What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[garbon]

Trump has stated, in his rambling press conference, that he does think Russia was behind the hacking of the DNC.

[Berkut]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2017/jan/11/trump-dossier-russia-has-compromising-material-on-president-elect-live-updates

Rubio asks: Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?

"I would not use that term," Tillerson says.

Rubio says, let me read you a description of Russian atrocities in Syria. He does and then moves on to the bombing of Chechens in Grozny.

Tillerson is staring at Rubio and blinking. Rubio is hammering him a bit, with descriptions of Putin's war crimes, which is an interesting fix for the secretary of state nominee to find himself in, pressed in the direction of defending Putin.

Rubio: "But he's not a war criminal?"

Tillerson: "Those are very very serious charges to make, and I would want to have much more information before reaching a conclusion."

Tillerson says he'd want "to be fully informed about what's happening."

Rubio: "It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin's military has committed war crimes in Aleppo. I find it discouraging your inability to cite that."

Rubio asks Tillerson whether he accepts that Putin has had dissidents shot, poisoned and killed.

Tillerson said "it's important in dealing with information" and "I am not willing to make conclusions with what is publicly available."

Rubio: "None of this is classified Mr Tillerson. These people are dead."

I am not sure what is worse.

That Trump and his sycoophants are going to bat with 100% support for Putin because he has something on them,

or

They are doing that because they want to make money on deals that require them to put business interests ahead of national interests,

or

They are actually so fucking stupid that they actually believe that they are operating in good faith, and in fact doing everything exactly as Putin wishes is really what is best for American interests.

[Barrister]

So this was all a hoax??  Man, I don't know what to believe anymore.

NYT has your back.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/11/us/politics/trump-intelligence-report-explainer.html?_r=0

What We Know and Don't Know About the Trump-Russia Dossier

What We Know

• Last year, a Washington political research firm, paid by Mr. Trump's Republican rivals, hired a retired British intelligence officer to investigate the candidate's ties to Russia.

• After it became clear that Mr. Trump would be the Republican nominee, Democratic clients began to pay the firm for this same "opposition research," standard practice in politics.

• The former British spy, who had long experience in Russia and a network of connections there, compiled dozens of reports detailing what he heard from his contacts. The memos he wrote, mostly one to three pages long, are dated from June to December.

• The memos contain unsubstantiated claims that Russian officials tried to obtain influence over Mr. Trump by preparing to blackmail him with sex tapes and bribe him with business deals. They also claim that the Trump campaign met with Russian operatives to discuss the Russians' hacking and their leaking of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John D. Podesta.

The Washington firm and the former British spy, not identified here because of a confidential source agreement with The New York Times, gave the memos first to their clients but later to the F.B.I. and multiple journalists at The Times and elsewhere. The memos, totaling about 35 pages, also reached a number of members of Congress.

• Last week, when the F.B.I., C.I.A. and National Security Agency gave a classified report on the Russian hacking and leaking and efforts to influence the presidential election to Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump and congressional leaders, they attached a two-page summary of the unverified allegations in the memos.

What We Don't Know

• Whether any of the claims in the memos are true. American intelligence agencies have not confirmed them, and Mr. Trump has said they are a complete fabrication. In addition, one specific allegation — that Mr. Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with a Russian official in Prague in August or September — has been denied by both Mr. Cohen, who says he has never been to Prague, and the Russian, Oleg Solodukhin.

• Who concocted the information in the memos, if it is entirely false or partially so, and with what purpose. Did the British intelligence officer accurately report what he heard? Who gave him the information that, if false, amounts to a very sophisticated fabrication?

• What exactly prompted American intelligence officials to pass on a summary of the unvetted claims to Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump and Congress? Officials have said they felt the president-elect should be aware of the memos, which had circulated widely in Washington. But why put the summary in a report going to multiple people in Congress and the executive branch, virtually assuring it would be leaked?

• What will happen now. The F.B.I. has been investigating the claims in the memos, and Democrats are demanding a thorough inquiry into the reports that Trump representatives met with Russian officials during the campaign. But as of Jan. 20, Mr. Trump will be in charge of the bureau and the other intelligence agencies, and he may not approve such an investigation.

Thanks for that link, G. I was getting lost in exactly what was what by whom.

Look, I would have no problem believing Trump is a bought-and-paid-for Russian plant.  But a "former British intelligence officer reporting (apparently unnamed) what other unnamed Russian sources have told him has serious issues with hearsay.  I think it's telling that these allegations were bought for by Trump's Republican rivals, and by the Democrats, and neither did anything to make such allegations public.

