Ouch…too close to the truth!
I guess the pee tape is real, huh?
And both sides spy. But the fact that we spied on the Soviet Union never caused any Republican (or much of anyone) to say we should not arrest and punish the spies when we caught them.
An interesting parsing coming from both Coryn and Gowdy — They believe the intelligence community and think the President’s reluctance to do so reflects a fear of that admitting as much delegitimates the results of the election, which it does not.
I’m curious to see if this becomes the official line. We disagree but forgive the President because this is more of a personal insecurity than an official position and of course he’s our legitimate ruler.
Honestly, this is still my baseline guess, as far as Trump himself is concerned. I’m a lot less sure of it than I was a year ago, but it still seems plausible given what we know about his personality and the way his campaign operated.
Not mine. He knows they interfered because he was an active participant.
Agreed. I wouldn’t doubt for a minute he gave no thought into whomever was aiding him during his election. I suspect he just gave carte blanche to his team to do whatever they wanted in regards to the campaign, thinking it would be a fleeting moment, and then personally kept focusing on his image and monetization opportunities.
edit -
Yeah, the whole asking Russia to hack Clinton’s emails thing is… well… it is what it is. Certainly active at that point.
It really makes you wonder what Trump would have to do to get some people to think he was being blackmailed by the Russians. Would it be trying to break up the EU because they’re the first enemy he can think of? No, apparently not. Would it be trying to break up NATO? No, not that either. Would it be destabilizing the US economy by launching a trade war with no plan to gain anything from it? No, not that. Would it be giving the rest of Ukraine to Russia? Nope.
Consider it a challenge. What would it take to change your mind?
So can the US still execute people for high treason?
I don’t think he was blackmailed, tbh. Or at least not effectively so. Pee tapes or whatever, he’s willfully shown a lot worse on his own and paid relatively little for his transgressions.
The only thing I believe he fears is losing all his money, and while Russia certainly had something to do with his cash, I doubt they’d have enough leverage to yank it all away.
Yes.
Yes, that’s clear. That’s why I asked what sort of behavior on his part would change your mind.
Ah, misunderstood; my mistake.
I’d actually suspect it if he went more defensive/protective about his assets.
Sorry, but I don’t understand what that means, aside from thinking it means that actual concessions to Russia and policies that hurt the US while helping Russia won’t do it.
Oh God no. That would displease the ALEC and Federalist Society Gods. Can’t have that, even if the leader of their party is selling out the country on international television.
It wouldn’t be anything in relation to what he was saying about Russia (not any more than he already is). Rather, him making moves and making statements to protect his assets in addition to what he’s doing. If Russia (or anyone) was blackmailing him, I’d expect any transaction to be under the table and not in any policy move or public statement.
Penalty: U.S. Code Title 18: Death, or not less than 5 years imprisonment and not more than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (minimum fine of $10,000, if not sentenced to death).
I don’t get that at all. If Russia is blackmailing Trump, they aren’t blackmailing him for his money, they’re blackmailing him as a means to manipulate US policy to their benefit. Evidence of that would be Trump doing policy things that they want, not Trump getting squirrely about his money. Yet the latter would convince you they were blackmailing him, but not the former?