Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Eleventy

Taking a deep breath here. Trump and Putin. Thoughts? Why yes, I have a few:

  • Did anyone think Trump was going to bash Putin from the podium yesterday? Really? How would that have worked?
  • Putin doesn't have the strong hand here. He never will, really. The oligarchs who really run Russia will accept his strutting around so long as it is beneficial to them. The minute it isn't, he's gone. Trump certainly knows this.
  • Last I checked, we weren't actually at war with Russia. Anyone who is shouting "treason" at this point is assuming facts not in evidence.
  • Did the Russians meddle in the 2016 elections? Of course. I'd be more surprised if they hadn't. Governments always prefer to pick the person across the table. Obama never liked Netanyahu and sent his operatives to get involved in the Israeli election. The CIA, apparently back in fashion, had no trouble getting rid of Salvador Allende, and Jacobo Arbenz, and Mohammad Mossadegh. There were others. Hillary Clinton positively gloated about her role in getting rid of Gaddafi in Libya. Given how our government has conducted itself, it would be an upset if other countries weren't trying to put their thumb on the scale of our elections.
  • Personally, I would have phrased things differently were I at the podium. I'm not, though. I'm sitting at my dining room table, tapping on a laptop. I am not privy to the information Trump has at his disposal. It's possible Trump is a Russian stooge, but it's not likely. There is no reason to be one if you are President of the United States.

9 comments:

3john2 said...

It would seem to me that if I were a Russian stooge, I would not want to act like a Russian stooge in a public forum, saving it for those more private times when I could be more flexible, or quietly sign over a metric crap-tonne of uranium. But that's just me.

Bike Bubba said...

I have to wonder at some level whether the "baying on sight" response is exactly what the Donald wanted. Flushing his enemies out, as it were, and seeing if any new ones popped up. It is quite striking, as RA notes (and others), that not too many of those complaining about the President are asking the questions of "why on earth would we think that leaders would talk totally honestly about espionage in this forum?" and so on.

Put another way, for a bunch of Ivy League grads, you'd think they'd have a grasp of the differences between checkers and chess, but apparently not since November 2016.

3john2 said...

It's worth it to hear the Left defend the honor of the CIA and FBI.

Gino said...

Crankbait... Lol i just posted something similar to that on Facebook..

Gino said...

i did not see the press conference, and only caught a few 10 second tidbits of it later that were generally presented in an appalling light... therefore, i have no honest opinion on the matter.

i do know this: i support Trump, and the more Schumer hyperventilates, and the stooges at NRO gnash their teeth about anything he does or says, the more i will support him... hell, i cant freaking wait to hear from george will on the matter.

Viva Trump!

Mr. D said...

My two cents – Trump tends to conflate Russian meddling with the collusion charges in his mind. That’s what happened yesterday. He walked it back to a certain extent this afternoon and at least made the distinction clear, but he did make the point that needs to be made – his predecessor didn’t do anything about it.

What I still don’t get is this – why would anyone expect him to bash the Russians when he’s standing next to Putin at a press conference? This isn’t an episode of the West Wing, it’s real life.

3john2 said...

Well, he did bash Theresa May and the NATO bunch while he was standing amidst them.

Gino said...

If you can't bash your friends to their face, they're not your friends.

Mr. D said...

Well, he did bash Theresa May and the NATO bunch while he was standing amidst them.

True as far as it goes, but last I checked, Theresa May didn't have nukes pointed at the Eastern Seaboard. And Gino's point is a good one, too.