July 7, 2017: President Trump Cozies Up with Authoritarians

 

7/7/17: Trump is in Germany for the G-20 summit. In Poland, the day before, he gave the best speech ever given by an American president, according to Trump. Because he cares so much about freedom, he decided not to criticize the Polish government which has been subverting an independent judiciary, cracking down on journalists, and making “unwanted protests” (protests the government doesn’t like) illegal. 

__________ 

Trump “grills” Vladimir Putin on election interference.

__________ 

 

These are all ideas the 45^th President of the United States can get behind. 

Together Trump and Poland’s leader, Andrzej Duda, commiserate on the woes of dealing with media outlets that won’t be cowed. Trump sends Mr. Duda a romantic tweet: “We will fight the #Fake news together!” 

Oddly enough, Trump’s speech was all about upholding democratic values: 

The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive. Do we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?

 

 

Now, in Hamburg, he meets with Putin. Apparently, the two would-be dictators hit it off great. Trump does, however, “grill” the Russian leader on the “fake” Russian interference in the 2016 election. 

He later provides reporters with a blow-by-blow description of how he held Putin’s feet to an Art of the Deal fire: 

“I said to him, ‘Were you involved in the meddling with the election?’ he recalled. “He said, ‘Absolutely not. I was not involved.’ He was very strong on it. I then said to him, in a totally different way, ‘Were you involved with the meddling?’ He said, ‘I was not—absolutely not.’”

 

Problem solved. No more Russians jumping on the bed! (Or hiding underneath. Or snuggling up with you under the covers.) Special Counsel Robert Mueller can pack it up and go home. (See: 7/8-10/17.)

Putin tells Trump he did not meddle. Trump believes him!

November 12, 2017: Trump Says He Believes Vladimir Putin

 

11/12/17: President Trump is off on a trip to Asia, and still sucking up to Vladimir Putin. Trump tells reporters he asked Putin again. Did you meddle in the last U.S. election? Putin says no. 

Case closed! 

Meanwhile, the president describes former heads of the F.B.I., C.I.A. and a former director of National Intelligence as “political hacks.” 

Hates them. 

Loves Vlad.

February 17, 2018: President Trump Still Trusts Vladimir Putin

 

2/17/18: The news has not been kind of late to our president. Even the First Lady may be thinking about killing him. (See: 2/16/18.) Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team continue to push the investigation into Russian meddling during the last election. This is the same meddling the president has long insisted never occurred. How could he be so sure when every U.S. intelligence agency said the Russians were involved? Trump said he asked Vladimir Putin if he interfered. 

Putin said no. 

____________________ 

Trump said he asked Vladimir Putin if he interfered.

____________________ 

 

Considering the president’s “I-trust-Vlad” stance, it must come as a shock to many Trump True Believers to realize that Mueller has now indicted thirteen Russians and three Russian organizations for meddling in the campaign. Charges included conspiracy, identity theft and failing to register as foreign agents. 

Mueller also charges that several Russians, posing as Americans, “communicated with unwitting individuals” associated with Trump campaign “to seek to coordinate political activities.” 

At best, individuals associated with the campaign were unwitting tools. They might not have been crooks. 

They were definitely tools.

Team Trump had plenty of contacts with Russians.

July 10, 2018: President "Always Prepared" Heads for Europe - Says Putin Meeting May Be Easiest Part of the Trip

 

7/10/18: The president prepares to leave for Europe. That is, if you can say the president “prepares” for anything. 

Before his trip to Singapore to meet Kim Jong-un in June, Trump insisted he was always prepared. 

Comb that weird hair, lock it down with a full can of hairspray, and you’re good to go. “I think I’m very well prepared,” he tells reporters before boarding Air Force One. “I don’t think I have to prepare very much. It’s about attitude, it’s about willingness to get things done.”

 

On his trip to Europe, Mr. Born-Prepared will meet NATO leaders, visit the United Kingdom, go golfing in Scotland for two days (because he’s already prepared) and sit down with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. 

Oddly enough – and even Fox News can’t avoid reporting this – before embarking, Trump says, “I have NATO, I have the UK, which is in somewhat in turmoil, and I have Putin. Frankly, Putin might be the easiest of them all. Who would think? Who would think?”  

Yes, who would think. (See: 7/16/18.)

Trump stops for two days at his own golf course in Scotland.

July 17, 2018: Trump Tries to Find a Way Out of the Woulds

 

President Trump gets lost in the "woulds."

