being entertained by Trump , approved of his atrocious attacks on whole groups of people, and did not exercise their brains to see that he was consistently lying and manipulating their emotions. Plus they were plain selfish, not giving a damn about anyone other than themselves.
So the real villains are American voters.
I wonder who will do the press briefing today?
I heard the presser today is canceled.
When I read this on Twitter, I thought : “that’s just trolling”
I mean they have the US Presidency on its knees, caused a constitutional crisis and they loved it.
Trump’s xenophobic, islamophobic speech, the fact he openly bragged about sexually assaulting women, his questionable business deals, the obvious and constant lying weren’t enough for the Republican party to stop supporting Trump, I hope this is finally where they draw the line.
Good Lord. Enough!!
Drop the pee pee tape, schedule Comey’s public hearing and let’s get this hellbeast out of the White House.
How long has it been? Like 118 days? We can’t go on like this. The whole world wants a divorce. Bigly Smalls is not just a bad President, he’s a bad person. He’s intellectually, morally, ethically and spiritually bankrupt. Empty as they come…
Ol Vladdy, well played, gotta say you win the trolling game. No wonder Toddler Trump and his band of morons are scared shitless- Putin will f them
Up and leave them for dead. I hope it happens!
Putin is now denying that they were passed classified intel – which is very sketchy as Bigly boy has already very publicly admitted to it. The accusations are hugely embarrassing for the Russians – Putin dream of having a friendly US President who helps to get NATO to relax their sanctions is going up in smoke. A lot is riding on Bigly’s visit to NATO next week, if he embarrasses the Russians again, Putin will have no choice but to pull the rug from under him. The Russian economy NEEDS NATO to relax the sanctions.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/17/vladimir-putin-ready-provide-record-donald-trumps-meeting-russian/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/putin-trump-classified-information_us_591c3614e4b041db8965aacf?tnp&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Putin’s statement concerning a recording of that meeting with Trump was a joke. Yep, plainly a joke.
The revelations are hugely embarassing for Trump who desparately tried to paint himself as a war monger and enemy of Russia.
Putin’s dream of having friendly relationships with the US have turned into reality or why else would Russian officials and Trump meet in the White House and discuss sensitive issues like ISIS and the war in Syria in which both Russia and the US are involved!
If Nato doesn’t lift sanctions on Russia then Europeans will start disliking the USA because a lot of European trade is with Russia. The USA does barely have any trade with Russia. So the sanctions are harming to Europe and Russia.
So, I heard this on a radio interview with some intelligence expert and you can take it FWIW and it’s only cold comfort……This guy suggested that the intelligence community world-wide actually has had Trump’s number from the get go. They would be have been very circumspect with the US for some time because of it. It’s been thought that the information shared came from Israeli sources and this expert singled them out in particular for cagey intelligence manoeuvres and thought it was even possible that they were using/testing Trump.
I suspected this, that this may have been a ‘let’s see what he does’. And know they’ve confirmed that he can’t be trusted with anything.
Yes, you’re right. This expert went further to say that perhaps in light of this situation, they might have new leverage over Trump and he would “owe them.”
I very much hope this is true. Yesterday the UK media was all about how the informants were likely already dead, and it was horrible to think about that scenario.
And therein lies the risk of electing a completely idiot to lead your country.
maybe it’s a lesson to iq test all candidates as opposed to that country-of-birth stipulation.
For real. Is the point about what piece of soil an American was born on more crucial to the job than whether a candidate can both read AND comprehend the constitution?
Much less a newspaper, much less the word “classified”…
Dear America:
Start protecting the witnesses.
Dear America,
when Putin said he had an audiotape of a White House meeting …. that was a joke.
Putin looks absolutely gleeful about how he messed around with the US election. It all turned out better than his wildest dreams.
“Congrats, Republicans. After decades of calling yourselves the Foreign Policy Party and the War Party, you’ve given away America to an internet troll in Russia. And you a–holes did it for tax cuts (for the rich) and your long-standing commitment to limit women’s access to healthcare.”
Well said. Republicans don’t care about the working class and they certainly don’t care about women. I just wish people would realize that. Watching these people who support them, it’s like watching kids try to get the popular kids in school to like them. The popular kids will pretend you are their friend as long as you have something they want. As soon as you turn your back though, they’re ridiculing you.
Putin made a joke about having a recording of that meeting with Trump and Russian officials.
On everything else in your post I do heartily agree.
Putin made a joke.
He satirized that the US media didn’t report that Trump met the Russians but that the Russian media did. Exaggeration is an element of satire. So saying that Russia could provide not just pictures and reports but also an audiotape…. It is an exaggeration.
Putin does often make jokes. Some of them are quite good. And often they are simply there to lighten the mood and sometimes they aren’t politically correct.
go to youtube and seare “Putin jokes”
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhZOi2y75SM