Found it. This is an example of what I said over in the impeachment thread, of people just posting a link and not commenting on it. You said nothing about this yourself, not even to briefly say what it was about. But no matter, I went and read it. It is claimed in a book by Michael Isikoff and David Corn that a letter was given to Trump as a gift from Putin, and no one knows what was in it. Do you have any specific thing to say about this, or do I have to guess? That is not meant to be a snark.
nm
Why is it “hard to imagine any message in there that could not be destuctive, humiliating, or even convicting of dt”?
I have no difficulty imagining that Putin may have sent President Trump (prior to him becoming President) some inane nicety along the lines of “thanks for your real estate investment in _____” or whatever else. Maybe just a “hey, I really like you on the Apprentice”.
I agree that it doesn’t have to be actual crimes.
All of those mean plenty to him, if I had to guess. This is one of the big reasons that suggests to me Trump hasn’t committed nefarious crimes or deeds which may be used to manipulate him. If he had, why would he get anywhere near the presidency? Trump may be a lot of things, but I don’t think he is dumb enough to think that running for president means your whole life is going to be less scrutinized.
True, there are many ways that a person can be compromised and have conflicts of interest that are not illegal on their own. Which doesn’t rule out actual crimes.
I don’t give him that much credit for forethought. He wasn’t planning on winning the presidency. When he did, he made a big show of “divesting” which he never did. Then realized he didn’t have to, and in fact, could use the justice department to cover for his crimes.
Honest now: If Trump had to decide between what was best for his personal financial interests and what was good for the country, do you truly believe that he is going to put country first?
Let’s say that I grab ten teens out of a concert and show them to you and each one was dressed fully in black, their clothes had holes all over, many piercings, hair dyed black and spiked up, and the girls all had done their faces up to be extra white.
I then tell you that these are Billy’s friends and that Billy is also in the concert.
Would you view it as unreasonable to make the statement, “You would be unwise to bet that Billy is NOT a goth.”?
No, although I’m struggling to see the relevance to this thread.
As a general rule, yeah, forethought isn’t his strong suit. Nor is intelligence, but I really don’t think he would assume he could just cover up shit by ordering the DoJ around. As for your second question, I can’t answer that unless I have specifics. Does not putting the country first mean thousands of lives would be lost, or more, for example? What, exactly?
I agree 100%. Now, I’m unsure as to whether Russian actors have attempted to bribe or blackmail Trump but I don’t think it matters. Because Trump is so totally amoral that bribery and blackmail don’t work with him.
Take bribery. I bet you could could tell Trump what you want and offer the payoff. And I bet he’d take it. But he’s so amoral he wouldn’t feel it obligated him in any way. When someone says to Trump “Do what I want and I’ll give you $100”, he hears “I’ll give you $100.” There’s never any quid pro quo with Trump because he never feels any obligation to deliver the quo once he gets the quid. This is what saved his ass during his pre-election dealing with Russia.
This is what made me laugh about the accounts of the infamous Trump Tower / Russia meeting. Because they were all so so so confused when that government lawyer started talking about Magnitsky and adoptions. And I was alway like “ Hey, you brilliant negotiators! This is the part of the negotiation when THEY tell you what THEY want in exchange for that thing that YOU want.
And blackmail? He’s totally without any sense of shame and he doesn’t acknowledge that anything he does has the potential to be wrong. His general reaction to kompromat has been to release it proudly himself and claim it doesn’t show anything wrong.
You lost me at your claim that Trump has read books. I can believe a lot of improbable stuff about Trump but that one is way too much.
As I already said, I don’t think he had any plans of winning the presidency. He simply went down that escalator as a publicity stunt, and things steamrolled from there. The scuttlebutt is that he was just running in order to get NBC to give him a raise.
OTOH, I think that is exactly what he assumed. He thought that Obama was committing crimes and using his DOJ to cover for him. I do think that he does believe that that is its purpose.
Lives, treasures, standing, reputation, allies, the environment (and I don’t just mean global climate change, but general degradation and pollution as well).
You don’t need specifics, that is just a game of proposing and then fighting the hypothetical that I don’t have time or inclination for right now. It is a simple question. Do you think that he will put his interests or the interest of the country first?
I’ve heard that too, and I generally agree. But at that time, he had no idea how far this would go. But as the campaign went on, and as he saw his support grow, as he generally slaughtered his opponents in debates and he rose in the polls, he would have found a way to bail out.
Fair enough. We disagree.
Yes, I do need specifics, and no, I’m not playing a game. And it’s fine if you don’t have the time or inclination. But as you phrase it, it’s too general.
You would be unwise to bet that Trump has NOT done something blackmail worthy.
All the way up to the election, no one thought he would win, including him.
Okay, but it’s hard to explain why he got so mad at Sessions for recusing himself, unless he believed that Sessions was there to defend him, just as a starter.
I don’t see how it is too general, it is a very simple question, but lets go with a specific. Do you think that he would endanger our allies and relationships by holding up military aid to a country that is currently fighting against a country that we have a strained-at-best-relationship with in exchange for assistance in his re-election campaign?
Can you explain how that is a CT?
My post was a citation in responce to your questions about why dt is in thrall to putin.
You said it was doubtful that putin could communicate corrupt wishes to dt. Therefore it would be a CT to wonder what’s up with that shit. But vp has been communicating secretly with dt for 6 years or more.
dt has had conversations, as the US president, with putin, that have been kept private from US citizens and officials. It is a matter of record. Something else to ignore I guess?
IIRC it’s on record that dt keeps Mein Kampf next to his bed.
OK let’s bat it around.
dt has been teasing his run for president for decades. It just won’t do to imagine vlad has remained uninformed about that. So vlad knows a whole boatload of intelligence on his habits, wants, and weaknesses. He’s a spy.
My guess is that he said “Good luck on X. You really want to run? We will do whatever we can to help. and BTW (here is a file of photographs) We look foward to working with you”
Looks like within 2 years it became a real thing.
“on record” where? I suppose anything’s possible, but that sounds really “out there”. This thread is literally the first time I’ve heard this claim. Do you have a cite?
There is no compelling evidence that Trump has ever read or collected any book (other than his own ghostwritten memoirs).
It’s possible that Trump has *Mein Kampf *next to his bed, and Steve Bannon put it there, and Trump never consciously registered it beyond being a squarish object suitable for cutting up rails of Adderall.
Close. It’s My New Order.