7/17/18: Trump leaps from the frying pan of disgrace into the fire of farce. Battered by criticism of his performance in Helsinki – even by the sycophants at Fox News – Trump puts out a new story. 

____________________ 

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t.” 

President Trump, explaining what he meant to say

____________________ 

 

That story, despite what you saw with your own two peepers and heard reverberating on your own two eardrums, is that he is the toughest president ever to take on the Russians. 

With a script prepared by top aides in his mitts, the president reads to reporters, adding a few random thoughts as he proceeds. In the face of near-universal condemnation, he is backtracking for once: 

So, I’ll begin by stating that I have full faith and support for America’s great intelligence agencies, always have. And I have felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying that – and I’ve said this many times – I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place. It could be other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.

 

Reporters can’t believe it! Who knew there were “a lot of people out there?” You know: 7.6 billion. 

Well, what the president really wants is to clarify one point, which would make everything else he said seem so much better. When he said, “I don’t see why they would,” in response to a reporter’s question about whether the Russians interfered in the election, it was just a slip of the tongue. 

“I don’t know why they wouldn’t,” he says he meant to say. 

In other words, if you took that one word out and plugged in the “correct” word, he gave Putin hell.

 

* 

Trump had multiple chances. 

LET’S LOOK at the transcript. Let’s read what Trump said. And to help your thought processes, if you’re an avid Trump fan, this blogger will annotate the transcript as required. 

First, we should remember that Trump had multiple chances to address Russian meddling. For starters, he tweet-blamed America for problems with Russia. He had more than one chance to stand up for democracy, fair elections, and the rule of law. He stood at the podium, as representative of the United States of America, and groveled. 

The critical exchange with a reporter, after his private meeting with Putin was ended, led to this: 

REPORTER, JEFF MASON, REUTERS: Thank you. Mr. President, you tweeted this morning that it’s U.S. foolishness, stupidity, and the Mueller probe that is responsible for the decline in U.S. relations with Russia. Do you hold Russia at all accountable [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] for anything in particular? And if so, what would you… consider them that they are responsible for? 

Okay. Here’s your chance, Mr. President. Tell Putin to stay out of our elections. You’ve got this! Easy peasy.

 

TRUMP: Yes, I do. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. 

WTF!

 

TRUMP (continuing): I think we’ve all been foolish. We should have had this dialogue a long time ago, a long time frankly before I got to office. And I think we’re all to blame. 

Not me, personally, he’s saying. It was all those stupid presidents who came before. Trump could offer a better response if he simply stood there and farted.

 

TRUMP: I think that the United States now has stepped forward, along with Russia, and we’re getting together and we have a chance to do some great things, whether it’s nuclear proliferation in terms of stopping, have to do it, ultimately that’s probably the most important thing that we can be working on. 

Mention the elections. You fool! We can work on nuclear, too; but the elections…say something to Putin.

 

TRUMP: But I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the [Mueller] probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart. It’s kept us separated. 

There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the fore. So far that I know virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they’re gonna have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. That was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily and frankly we beat her. 

The election was two years ago. We know you won. That’s why Hillary isn’t standing at the podium. Do you hold Russia accountable for anything? Do you, or don’t you? 

You are blowing it!

 

TRUMP: And I’m not even saying from the standpoint...we won that race. And it’s a shame that there can even be a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that. People understand it. But the main thing and we discussed this also is zero collusion and it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. 

We have 90 percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe. 

Did Trump just say we’re nuclear rivals, with enough bombs to blow up the world many times over, and it’s because of the probe?

 

* 

CLEARLY, TRUMP muffed his first chance. Minutes later, he had a second opportunity to clean up the mess. 

REPORTER, AP: President Trump…Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you sir is, who do you believe? My second question is would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016 and would you warn him to never do it again? 

Would you? Did that reporter mean “wouldn’t?” That would mean his entire question was nonsense. Election? Did he mean to say “erection?” Maybe he meant to ask about eels. You can see where one word makes a difference!

 

TRUMP: So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server. Why haven’t they taken the server? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? 

You are screwing the pooch. He asked if you would denounce Putin. Not the F.B.I. and the Democratic National Committee!

 

TRUMP: I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for months and months and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying? 

With that being said, all I can do is ask the question. 

My people came to me, Dan Coates [sic], came to me and some others they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. 

Someone sedate this fool! Our intelligence agencies don’t “think” it was Russia. They know it was Russia. Trump isn’t talking about Russian interference. He’s babbling about some server. He might as well be yodeling.

 

TRUMP: I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do want to see the server but I have, I have confidence in both parties. 