I would love for there to be a full investigation of these sorts of claims - not by congressional hearings, but but a full independant investigator, but I have little to no hope that will happen.

[FunkMonk]

Trump at his press conference seems a rambling, incoherent mess, talking about how he's a germophobe 

This will be the President of the United States. 

Americans make really shitty decisions sometimes.

[garbon]

Trump at his press conference seems a rambling, incoherent mess, talking about how he's a germophobe 

This will be the President of the United States. 

Americans make really shitty decisions sometimes.

Trump says he has always been aware of spying in hotel rooms in countries including Russia. And he warns people he travels with specifically about small cameras.

"I am extremely careful. I'm surrounded by bodyguards.. I always tell them, be very careful, because ... in those rooms you have cameras in the strangest places... you can't see them and you won't know. You better be careful or you will be watching yourself on nightly television."

"I'm also very much of a germaphobe, by the way," Trump says, bringing laughter in the room.

Trump says "I have no dealings" in Russia, "no loans, no current pending deals."

"Over the weekend, I was offered $2bn to do a deal in Dubai" with "a friend of mine." "Great guy."

"I turned it down. I didn't have to turn it down, because as you know, I have a no-conflict situation because I'm president... Pence also has it. I don't think he'll need it... I have a no conflict of interest provision as president... I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don't like the way that looks but I would be able to do that if I wanted to."

On his tax returns:

"I'm not releasing the tax returns because they're under audit... The only people that care about my tax returns is the reporters... I won. I became president. I think you care. First of all you learn very little from tax returns."

So confusing.

[FunkMonk]

 

[alfred russel]

So confusing.

I don't think it is confusing at all.

He is going to ignore conflict of interest norms and also won't be releasing his tax returns.

[DGuller]

Trump at his press conference seems a rambling, incoherent mess, talking about how he's a germophobe 

This will be the President of the United States. 

Americans make really shitty decisions sometimes.

Our country is suffering from mental illness, and mentally ill beings sometimes are suicidal.  Fingers crossed 2016 was just a cry for help rather than quite an effective attempt.

[The Minsky Moment]

But a "former British intelligence officer reporting (apparently unnamed) what other unnamed Russian sources have told him has serious issues with hearsay.

It's junk.
But I'd be lying if it didn't admit to schadenfreude watching Trump foam at the mouth about it.

[frunk]

Look, I would have no problem believing Trump is a bought-and-paid-for Russian plant.  But a "former British intelligence officer reporting (apparently unnamed) what other unnamed Russian sources have told him has serious issues with hearsay.  I think it's telling that these allegations were bought for by Trump's Republican rivals, and by the Democrats, and neither did anything to make such allegations public.

I wouldn't read too much into it.  I think the fact that there's little evidence to back up the allegations means that outrageous allegations like these are unlikely to be used.  It sucks we have crap like this to deal with for the president elect though.

[Razgovory]

Trump seems a bit down.  Perhaps we should send him flowers.  Some sort of Russian plant.

[Grey Fox]

He's 70 years old. 70 years old people are not often coherent.

Ruth is the exception!

[derspiess]

Show of hands-- who posted this fake news on Facebook?  And didn't Zuckerberg say he was gonna protect us against this stuff?

[The Minsky Moment]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2017/jan/11/trump-dossier-russia-has-compromising-material-on-president-elect-live-updates

Here's what I find interesting about that Rubio exchange.  It's true that the Russian bombing campaign in Syria raises serious questions about whether the laws of war were respected.  For example, I understand there is strong circumstantial evidence that at least one hospital was deliberately and repeatedly targeted.

But Tillerson handled the question correctly.  Common sense suggests that the Secretary of State to be should not start off his tenure by accusing a major foreign leader of war crimes. 

But the simple fact is that such common sense realism is a manifestation of the very kind of diplomatic political correctness that Trump and his minions decried over and over again throughout the campaign.  If US diplomats watch their words so as to not needless escalate tensions vis-a-vis Russia, why shouldn't the observe the same care with respect to the Saudis, Jordanians, etc.?  It's a double standard - Mr. Donald Tells-it-like-it-is becomes strangely reticent when his guy Vlad is at issue.  And while this PDF "dossier" looks like a lot of bunkum, Trump's actions speak for themselves.  He may not have been compromised, but he sure is acting as though he has been, which is really just as bad.

[Valmy]

Show of hands-- who posted this fake news on Facebook?  And didn't Zuckerberg say he was gonna protect us against this stuff?

I don't post shit on facebook and the stuff I post here is thoroughly vetted.