# Is Donald Trump a Putin patsy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 25, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875 "2016-07-25T19:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/241 "2016-07-27T19:03:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Will no one rid Trump of these turbulent journalists? “These journalists are against me. Keep printing what I have just said. So unfair! Sad!” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/242 "2016-07-27T19:04:12Z")
I agree with **Sherrerd** and my thoughts were going along the same lines: Trump keeps removing reasons to vote for him. Or, better said, he keeps increasing the reasons _not_ to vote for him. While the ratio may be slightly different, the old saw that 40% of the country is solidly Republican and another 40% that’s solidly Democrat is true. And there _are_ reasons not to vote for either candidate. But only one keeps adding, almost daily, to the number of reasons not to vote for him. Muslim? don’t vote for him. Hispanic? Don’t vote for him. Remember the Cold War? Don’t vote for him. Like “the establishment” as represented by the Bush’s and Romney? Don’t vote for him. Think the quality of the campaign/convention correlates to the quality of the administration? Don’t vote for him. Don’t want to give Japan and Saudi Arabia nukes? Don’t vote for him. Don’t want a President who mocks the disabled? Don’t vote for him. Support Ted Cruz? Vote your conscience. And one keeps putting the reasons not to vote for her either behind her (no more waiting for FBI findings) or with her (her masterful job of getting Bernie Sanders into the fold). So all these things have an effect. This Russian thing will have a huge effect - it may cost Trump hundreds of thousands of votes across the country among an already stretched-thin base of supporters, as opposed to Melania’s speech which may lose him 12 votes from really stupid people. Sorry, bedwetters, but there will always be people who support Trump even if it is found he owes the Russian mob $348 million and ran this campaign as a means to relieve his debt. ETA: Not that I’m talking about _you_, **OMG**. I just noticed you had shown up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/243 "2016-07-27T19:08:35Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Welcome back! We’ve missed you oh so much! Thank you, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/244 "2016-07-27T19:16:20Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > a) No it was not. There have been Republican reactions to this from Pence, Ryan, etc. that show it was most certainly not said “in jest”. I know that it’s the last hope for the Republicans, to simply claim that every crazy-ass thing that spews from Trumps’ pie hole is a joke, that we can simply ignore Trump’s words (please, dear God, don’t pay any attention to him, just vote for him!). Not going to work. > > b) It’s not a fucking joking matter. A funny-man entertaining clown has no place being president. 1.) He was talking about Hillary’s dele… I mean, “lost” emails. Nothing more. You guys (and gals) really like to make mountains out of molehills. As an aside, why didn’t you show the same level of concern for “national security” when the current POTUS was mocking Romney by telling him that the 80s wanted their policies back? 2.) Have you forgotten who the current POTUS is? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/245 "2016-07-27T19:20:23Z")
OMG, do you think it is ok for a Presidential candidate to joke about asking Russia to hack your political appointees? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/246 "2016-07-27T19:29:35Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > 1.) He was talking about Hillary’s dele… I mean, “lost” emails. Nothing more. You guys (and gals) really like to make mountains out of molehills. As an aside, why didn’t you show the same level of concern for “national security” when the current POTUS was mocking Romney by telling him that the 80s wanted their policies back? > > 2.) Have you forgotten who the current POTUS is? 1. What the hell does mocking Romney’s crappy policies have to do with national security? 2. Obama is a highly respected man who has steered the economy out of the toilet, and back into good shape. Despite an oppositional Republican Party whose only priority for the country was to make Obama a one term president. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/247 "2016-07-27T19:31:04Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > OMG, do you think it is ok for a Presidential candidate to joke about asking Russia to hack your political appointees? It is literally the last line of defense: “Please don’t listen to a single word that comes out of Trump’s mouth. It’s either a joke, or he won’t really do what he just said he’ll do” ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/248 "2016-07-27T19:31:31Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > 2.) Have you forgotten who the current POTUS is? I know the difference between a President that can tell a joke and one that _is_ a joke because we had the latter the last time we had a Republican President…and the latter just isn’t funny. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/249 "2016-07-27T19:33:28Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > 1.) He was talking about Hillary’s dele… I mean, “lost” emails. Nothing more. You guys (and gals) really like to make mountains out of molehills. As an aside, why didn’t you show the same level of concern for “national security” when the current POTUS was mocking Romney by telling him that the 80s wanted their policies back? > > 2.) Have you forgotten who the current POTUS is? Same as it ever was. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/250 "2016-07-27T19:37:41Z")