Okay, there’s the slip of the tongue. Wait? Did he mean to say “constipation,” not confidence? Who knows what the president meant? I don’t think Trump knows what Trump meant. I’ve not even sure he’s speaking English.

 

MORE TRUMP: I really believe that this will probably go on for a while but I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC? 

Where are those servers? They’re missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails? 33,000 emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily. 

Does Trump realize Russia is a police state? Does he realize the KGB gets any information it wants by tapping reporters’ phones, arrests musicians who criticize Putin, blocks most candidates from running in fair elections, and secretly records people in compromising situations? Of course, he doesn’t. We have an ill-informed lout for president.

 

TRUMP (droning on): I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s thirty three thousand e-mails. 

I have great confidence in my intelligence people but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today and what he did is an incredible offer. 

He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer. Ok? Thank you.

 

* 

AND THERE you have it, supposedly fixed by changing one word. First, the President of the United States disgraced himself on the world stage. 

Second, he and his aides concocted a ridiculous story to help him find his way out of the woods. 

Or wood that be the “woulds.”

October 15, 2018: "Detective Donald" Hard at Work on His Next Case

 

10/15/18: Detective Donald is hard at work. This is the same Detective Donald who once grilled Vladimir Putin. “Did you interfere in the U.S. election?” he demanded. I think he shined a bright light in Putin’s face. 

“No, Detective Don! I did not,” Vladimir said. 

“Okay, I believe you.” 

____________________ 

A journalist walks into a Saudi consulate and never walks out.

____________________ 

 

Later, Kim Jong-un promised to get rid of all his nuclear weapons. Don was on it like a cat on a three-legged mouse. “North Korea is going to hand over all its nuclear weapons to me,” he announced. 

North Korea didn’t even had over one. 

This was the great Detective Don doing what he does best. Who, for instance, can forget his big case from 2011, when he promised to get the goods on President Obama? He would show the people their president was not a real American! 

After five years, he “cracked the case.” “Okay, he was,” Don admitted. You could even read that story on Fox “Never Fake” News.

 

* 

NOW DETECTIVE DON is on the case again. Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist, permanent resident of the United States, and reporter for the Washington Post, walks into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. You can watch him enter on surveillance cameras. No one sees him leave. 

The Turkish government claims it has evidence Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered, and his body parts removed from the consulate in diplomatic pouches. Detective Don calls King Salman of Saudi Arabia. He grills the poor royal, just like he grilled Vlad in Helsinki this summer. This is the most feared grilling any dictator or potentate can face. 

“Did you do it?” Don demands. 

“No. Never!!!” King Salman swears. 

Detective Don tells reporters the king “vehemently” denies having Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the royal family, murdered. Don posits the theory that the journalist might have been killed by “rogue actors.”

 

Naturally, Detective Don has several theories to work through. It might have been Hillary. It might have been Obama. It might have been that “400-pound guy sitting on his couch,” who might have hacked the 2016 election. That guy might have hoisted himself off his couch, jumped on a plane to Turkey, and slipped past security cameras. He entered the Saudi consulate. He killed the journalist. No one saw him do it. No one heard the victim scream. He grabbed the body and ran down the street, although no security footage shows a 400-pound guy lugging a corpse out of the building. 

Anyway, enough about that! Don’t forget, the Saudi’s buy U.S. weapons! Detective Don has already made it clear. He doesn’t care who they murder, and he doesn’t like journalists at all.

 

*

Another rally - this time in Montana.

DID WE MENTION, Trump once said Obama should not be campaigning while people were recovering from Super Storm Sandy in 2012. 

We did (See: 10/11/18, 10/12/18 and 10/13/18, too.) 

Trump is scheduled to campaign Thursday in Missoula, Montana, on Friday in Mesa, Arizona and on Saturday in Elko, Nevada.  

That makes six days of hypocrisy in a little more than a week. Even by Trumpian standards, that is a lot.

January 11, 2019: The F.B.I. Had to Ask: Was Candidate Trump Operating as an Agent Of Vladimir Putin

 

1/11/19: The New York Times reports that F.B.I. agents were so concerned by all the Trump team’s contacts with Russia during the 2016 campaign that they launched an investigation into whether the candidate was operating as an agent of Vladimir Putin. Turning to Fox News to see what story they might be covering, we find Laura Ingraham is furious because Democratic lawmakers have gone to Puerto Rico, where they’re “spending time at the beach” and watching showings of Hamilton instead of working out a deal to build the border wall. 

