How the heck did he manage to make it onto the plane? I’m surprised he got through the TSA checkpoint. (On the other hand, considering what a joke TSA is, maybe not…)
Last time I went through, the TSA didn’t run the passport - they only checked if it matches the person and has the right watermarks. This isn’t part of their responsibility.
It’s usually the airlines that care - if you are denied entry on the other end, they’ve got a headache on their hands. So they usually check passport/visas and will usually send a passenger manifest to CBP to see if any names are flagged. I suspect (bur haven’t confirmed) he bought the ticket last minute so CBP didn’t catch it until after he was on the plane.
A lot of people’s minds are going there. But what value would Manafort have to Putin? Some defectors might have information to trade for their room and board, but at this point what does Manafort know that’s either still current, or useful?
And it’s tough to see his defection as a propaganda coup—it’s not as if anyone on the planet thinks Manafort is a universally-admired guy who simply can’t stomach the “corrupt American system” (or whatever the Kremlin line usually is).
Manafort has value to Putin to show future collaborators that Putin will take care of you even after you no longer can help him.
Remember, Manafort did a lot of hatchet work for Putin in Ukraine under Yanukovich. He’s got a lot of experience manipulating and suppressing democracy in the region. Manafort might be hoping there’s a similar job opportunity opening up again soon.
Yeah, that does make sense.
(With the cost of the war and the effect of the sanctions, Manafort may be the only one to get a full 1-bedroom apartment to himself…those coming later will have to settle for bunkbeds in a dorm…)
That’s true, though I have doubts about ol’ Paul being willing to BE in Ukraine while the bombs are dropping. Also, one suspects that Ukrainians might be hyper-alert for people trying to sell them dictatorship as a grand idea–particularly Russian-flavored dictatorship.
Manafort worked through oligarchs, didn’t he? Are any of those people still around? (Rhetorical question–not asking you do to research.)
Naw. He’d just move into Yanukovich‘s Moscow mansion. They could do a version of The Odd Couple for Russian TV.
On March 22, Paul Manafort fled from his place of residence. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his friend, Viktor Yanukovych. Several years earlier, Yanukovych’s country had thrown HIM out, requesting that HE never return. Can two traitorous toadies share a mansion without driving each other crazy?
Bravo!
According to the Senate report on Russian interference, in 2017-2018 he was working with Russia to carve out an Autonomous Republican of Donbas in Southeastern Ukraine, part of the plan was getting Trump to wink and look the other way.
I posted more about this over in P&E, including a link to an article about how all the Russian oligarchs are hanging out in Dubai these days to avoid sanctions.
When I made that post, I forget to generate the non-paywalled link to that article. Here it is
Manafort’s fellow “torturers lobbyist” Roger Stone is having problems lately.
Maybe they could reconstitute their old firm as “Stone and Manafort”:
S&M–the torture lobbyists ®
Which puts Putin head and shoulders above T**** in that regard. e.g. Mike Pence.
Duh duhduhduh duhduh… 
Very nice.
And I suppose instead of Felix skewering a cigar butt with his umbrella tip, it would be Viktor skewering a Ukrainian-autonomy advocate with an umbrella-tip loaded with ricin…
I’m so mad at these people, (conservatives). I hate them, and I really don’t want to. I know they’re stupid, and I keep saying to myself; “These people are unequipped to make sense and they’re incredibly gullible.” It’s just that they’re evil. They can’t emphasize with certain other people.
When I say that they’re “stupid”, I mean in a certain way… but I hate them, so I call them that. Some are very intelligent, (smarter than me in many ways,) but those people are even more confident in their bullshit.
I’m just so fed up!
People aren’t just stupid or smart.
Putin, for example, was a smart man who never caught on to the idea that people can just work together and generate a more prosperous world than if we squabble over who owns exactly what. In chess, everyone loses pieces. In Transport Tycoon, you end up wealthier even when you come out last (so long as you can play reasonably well).
Michael Jackson was a genius musician and dancer who couldn’t manage money to save his life.
Julius Caesar screwed Rome by switching things from a nation overseen by a committee of reasonably intelligent men, to a nation ruled by the guy generated by the loins of the last guy. He let the nepotistic urge destroy his country.
People aren’t all all good, all smart, nor all powerful across the board. They can be good in one area and horrible in another, have strange quirks, ignore glaringly obvious things, etc. That’s just how it is. You get around it by assembling committees and trying to make sure the people on it are reasonably honest and willing to drive for the truth. Sometimes the truth isn’t what you think it will be, though, so you need to ignore whether they want to do what you think should be done and just focus on whether they’re an honest person who is willing to do research, collaborate, and change their mind
Yes, I agree. I see you have no objection to me calling them evil, though.
(Yes, I know there are shades of gray with that, too. Some of them are the types of people who will be the first to take their little dick trucks to help you out of a ditch… so long as you’re not trans).
Good and evil are subjective. But, in general, if you’re already at “full evil” with your average MAGA in a world with individuals like Lavrentiy Beria, Hitler, Albert Fish, etc. you’re probably being a bit overly dramatic.
I would go with a range from unethical to deeply unethical for the territory that we’re talking. But that is just me.
“What may have sounded like talk of overturning an election was really me saying I wanted him to turn me over. And pound me. Hard. Look, these were very intimate, very private texts that were never intended for consumption by a public that can’t possibly understand how fucking hot I get when a man tells me ‘the King of Kings’ always triumphs in ‘a fight of good versus evil.’ That got me wet as a mop!” Thomas went on to explain that the only reason she attended President Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 was to find a group of patriots who would run a train on her.
The Onion understands me. We connect.