Octopus Overlords

Seems perfectly ok.

President Trump later made the statement "That's a lie. Vladimir Putin was ever our friend and ally. Oh and BTW we're pulling troops out of Germany."

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:49 pm Seems perfectly ok.

Spoiler:

Holy cow. “The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House’s National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said...the White House has yet to authorize any” response.

Trump will do nothing. Putin is his benefactor and role-model. If pressed, he'll come up with some cosmetic slap on the wrist.

Imagine being Mark Esper or any other defense/intelligence/diplomatic official and knowing about this for months and not resigning at Trump's inaction.

Imagine being a servicemember and still voting for Trump.

Reminder: Trump argued for returning Russia to the G7 *after* learning of this intelligence.

Another take away from that piece though minor in comparison to the Trump stuff is that we knew troops of an ally were being targeted and we might have not told them for months. If so, I'm sure there is a lot of air quoting going on at Whitehall when they call us "allies".

Now let's not lose focus. Antifa is the real enemy.

LawBeefaroni wrote:Now let's not lose focus. Antifa is the real enemy.

And masks.

You know, I should have started a thread months ago called, "You know, if Obama did this . . ." It would be full now, and this would be the latest entry. Republicans would be calling "Traitor, traitor!!" but with Trump it will be crickets. I really think the Democrats ought to call congressional hearings on this, and really play it up. This just writes itself as a political ad.

The easiest thing in the world would be for Trump to tweet out a firm condemnation of Russia and a commitment to the safety of American troops. He could even imply that steps were taken months ago in secret to blah blah blah.

But nothing. He's been tweeting all day about TV ratings and Joe Biden and the ACA without any acknowledgment of this breaking story.

There's definitely something holding him back from offending Putin.

John Bolton’s new book reveals that Trump thought Finland was under Russian control.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says, “To be fair, we’ve thought the same thing about the United States since January 20, 2017.”

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 12:39 pm John Bolton’s new book reveals that Trump thought Finland was under Russian control.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says, “To be fair, we’ve thought the same thing about the United States since January 20, 2017.”

So do many of us now. So Russian's hacked our election. No problem. They continued to make obvious intrusions into critical infrastructure like power and water works. Cool. The Helsinki thing which is almost a tell by itself. He probably thinks Russia runs Finland because Putin had free reign to turn the screws on him. Then we have these current revelations about them paying bounties to the Taliban. Since they ignored that, he has ordered troops out of Europe. The whole thing is insane.

The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have announced independent confirmation of the NYT story about Russia offering bounties for American soldiers.

Just let him try to pull a coup now...

Holman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 1:32 pm The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have announced independent confirmation of the NYT story about Russia offering bounties for American soldiers.

This ought to be a huge story, but I wonder if we've all grown too used to treason for it to matter.

To be fair, Trump doesn't like soldiers who get caught...or let themselves get killed.

The Democrats in the House and Senate ought to make a motion of censure of the president and dare any Republicans to vote against it.

Grifman wrote:The Democrats in the House and Senate ought to make a motion of censure of the president and dare any Republicans to vote against it.

What? We're only 4 months away from the election! They could blow their double digit lead by offending the people who aren't going to vote for them!

This is patently bullshit.

If it's true, then it means Trump has trained the IC never to tell him anything bad about Russia, which is the same damn problem as not responding to it.

I'm willing to bet that this excuse doesn't last 48 hours. Trump can't let people think he's not in the loop on anything, so he'll fall back on denying the FAKE NEWS.

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 4:49 pm The Democrats in the House and Senate ought to make a motion of censure of the president and dare any Republicans to vote against it.

Make it dozens of motions of censure for dozens of individual offenses.

CNN is reporting that a European intelligence agency is confirming the Russian bounty story.

As I think more about the Russian/Taliban bounty scandal, the more I am beginning to think this is really huge. There’s no getting around this, Trump can’t BS his way out of this, there’s nothing for his defenders/enablers to hang a defense on, and it is easy to understand. Thus may indeed be the last straw after a pandemic, economic collapse, and nationwide protests/riots.