Several of Trump’s campaign people (including his communications advisor) say it was [misinterpreted, not a joke](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-camp-russia-clinton-joke). So if it’s a joke, only Newt Gingrich seems to have gotten the message – Giuliani and Trump’s campaign people did not. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/251 "2016-07-27T19:42:09Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Several of Trump’s campaign people (including his communications advisor) say it was [misinterpreted, not a joke](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-camp-russia-clinton-joke). In what language did he originally say it? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/252 "2016-07-27T19:44:22Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Because it was said in jest. Are you guys really be that fearful of a Trump presidemcy? On a scale of one = “kinda scared” and ten = “bug eyed and terrified”? Eleven. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/253 "2016-07-27T19:49:56Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Several of Trump’s campaign people (including his communications advisor) say it was [misinterpreted, not a joke](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-camp-russia-clinton-joke). So if it’s a joke, only Newt Gingrich seems to have gotten the message – Giuliani and Trump’s campaign people did not. Typical. The campaign is spinning aimlessly, looking for a way to explain the unexplainable. “It was a joke!” “It was misinterpreted!” “He meant it and Hillary sucks!” “It was a pun! No, one of them things that’s the same backwards as forwards!” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/254 "2016-07-27T19:49:56Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > Because it was said in jest. Are you guys really be that fearful of a Trump presidemcy? The president is not supposed to be a stand-up comedian, and asking a foreign power to commit espionage against the US isn’t funny and isn’t appropriate coming from a presidential candidate whether it’s “in jest” or not. Have you at last no decency? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/255 "2016-07-27T19:51:56Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/256 "2016-07-27T19:52:01Z")
I’m a solid ten. Donald Trump as President would be at best disaster for the entire world, save rich Russian and Chinese oligarchs, and at worst catastrophic. The best case scenario is a heart attack or impeachment very early on. _Assuming in remains in office,_ the best case scenario is economic devastation as he executive-orders the USA out of trade deals and start a world trade war that costs trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, and raises mortality rates in the USA and abroad, while enriching himself by selling the USA out to foreign powers. Worst case is he personally stumbles his way into World War Three, which is not an entirely unreasonable possibility given his astounding ignorance of how international affairs and military deterrence work. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/257 "2016-07-27T19:54:16Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Typical. The campaign is spinning aimlessly, looking for a way to explain the unexplainable. “It was a joke!” “It was misinterpreted!” “He meant it and Hillary sucks!” "It was a pun! **No, one of them things that’s the same backwards as forwards!"** This. Trump is an oxen-moron. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/258 "2016-07-27T20:02:56Z")
Kind of an interesting spin. Way I read it, he was saying that he assumed or guessed that Russia already _had_ those e-mail. So, he was not encouraging them to commit espionage, but figuring that they already had. OK, so far, so good. Now, State Dept. stuff has gotta be solid gold for a foreign power, even a friendly foreign power would be glad to have it. Information is useful. Information is especially useful if the other guy doesn’t know you have it. So, what we got is, if they had the State Dept emails, and didn’t leak them, that’s one thing, standard operational procedure. But hacking info that would help Trump against Hillary, they dumped it straight to Wikileaks. Which can only mean that the advantage offered by leaking the DNC stuff was given a high enough priority that they were willing to “tip their hand”. I would further guess that the intelligence pros in Russia did not want to reveal their capacity to hack, wanted to keep that secret. But somebody with some serious clout wanted it to happen, and it did. And _that_ person really wants Trump to be President. What I’m stuck on is who in Russia has that much power to overrule the Cagey Bee? Anybody got a guess? ---
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/259 "2016-07-27T20:18:55Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > 1. What the hell does mocking Romney’s crappy policies have to do with national security? > > 2. Obama is a highly respected man who has steered the economy out of the toilet, and back into good shape. Despite an oppositional Republican Party whose only priority for the country was to make Obama a one term president. 1.) I do believe Romney said Russia was the US’ top geopolitical foe, and liberals mocked him for “thinking is still the 80s” or that “the Cold War was still ongoing” (remember that Russian reset?). But now, all of a sudden, you guys are worried about Russia (and deflect from Hillary). It’s hilarious how you guys have such short term memories. I should go bump that 2012 debate thread if it still exists. 2.) Imagine actually believing this. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/260 "2016-07-27T20:26:01Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > 1.) I do believe Romney said Russia was the US’ top geopolitical foe, and liberals mocked him for “thinking is still the 80s” or that “the Cold War was still ongoing” (remember that Russian reset?). But now, all of a sudden, you guys are worried about Russia (and deflect from Hillary). It’s hilarious how you guys have such short term memories. I should go bump that 2012 debate thread if it still exists. > > 2.) Imagine actually believing this. 1. In the interim, Russia invaded the Crimea in 2014. You might want to look into this. 2. You are in the minority. Obama’s approval ratings are actually quite good, especially when compared to Bush’s at this point in his 8 year term. June 17, Obama was at 51% approve, 44% disapprove. End of June,2008 W. Bush was at 32% approve, 65% disapprove. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875.md?page=14)