I’m in total disagreement with Harry Reid calling for denial of briefings. I want Trump to get his classified briefings, so he can shoot his mouth off and get investigated. He won’t be getting anything seriously damaging to national security, just enough to show him up as an unequivocal (and criminal) idiot.
Fully aware that everybody spies. But, of course. Not everybody uses the product of such spying to interfere with our elections. That’s a bit much.
Of course he’s within his rights, as are you to hold conflicting opinions. Let’s tighten up your position: You support the prosecution of people who commit acts that you welcome. Now you could shave off some of the inherent conflict if you merely “accepted” their prosecution. The law is the law. But if you welcome these hack and dumps then you should support changing the law that forbids them not their prosecution.
I agree with this; Trump’s calling on Russia to provide a US candidate’s emails was yet another clear signal to Russia that he is Their Guy. They will be motivated to work harder to ensure his election.
By the way, I’m surprised that so many are giving Trump even the benefit of the doubt by using the word “joke” in quotes (let alone speaking of the remark as if it had been a joke). Listen to the video again: no one in the room laughs or even pretends to laugh.
When people make what they consider to be a joke, they will react if there’s no laughter–they will make another joke about how bad the first one was, or they will criticize the audience for failing to get the joke, or they will at least grimace or look flustered or even embarrassed.
But there is nothing like that in the video.
It wasn’t said as a joke. It was clearly said as a serious remark that he hoped would be taken seriously.
Nor was it “sarcasm”–in sarcasm you say the opposite of what you mean. He said
Are we to believe that he was trying to convey the message that he hopes those emails remain missing? If so, why would he want to get such a message across? How does it serve him?
People should stop giving him a pass. He didn’t say it as a joke, and he didn’t say it sarcastically. He meant exactly what he said.
The “It was only a joke” crapolla is simply another manifestation of Trump’s bully-boy personality. It’s the modus operandi of every asshole high school bully throughout history. Get called on saying some nasty shit? “Oh, I was just joking, can’t you take a joke?”
It goes along with using using violent language and imagery, and then claiming it meant something else:
Trumps apologists would later explain he didn't REALLY mean he'd physically hit someone.
He’s a bully, using schoolyard juvenile bully tactics.
No. I’m not a Trump apologist but it’s pretty unlikely he meant he would physically hit someone. See my and DSeid’s posts here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19515057#post19515057
I agree - because he’s a bully and a coward. Bullies like to use violent words and imagery a lot to intimidate.
He could have expressed himself in a variety of ways - but he simply can’t help himself, and resorts to this kind of language. It’s absolutely stereotypical of a coward bully.
Absolutely pathetic.
The practical implications of him calling on the Russians to assassinate Clinton are nil too, but it’s still a crazy and immoral thing to say.