CIA: Senate briefed in September on Russian efforts to deliver a Trump victory

[Razgovory]

I think the whole bribery, giving information to the Russians thing is a bit more damning.

[Syt]

What if this was all a tragic farce?

Trump goes to Russia, has a great time, courtesy of Putin, not thinking bad of it.

Putin creates a rather damning dossier on Trump and uses it to blackmail him into becoming a presidential candidate and the Kremlin's puppet in the White House.

Trump reluctantly plays along, but tries to sabotage himself by becoming the most outlandish and polarizing candidate he can possibly be. He dialy his obnoxiousness up to 11, he lies, contradicts himself and surrounds himself with a rogue's gallery of incometents, sycophants, and conspiracy theorists.

Only this backfires. Unexpectedly he not only wins the nomination, but also the election, despite losing the popular vote by a huge margin. (His efforts are intercut with Russian operatives trying to patch things up and fix his "unintentional" blunders.)

At least that's how I would write the movie of this.

[The Minsky Moment]

FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!

Live by the sword . . .

[Syt]

Honestly, though, if "Grab'em by the pussy" didn't topple him, I doubt this will.

One side will believe the stories, both about sexual adventures and untoward business dependencies with hostile nations, and the other side will brush it off as fake, exaggerated, or a distraction from the real problems.

[Josquius]

What if this was all a tragic farce?

Trump goes to Russia, has a great time, courtesy of Putin, not thinking bad of it.

Putin creates a rather damning dossier on Trump and uses it to blackmail him into becoming a presidential candidate and the Kremlin's puppet in the White House.

Trump reluctantly plays along, but tries to sabotage himself by becoming the most outlandish and polarizing candidate he can possibly be. He dialy his obnoxiousness up to 11, he lies, contradicts himself and surrounds himself with a rogue's gallery of incometents, sycophants, and conspiracy theorists.

Only this backfires. Unexpectedly he not only wins the nomination, but also the election, despite losing the popular vote by a huge margin. (His efforts are intercut with Russian operatives trying to patch things up and fix his "unintentional" blunders.)

At least that's how I would write the movie of this.

If we make it through the next 4 years then that is a movie version I'd like to see.

[celedhring]

 

[Syt]

I demand credit. "Based on an idea by ..." 

[Tamas]

You have to concede though, the "alt-right" and the Russians are much better in how online communication works.

Serious allegations against Trump and Russia have been made public? Let's flood the Internet with obviously fake overblown "quotes" from it - by this time tomorrow, most people will dismiss the whole thing as utter silliness.

[garbon]

I think the response is interesting. Buzzfeed was irresponsible for releasing the report that is unverified but it was okay last year to publish hacked emails that weren't verified.

[garbon]

Honestly, though, if "Grab'em by the pussy" didn't topple him, I doubt this will.

One side will believe the stories, both about sexual adventures and untoward business dependencies with hostile nations, and the other side will brush it off as fake, exaggerated, or a distraction from the real problems.

I think at this point the impression of the general populace is not super important (after all no elections being faced right now) but more as someone noted about Republican leadership and the extent to which Trump prevents them from passing their legislative agenda/meddles.

I agree though that this isn't going to be any deathblow for him. Only person I see it really potentially hurting is Tillerson as such a pro-Putin figure will be harder for Republicans to stomach in light of so much talk and details around Russian meddling.

[Syt]

I think the response is interesting. Buzzfeed was irresponsible for releasing the report that is unverified but it was okay last year to publish hacked emails that weren't verified.

I find hyprocrisy in political reaction becomes very visible if you imagine the situation with reversed roles.

[CountDeMoney]

Only person I see it really potentially hurting is Tillerson as such a pro-Putin figure will be harder for Republicans to stomach in light of so much talk and details around Russian meddling.

I would think Tillerson would probably be the least vulnerable.  Senior executives for a company like ExxonMobil are protected better than politicians when it comes to potential blackmail or other state-sanctioned business intelligence operations.  Corporate security for ExxonMobil is the real deal, not crowd control thugs and limo drivers like Trump's.  Because if there's anything more important than national security, it's share price.  Were anything ever happen to Tillerson, it would affect the stock market the next day.  That's completely unacceptable for a corporate security operation.

[garbon]

Only person I see it really potentially hurting is Tillerson as such a pro-Putin figure will be harder for Republicans to stomach in light of so much talk and details around Russian meddling.

I would think Tillerson would probably be the least vulnerable.  Senior executives for a company like ExxonMobil are protected better than politicians when it comes to potential blackmail or other state-sanctioned business intelligence operations.  Corporate security for ExxonMobil is the real deal, not crowd control thugs and limo drivers like Trump's.  Because if there's anything more important than national security, it's share price.  Were anything ever happen to Tillerson, it would affect the stock market the next day.  That's completely unacceptable for a corporate security operation.

Vulnerable as in Republicans wanting to confirm his nomination.

[CountDeMoney]

Vulnerable as in Republicans wanting to confirm his nomination.

I dunno, he works for MegaBucksCorp.  They worship that shit.  It would be like Joe Montana walking in.   Autographs first, questions second.  Photos at the door.

[The Larch]

Apparently there are also evidences of another romp with Russian hookers in St. Petersburg paid by a businessman for Azerbayan, besides the Moscow one, but nothing has surfaced from that one.