All those things, along with Trump’s attacks on the free press, an inherently authoritarian position. Or his attempts to de-legitimize the rule of law in our country, another inherently authoritarian tactic… Hilariously, while also defending cops abusing innocent citizens. But the great thing about your base not thinking about anything, is that his ideas don’t have to be consistent.
Or his attempts to persecute people based on their religion, trying repeatedly to make a totally pointless banning of Muslims designed to accomplish nothing more than feed islamophobic sentiments… Again, another tactic employed by pretty much every authoritarian regime. Or now Roy Moore saying that Muslims can’t serve in our government. Or gays should be imprisoned.
Or again, we can revisit how you support disenfranchising voters.
So no man, you aren’t really a libertarian at all now.
You’re an authoritarian.
You are just making the mistake that everyone who gets conned by authoritarian makes… You are thinking that since “your team” is in charge, it won’t blow back on you. That is worth it, because you’re getting some shiny objects. Honestly, in this case, you aren’t even getting them. You are just getting vague notions of them.
Oh man, he’s cutting “regulations”! Well worth the total compromise you’ve made. Now those righteous airlines won’t need to disclose to you the baggage fees you pay. A true triumph for liberty, dude.
NBC is raising a different, and more serious, possibility: that Trump also instructed Flynn to lie to the FBI about his conversation. That scenario would explain a lot. It would explain why Flynn took not one but two gigantic legal risks. It would explain why the White House took so long so fire him, why Trump asked James Comey to let Flynn off the hook and then fired him when he failed to promise to do so, and why Trump continued to signal his affection for Flynn even afterward.
Flynn might have done both legally dubious things of his own volition. He is a pretty unstable character, after all. But it seems at least as likely that he felt empowered to take such obvious chances because the incoming president offered him cover.
If this is what happened, the legal violation would not be ambiguous at all. Lying to the FBI is an obvious crime. Even the tortured rationales Trump’s defenders are making on his behalf — that he didn’t obstruct justice by firing Comey, and would also not be obstructing justice by shutting down Mueller’s investigation — would be irrelevant in the face of this action. (Obviously, they would just invent new rationales. But still.)
We don’t know whether Trump did tell Flynn to lie.
May never know, unless Flynn flips and has concrete evidence.
That headline is misleading, looking at the statement from the agent:
The agent didn’t recall the earlier conversation but affirmed that “he was not required to list foreign government contacts while in official government business unless he developed personal relationships from such contacts.”
At least one of the meetings was not him conducting official government business, as he was meeting with the guy during a campaign event. This distinction is not new, as it was covered months ago.
And really, if this were an isolated case, it could be thought to be accidental. But it’s a part of an EXTREMELY broad pattern at this point, with seemingly everyone in their campaign having numerous contacts with the Russians.
Hell, how many times did Kushner fail to fill out his clearance forms correctly? You screw up once, sure, that might happen. You screw up over and over again? Either you are an incompetent imbecile, or you are trying to hide something.
But later, when questioned by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sessions said that “it’s conceivable that [a conversation with Kislyak] occurred” but that it included “nothing improper.”
You’ve hitched your wagon to a lame horse, chief. Ultimately, nothing is going to come off this, as Congress isn’t going to go after sessions for this. But again, this is merely one instance within a much, much broader pattern.
And that evil little Hee Haw goblin’s memory will magically crystallize as soon as that meeting is proven via other means to have occurred. That too is part of a larger pattern.
It’s the old ‘i can’t recall any such meeting’ line, that rapidly changes once proof comes out. But nothing happens anyway. Unless it’s Clinton, a dress, and the GOP is in control of congress. Then we get an impeachment. Of course, russia interfering in our elections isn’t as important as lying about consensual sex.
I think the real problem vis a vis Sessions and the Russians is the false testimony he gave in his confirmation hearings. I don’t think the omissions on the clearance form were a big deal for him (as opposed to Kushner…)
