Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
And then:
Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA - NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Except, as his Twitter feed immediately noted:
@realDonaldTrump your son says you have significant business dealings there, for one. https://t.co/adzdvQmoRP— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 11, 2017
Besides, this is why we need to see his tax returns and other financial documents.
I win an election easily, a great "movement" is verified, and crooked opponents try to belittle our victory with FAKE NEWS. A sorry state!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Live by the fake news, die by the fake news. What fake news? Again, his Twitter feed is instructive:
@jnsanchez @fierymom3 I call bullshit I voted for him fair and square I am an American citizen! What about the three million illegals Voted?— Susannah Simmons (@nascar14champ) January 11, 2017
And in all this time we've yet to invoke Godwin's Law; why not now?
Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
Which puts Trump squarely at war with the intelligence agencies that serve him. As Josh Marshall observed on that point:
6. Some people are saying that we shouldn't be looking at these news reports through the prism of the credibility of the document but rather the intelligence community's retaliation or warning to Trump. I don't think we can rule that out. But as much as we may dislike Trump, intelligence agencies using the information they gather against an elected President is a very bad thing. We shouldn't lose sight of that. Of course, we should also not expect our spy apparatus to cover for presidential wrongdoing or leave the country vulnerable to foreign subversion. Regardless this is extreme high-wire behavior for the whole country, whatever the underlying facts. It's bad from every different direction that we're here.Yup. And we're back to this issue, which Trump could clear up, but odds are he won't:
7. A lot of the information in this document matches up pretty well with circumstantial evidence about Trump's business dealings with Russian oligarchs and organized crime, and the leverage they have over him.And the governments of the world pay careful attention to all of this, taking note of how Trump responds to it. As for the government of the United States: Trump has an approval rating of 37% 10 days out from his inauguration. His approval rating has declined since the election. That's being noticed, too.
I mean, what is this, Nazi Germany?
Susan Collins has already pretty much said she'll rubber stamp what Trump proposes. And she's the "moderate" Republican.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the hands of an actual, fascist party. The only way they'll do something to reign in Trump is if they think it's going to cost them, personally.
Every defect in our Constitutional system will be exploited, every one of them will cry out for replacement. Only I doubt that will happen because "Hamilton" and junk like that.