If it is grounds for slander, the president gets a ton of deference from the courts in terms of scheduling, its likely that he could delay the trial until after he leaves office. Plus, Comey does not strike me as the kind of guy to sue over that.
4 Likes
I had this tremendous urge to make myself feel angry, perplexed, and sickened to the core of my being… so I read the two Newsweek articles.
It worked.
24 Likes
I read something recently that a Russian journalist said in an interview something to the effect of : Putin’s plan was to have Hillary win and afterwards discovery of the Russian interference in voting would discredit the election. According to this Russian journalist Putin never thought Trump would actually win.
I’ll dig around for the article and post when I find it. Who knows if real but it does line up with 45’s assertions that the Dems ‘should have won’.
Edit:
Mikhail Fishman
The vision of Trump is basically shaped by the Kremlin and their propaganda machine — that’s what they do. During the election campaign, Trump was depicted not as an underdog but as an honest representative of the American people who was being mistreated by the establishment elites and other evil forces in Washington.
Sean Illing
The Kremlin knew that to be bullshit, right? This was pure propaganda, not sincere reporting, and it was aimed at damaging Hillary Clinton.
Mikhail Fishman
Of course. All of it was aimed at damaging Hillary Clinton. Putin expected Trump to lose, but the prospect of a Clinton victory terrified him, and he did everything possible to undermine her.
Sean Illing
Why was he so afraid of a Clinton victory?
Mikhail Fishman
Because he knew that would mean an extension of Obama’s harsh orientation to Russia, perhaps even more aggressive than Obama. Putin has experienced some difficult years since his 2014 invasion of Crimea, but he didn’t expect this level of isolation. He saw — and sees — Trump as an opportunity to change the dynamic.
(As always take this report with a grain of salt.)
18 Likes
Or the depth of depravity and/or self-delusional state of the people who voted for him (and are backing him still).
11 Likes
To believe that the republican party is doing lasting damage to itself is sad and dangerously off track. The money power and just plain evil that has become the republican party will not die. It represents the cardinal evils of greed, gluttony, lust, vice, envy, sloth and wrath. I’m not remotely a bible whacker but these evils are so blatantly represented in the modern gop and especially in trump itself that to think any puny amount of truth telling by one person will matter is delusional. trump will be brought down only by a concerted, coordinated effort of presenting the gop’s crimes so often and so loud that bit drowns out their noise. It will take truth so blatant and powerful that it opens the braindead eyes of some of his minions. Whether that kind of truth can be generated and maintained is going to be a real trick. I would rather have the task of teaching a rattlesnake empathy for it’s victims.
16 Likes
I agree. I also think colluding with Russia was part of it - Russia gave him money (or forgave his loans) in exchange for a promise to not voluntarily leave the race. He figured he would eventually lose and get to keep the russian money and nobody would care because nobody investigates someone who loses an election.
5 Likes
Compared to everything else they have to do mental gymnastics around him? Pretty easy. Something like:
We were down in the polls. Everyone said Hillary had the election in the bag. We were the underdog and we fought hard and beat the big bad favorite to win.
4 Likes
So Trump admits he shouldn’t have won.
Paul Ryan infers that Trump is too incompetent to be President with the “he just didn’t know any better” defense (which also infers that Trump has zero ethical compass).
Trump says he’s completely vindicated by testimony from someone he also says is lying.
Comey is accused of “leaking” non-classified material when he was no longer under government employ.
Sarah Huckabee-Sanders has to vehemently state that Trump not a liar (and this is considered a “good day”).
I just can’t even anymore.
12 Likes
It’s not that lying before the Congress is usually subject to prosecution, anyway. I mean, James Clapper anyone?
5 Likes
You’re right of course. In the inward-looking, delusional and insane world of the idiot with nail-fungus hair, there would be no actual concept of lying.
3 Likes
See also: DeVos, Tillerson, and Sessions who lied in their confirmation hearings, were called out on it, and were confirmed anyway.
22 Likes
Are you sure of that? Am I remembering this incorrectly: Leading right up to November, Trump had loudly declared over and over again that if he lost the election, it would have been due to voter fraud. That is… he was the one who should win… not “the Dems”.
10 Likes
That’s just for the bonehead base who only need to hear any kind of excuse; silence would have inferred a hint of guilt.
5 Likes
If Congress and the Department of Justice are both run by the same party, and if the lie you tell is not the lie they want you to tell, then lying to Congress could be dangerous.
Otherwise, not a big deal.
6 Likes
Yes. The central goal of Putin’s multifaceted campaign of money, hacking, espionage and disinformation/propaganda has been to discredit the shared values and institutions underlying the Western liberal democracies. It’s an understandable goal for a right-wing authoritarian nationalist, as anything that weakens the unity and confidence of the EU and NATO only serves to give room for the Russkiy Mir concept to expand its influence and territory westward.
Anything beyond that has been a bonus, and the result of the 2016 U.S. election was a big one all on its own.
[I’ll sit back now and wait for someone to roll out the lazy and ignorant “Red Scare” and “McCarthyism” memes]
13 Likes
Right now Trump says he is 100% willing to testify.
I bet that number will come down sharply if/when he is asked to testify.
Like down to 0%
23 Likes
The mental gymnastics I’ve seen as of late from the Trumpkins to justify The Conversation with Comey are just unreal. From Chris Christie saying how it’s just the “New York way” to Ryan saying, “he’s still new you guys!” just ignores some really basic things that you don’t need to be a politician to realize.
I’ll buy that perhaps Trump’s moral compass is so broken that he didn’t realize having 1:1 discussions with the head of the FBI is inappropriate. But him shooing off his minions to have a private chat is extremely suspect to me. You don’t send your people away if you’re just expressing hope (versus a thinly veiled “ask”) that your comrade gets exonerated.
Then the whole “Trump wasn’t under investigation!” ignores that while he may not have personally been under investigation at the time for the wrongdoing doesn’t mean he wasn’t deeply involved in some extremely shady goings on. As a “successful businessman” Trump should realize that major scandals often float up to the top.
12 Likes
I mean…
8 Likes
What makes Trump looks bad, those are lies. If it makes Trump look good, it’s the truth.
Easy-peasy!
14 Likes
[quote]Then, taking reporter’s questions at a press conference with the President of Romania[/quote]Oh, well, that’s just locker room talk.
[quote=“generic_name, post:36, topic:102475”]Right now Trump says he is 100% willing to testify.[/quote]Nobody gives better testimony than him. The best testimony.
… I won’t miss this much.
7 Likes
