It’s plainly obvious that the purpose of this thread is to militantly ignore and misdirect an issue, so much for “Fighting Ignorance”.
Looking at it without the handicap of intractable partisanship. this “Obamagate” makes Nixon’s Watergate look like rank amateurism and needs to be examined, but of course that would likely bring down many beloved narratives and force some serious introspection so that’s not going to happen, not here anyway.
Trump is the president. If he were just some Alex Jones online crank, then we can ignore him, sure. But, as president, Trump’s words often presage the government’s actions so are highly significant.
And even if we were to argue that the media should just focus on the actions then, it’s not that simple. For instance, when Trump says that Governers that are nice to him will receive greater support, or that the FBI agents involved in Flynn’s case should be convicted of treason, these things have great influence on behaviour even if he doesn’t follow up on them; because he has power and these kinds of threats can be intimidating. If the media doesn’t report it, then the public is unaware of such bullying, and the erosion of checks and balances and the rule of law.
The other way I disagree is that I think the press is actually making a good stab at ignoring a lot of Trump’s nonsense at this point.
There have been days where trump has posted 100+ tweets of craziness, and the actual tweets aren’t reported anywhere; the headline is just, essentially “Another day of Trump madness”.
Also the claims are usually treated critically. When trump accused Obama of wiretapping him in 2017 (I think), the whole media blew up and there was a lot of speculation about what evidence he had.
Now when trump makes such claims the media comes at it more from the perspective of “Is there any reason to take this fever dream seriously?”
All that said, there is one important thing in that we can’t allow debunking trump to push out the real stories: the many injustices and corruption going on. Even pointing out that the emporer is naked sometimes takes away time from doing that.
You won’t get one. They came into a thread that asks for an explanation of what “Obamagate” actually is, just to respond that they didn’t need to explain it because it’s so obvious what it is.
O-gate is nothing more than the most recent manifestation of their fact-free dismissals of everything Obama. They spent his entire time in office simply declaring that he was a “disaster”, the “worst president ever”, that America was a “laughingstock”, without even attempting to explain why, because they knew they didn’t need to explain it. Then, as soon as Trump was elected, they started simply declaring that Trump was the best ever, that America was “great” again, that America was “respected” again, and again, provided no explanation or evidence for these claims. Because it was never about the evidence.
So… trump wants to BE Obama. Well, who wouldn’t-- the guy is the essence of stylish, intellectual cool. No wonder trump can’t get Obama out of his head! He’s everything trump wants to be and is not-- including black!
Although, one must point out, NOT a majority of voters.
Asking the public what the nature of an alleged scandal is (since our President can’t be bothered to explain it) somehow equals an attempt to “ignore and misdirect” on the issue? That doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense.
Clearly you believe there is indeed a scandal of some sort. I will assume that you have the ability to explain to others what it is.
What do you believe are the main elements of this alleged scandal?
What specific crime or crimes do you believe have been committed, and by whom?
I always figured the two go hand in hand. Deep down inside they at least suspect they’re not as good as “other people” which is why they brook no criticism of them or their actions.
Who is this “they” I’m supposed to be part of?
You don’t see that your first reaction is to look for some nebulous, nefarious, conspiring group for an explanation?
The use of the FBI to entrap a member of an incoming administration official, and the thousand conspiracy theories launched after that. Apparently, you (plural) see nothing wrong with that, or that it was lead by a man who stated that he would stop Trump from becoming president. Nothing to see here., shut eyes close, stick fingers in ears and la-la-la the bad things away.
You want Banana Republic? because is how you, as in the US public, turning your back to corruption and abuses of power like this, get Banana Republic.
An opinion piece, dripping with propagandistic language, written by:
“Marik von Rennenkampff served as an analyst with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, as well as an Obama administration appointee at the U.S. Department of Defense.”
The AP also did check, and on the whole, yes it is another nothing burger that the republicans will use to play many of their followers like fiddles.
And then the AP also had to check what Trump did toss also there about testing in the USA, of course a big lie and it seems that many followers of Trump do not care that lives are on the line.
An opinion piece, dripping with propagandistic language, which is impressive in it’s gall to claim that things that happened after the election were an attempt to manipulate election outcomes.
It’s ok to lie to law enforcement when you’re Republican. Because we know what Flynn said to the FBI, we know what Flynn actually did, and the two are not the same.
This is the same “perjury trap” bullshit we’ve heard for years. Easiest way to not get caught lying? Don’t lie. How to not get in trouble for undermining the current administration? Don’t undermine the current administration. If anything, Flynn has been treated with kid gloves - the guy (and his son) worked with literal foreign agents in an attempt to discredit a Turkish dissenter and have him extradited. If this is the best you’ve got…
Putin stooges and an amateur youtube video. What next? Alex Jones? You got nothing. :rolleyes:
The phony “Obamagate” is an entirely fabricated ‘scandal’ designed by the republican smear machine to distract from the tens of thousands killed via the incompetence of the Trump administration.
It ain’t gonna work and it’s going nowhere. Still waiting for evidence of any wrongdoing…come back if you can ever find any.
You can put your paranoia aside. The poster you are responding to used “they” as a genderless noun, not as some attempt to associate you with some nebulous, nefarious, conspiring group.
Why is your first reaction to seeing a very common and innocuous usage of a pronoun to assume some sort of conspiracy?
Also the referent for “they” shifts between paragraphs. The first one is the other poster, the second one is “Republicans in general” or perhaps “right-wing nutjobs” or whatever.
Some people are still very cranky about the use of the singular they. It’s a real shame.