Back in Washington D.C., Trump is trapped in the White House with only a skeleton staff to cater to his whims. None of Ingraham’s viewers realize, of course, that the Hamilton showing is intended to raise money for hurricane relief. Ingraham decides to talk to Sean Hannity, who, for no apparent reason, refers to the Democratic mayor of New York as “Comrade de Blasio.” 

Did I miss the story where Comrade de Blasio tried to land a huge deal to build a de Blasio Tower in Moscow? 

That would be suspicious, I think.

King George III reminds me of Trump.

January 13, 2019: President Trump Confiscated Notes from Meetings with Putin

 

1/13/19: Late last night, while one evil entity in America was being vanquished (Satan’s team, the Dallas Cowboys), the Washington Post broke another damning story about Mr. Trump. 

 

Trump said he believed Putin. Now we know he didn’t. 

The story can be boiled down simply. Trump has met with Putin on five occasions since taking office. Each time he has gone to “extraordinary lengths” to keep the records of their conversations secret. After meeting with the Russian strongman in Hamburg in July 2017, Trump confiscated his interpreter’s notes. He also instructed the linguist not to reveal what was discussed to other top administration officials, although Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (who sat through the meeting) did later offer general comments on what the leaders discussed. 

The circumstances surrounding that meeting were odd enough. Even worse, Trump’s interpreter later told reporters the president did ask Putin if the Russians interfered during the 2016 election. Putin said “no.” The interpreter said the President of the United States responded, “I believe you.” 

Trump then went in front of reporters and repeated that line. He asked Putin about the interference. Putin denied it. 

Trump said he believed him.

 

The secrecy was even more profound when Trump and Putin met again in Helsinki in the summer of 2018. This time no one else was in the meeting but the two leaders and their interpreters. 

So why does this all ring bells now? Not till today did we learn that Trump was confiscating and possibly destroying notes from these meetings. And now it’s worth noting. That first long meeting with Putin in Hamburg took place on July 7, 2017. Later that day, aboard Air Force One, returning to the United States, Trump and top aides began crafting a letter to explain away a secret meeting Don Jr. had with Russians in Trump Tower the previous summer. 

The president knew at that point The New York Times was about to break the story on the meeting and he and his people wanted to have an alibi ready. So they put together a cover story about the purpose of the gathering. No problem! The meeting was primarily about adoption policy. 

The New York Times would prove within days that the purpose of the meeting wasn’t primarily about adoption policy. The purpose – and the Times had emails to prove it – was for Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort to gather dirt – from the Russians – on Mrs. Hillary Clinton. 

In other words, the president was lying when he said he believed Putin didn’t interfere in the election. 

He already knew he was.

 

In response to this latest revelation, of the confiscated notes, Press Secretary Pinocchio insisted that this unusual cover-up behavior by the president was simply a function of his desire to avoid “leaks.” She went on to trot out the same old line. Oh, Trump has been harder on the Russians than Napoleon. 

Then why did Trump lie – about the purpose of the meeting – and why lie about believing Putin? 

And why has he been grabbing up all the pertinent notes?

February 13, 2019: Another Secret Meeting with Trump Advisers and Russians Is Revealed

 

2/13/19: Yet another secret meeting with Trump campaign people and Russians is revealed. 

On August 2, 2016, we learn (more than two-and-a-half years after it happened) that Paul Manafort, then Trump’s campaign manager, and his right-hand man Rick Gates, met for dinner with a third party at a Manhattan cigar bar, the Grand Havana Room. That third party, Konstantin Kilimnik, was a man with connections to Russian intelligence. He, too, is now under indictment in the Russia probe. 

 

“The people of Crimea…would rather be with Russia.” 

Among other topics Manafort, Gates and Kilimnik discussed a possible peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Ukraine. It was, in fact, the invasion of Ukrainian territory and the seizure of Crimea by Putin’s forces that led to the Obama administration slapping Russia with sanctions. 

At this same meeting, it is alleged, Manafort turned over valuable polling data to Kilimnik. This data would (in theory) help Russian hackers target U.S. social media sites successfully. It is also alleged that Manafort expected to be paid $2.4 million for the trove. After the three men finished dinner, chatted, and smoked cigars, they decided it would be wise to leave by three separate doors, just like any set of friends out for dinner and conspiring to steal an election.

 

Something else interesting had happened the day before: that is August 1, 2016. 

Candidate Trump had informed George Stephanopoulos, host of This Week on ABC that, “The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.” 

Then he blamed the problem in the Ukraine on the Obama administration, not on the invaders, themselves.

