So now what everyone with an IQ above freezing already knew has been confirmed: Under Obama, the government did intercept and monitor electronic communications by Trump's people. That from House Select Committee on Intelligence chair Devin Nunes who said Trump's team was "incidentally" wiretapped.
How could that have been? Well ...
• They wiretap everyone, and
• The FBI was investigating the alleged Trump-Putin connection
Attacking Trump for saying Obama had him wiretapped is idiotic because Trump & Co.'s electronic communications were intercepted and monitored, which is what "wiretapped" means.
Obama was president and was responsible for what the government did. Moreover, Obama knew about the specific investigation and acted on that basis (deciding not to make a big deal about the supposed Russian election hacking but instead telling Putin privately to cut it out).
Now, this idea that Trump is Putin's stooge is ridiculous.
Obama was president and was responsible for what the government did. Moreover, Obama knew about the specific investigation and acted on that basis (deciding not to make a big deal about the supposed Russian election hacking but instead telling Putin privately to cut it out). Now, this idea that Trump is Putin's stooge is ridiculous.
What is going on in is a fight over foreign policy: should the United States take its distance from Western Europe, while adopting a less confrontational tone towards Russia, and a more aggressive one towards China?
That's what Trump wants, and why Trump would want this isn't hard to figure out: the German-dominated European Union is a competitor to the United States on everything from automobiles to airliners. Russia doesn't compete nearly as widely and presents opportunities for U.S. investment, which is why the head of the biggest U.S. oil company is Trump's secretary of state. Like, could Trump have made it any more obvious?
That's what Trump wants, and why Trump would want this isn't hard to figure out: the German-dominated European Union is a competitor to the United States on everything from automobiles to airliners. Russia doesn't compete nearly as widely and presents opportunities for U.S. investment, which is why the head of the biggest U.S. oil company is Trump's secretary of state. Like, could Trump have made it any more obvious?
But the domestic side is also important. Trump is feeding raw meat to a hungry base. Trump's followers don't care whether Obama personally gave the order and used the word "wiretap." Obama knew in general that everyone was being spied on, he knew specifically that Trump and his people were a focus because of the Russia-election investigation, even if the U,.S. spooks were too polite to brand them a "target." That's good enough, and not just for his base but many others, to say that Trump's charge about Obama spying on his campaign is essentially true.
And don't take comfort in poll numbers that say many/most people don't believe the head of the House of Orange .. I mean the louse with the head of orange.
Trump doesn't need high approval percents, he needs intense and enthusiastic support from his base, and that is what he is getting. He means to change things and for that he needs the battering ram of an enthusiastic, mobilized movement, not simple passive acquiescence, even if from a majority.
Trump doesn't need high approval percents, he needs intense and enthusiastic support from his base, and that is what he is getting. He means to change things and for that he needs the battering ram of an enthusiastic, mobilized movement, not simple passive acquiescence, even if from a majority.
The mainstream neo-liberal Democrats are using this "Lying Trump" trope to rehabilitate Hillary Clinton and cover up popular disgust with what used to be called the New Democrats, i.e., Clinton, Obama, Emmanuel and their ilk. It was the Russians who got Trump elected, they want us to believe.
Bullshit: it was Hillary that got Trump elected.
It is true that she won the popular vote, but ... of her three million popular vote margin, more than four million came from California. She lost the other 49 states by a million votes. Worse, factor out New York also and she loses the other 48 states by three million votes.
And she lost them against fucking Donald Trump! The most unpopular presidential candidate ever since polling was invented! How unpopular? Even more disliked than fucking Queen Hillary.
So why did she win the overall popular vote? Because two decades ago the Republican Party in California committed suicide by tying their fate to the anti-immigrant Proposition 187. As a result, they are now basically dead there, holding no statewide offices and reduced to a small minority in the legislature.
I mean, it was like if they had run against the Irish in Brooklyn or Boston 100 tears ago. Sure, shit all over the Latino community and then try to get elected in a state without a single major city with an English name. So that's why Hillary swept California by four million votes. The Democrats could have run Attila the Hun without hurting their margin of victory.
I mean, it was like if they had run against the Irish in Brooklyn or Boston 100 tears ago. Sure, shit all over the Latino community and then try to get elected in a state without a single major city with an English name. So that's why Hillary swept California by four million votes. The Democrats could have run Attila the Hun without hurting their margin of victory.
But elsewhere, all over the country, millions who had voted for Obama just could not bring themselves to come out for Hillary last November. Millions who voted for Sanders in the primary wouldn't vote for her in the general, even if her opponent was Trump. And, worse of all, millions who voted for Bernie in the primaries voted for Trump in the fall because they were so fed up with the unending gusher of bullshit from our political class in Washington.
And --this the Democrats share with their Republican brethren-- they are desperate to avoid discussion of any real issues, like the health care mess, the minimum wage, or ending the American forever wars in Asia and the Middle East.
That was beautiful--the best written and most precise summary of where we stand in America today that I have read this year. When Rachel Maddow turns herself into the Democratic Rush Limbaugh you know that the entire partisan political establishment has lost its mind--and this at a very dangerous moment in history when Western style liberal democracy is hanging on by a thread both here and in Europe. I wish this piece could be the lead editorial in the NYT, but of course they would never allow anywhere near that much truth to grace the pages of their fake news rag.
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