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:27 pm As I think more about the Russian/Taliban bounty scandal, the more I am beginning to think this is really huge. There’s no getting around this, Trump can’t BS his way out of this, there’s nothing for his defenders/enablers to hang a defense on, and it is easy to understand. Thus may indeed be the last straw after a pandemic, economic collapse, and nationwide protests/riots.

If it gets to be a big deal, he'll issue a babbling rebuke of Russia (that he cleared with Putin first).

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:27 pm As I think more about the Russian/Taliban bounty scandal, the more I am beginning to think this is really huge.

I'll believe it when I see it.

To be clear, it's beyond contemptible and it's arguably one of the biggest betrayals he's committed (that we know of) in his capacity as Commander in Chief.

And yet, nary a peep from the GOP or Congress. Trump was so worried over the optics on this story, he went golfing this morning.

Putin might decide that Trump is a failing asset and move big before he expires.

Russia seizing a land-corridor to Crimea right after Trump withdraws forces from NATO/Germany would be a political as well as a territorial win.

Russia denied it. I’m sure Trump will take them at their word.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 2:18 pm

Holman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 1:32 pm The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have announced independent confirmation of the NYT story about Russia offering bounties for American soldiers.

This ought to be a huge story, but I wonder if we've all grown too used to treason for it to matter.

This, right here.

This is mammoth but in trump world it's just...nothing.

I'm really having trouble even processing just what an epic betrayal this is. And yeah I don't know how a single active or veteran service member could vote for him in light of this

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:34 pm

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:27 pm As I think more about the Russian/Taliban bounty scandal, the more I am beginning to think this is really huge.

And yet, nary a peep from the GOP or Congress.

That actually is quite telling. It's also the weekend, and I haven't yet heard many Democrats comment. Plus no Republican is going to say anything without more information/facts. It's all still being digested by everyone. I suspect we'll hear more from everyone over the next week or two as the details become clear.

Trump was so worried over the optics on this story, he went golfing this morning.

Trump's political instincts, such as they are, haven't been very good the last few months. Besides, when has he cared about anything more than his tee time?

Putin paid a bounty to kill American soldiers. @realDonaldTrump knew about it but did nothing. How can Trump lead America when he can't even defend it?

These guys are fast.

Rather than "can't" they should have gone with "won't" defend America.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 10:43 pm

Putin paid a bounty to kill American soldiers. @realDonaldTrump knew about it but did nothing. How can Trump lead America when he can't even defend it?

These guys are fast.

I know this has been verified by several sources but fast could be an issue if there are any holes in the story.

LindseyGrahamSC wrote:Imperative Congress get to the bottom of recent media reports that Russian GRU units in Afghanistan have offered to pay the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the goal of pushing America out of the region.

Presumably, by "get to the bottom of recent media reports" he means identify and defenestrate the source that leaked the story.

If only Lindsey Graham knew someone in Congress that could get started on that *right now*. Why the frak is he speaking like an outsider calling on a government body to do something?

Perhaps he should reach out to someone on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:22 pm
Presumably, by "get to the bottom of recent media reports" he means identify and defenestrate the source that leaked the story.

Clearly the problem is the media reports, not the Russian action or the administration's subsequent and continuing inaction.

He makes a pretty cogent argument that, at this point, it doesn't even really matter whether this particular story is true. The fact that Trump is so consistently craven and corrupt that the allegation is even believable is damning in and of itself.

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:44 pm

He makes a pretty cogent argument that, at this point, it doesn't even really matter whether this particular story is true. The fact that Trump is so consistently craven and corrupt that the allegation is even believable is damning in and of itself.

He always delivers.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:47 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:44 pm

He makes a pretty cogent argument that, at this point, it doesn't even really matter whether this particular story is true. The fact that Trump is so consistently craven and corrupt that the allegation is even believable is damning in and of itself.

He always delivers.

[like]

This alone make Benghazi look like a picnic. As I said the death toll is not just from the corona virus.

Holman wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 5:02 pm
I'm willing to bet that this excuse doesn't last 48 hours. Trump can't let people think he's not in the loop on anything, so he'll fall back on denying the FAKE NEWS.

Called it.