 

So, while this blogger would argue that we still have not seen evidence that would merit impeachment of President Trump, the case is taking shape. If a gang of eight is suspected of robbing a bank, and five gang members (Flynn, Gates, Manafort, Papadopoulos and Cohen), lie about where they were on the night of the heist, you begin to believe the gang robbed the bank. If two alleged accomplices (Don Jr. and Stone) are caught with safe-cracking tools in their cars, you realize there is evidence the gang robbed the bank. Does that prove the head of the gang, President Trump, gave the orders, or that he was directly involved? 

Not yet. 

At this point you begin to suspect police are going to find marked $100 bills, covered in red dye, under Trump’s bed.

Trump and Putin.

June 28, 2019: President Trump Disgraces Himself on the World Stage

 

6/28/19: Once again, President Trump steps onto the world stage and disgraces himself, this time repeatedly. At the G-20 Summit in Osaka he sits down for breakfast with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and helps burnish the prince’s image. Trump describes MBS him as “a friend of mine.” Speaking to a group of Saudi men seated across the table, Trump describes the prince as a man who has “opened up things…especially what you’ve done for women.” 

Our president has been watching what is happening in Saudi Arabia. It’s a “revolution,” but “in a very positive way.”

Trump gets along well with murderous leaders.

 

“I want to thank you,” the president continues, as reporters and TV crews look on. “You’ve done a really spectacular job,” he tells bin Salman. And, oh, the meetings they’ve had! “They’ve been terrific!” Saudi Arabia – boy, the president says – they buy U.S. military equipment, “the best in the world,” and those purchases, he claims, “create a million jobs” in the U.S.A. 

There are only a few problems with Trump’s take: 

1.     Saudi women may not apply for passports without permission from male relatives. 

2.     Child marriages and arranged marriages are the rule. 

3.     Husbands can unilaterally divorce wives. 

4.     A woman was recently stoned to death for adultery. 

5.     The Crown Prince has instituted a crackdown on “dissidents, human rights activists, and independent clerics [emphasis added],” often accusing critics of treason. 

6.     Jamal Khashoggi, a fierce critic of MBS, a permanent resident of the United States, with children who are U.S. citizens, was brutally murdered by Saudi agents last year. 

7.     Trump makes jobs numbers up. In March 2018 he claimed Saudi arms sales would create 40,000 jobs in the U.S. That didn’t impress. He upped his claim to 450,000, to 500,000, then 600,000. 

8.     Finally, he decided a round million sounded right. 

 

“You don’t have the problem in Russia.” 

The disgrace only grows worse. During a photo opportunity with Putin, Trump looks at the reporters filling the room and jokingly says to the murderous Russian autocrat, “Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn’t it. You don’t have the problem in Russia. We have it; you don’t have it.” 

“Yes, yes, we have it,” Putin responded. “The same.” 

Only, they don’t. In Russia, critics get bludgeoned, strangled, stabbed, gassed, hanged, gunned down, thrown off balconies, poisoned, and tortured and killed while in police custody.

 

Soon after, a reporter asks Trump if he has told the Russian Killer not to interfere in the next U.S. election. Trump has already said he’d be willing to take foreign help in 2020. He laughs off the question. 

Here’s how the Associated Press describes the scene: 

“Of course,” the president replied.

 

Then he turned to Putin and facetiously said, “Don’t meddle in the election.” He playfully repeated the request while pointing at Putin, who laughed. 

For a handy refresher, here’s what the Mueller Report says:

  

* 

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC notes that Europe has experienced five “500-year” summers since 2003. Now 2019 may make six. In other words, the continent’s six hottest summers in five centuries, have all come in the last fifteen years. 

New heat records have been set this month in France, Germany, Poland, and Spain, with temperatures easily topping 100° F across a continent where air conditioning is rare. 

According to scientists, melting Arctic ice and a general warming in the far northern regions are affecting jet stream currents that have always moved cooler polar air across the Northern Hemisphere. 

These extreme heat events are all connected to a slower jet stream that locks weather systems into place, says Michael Mann of Penn State University. Mann co-authored a study last year that linked the slowdown in the jet stream – the band of high-altitude winds that sweep around the globe from west to east – to last summer’s unprecedented droughts, heat waves, wildfires, and flooding events across the entire Northern Hemisphere. And it is likely behind India’s weak monsoon rains and the widespread flooding in the U.S. Midwest this year.

 

* 

THE DALI LAMA sums up his opinion of President Trump, telling BBC News, he thinks the man lacks a “moral compass.”