Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

In after Baud. Damn.

He really is that stupid.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Battle won, war still ongoing.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Open Thread: Paul Manafort Has / Is A Problem

Open Thread: Paul Manafort Has / Is A Problem

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Conventional Wisdom is that Corey Lewinski Lewandowski was Donald Trump’s favorite political manager, but Paul Manafort was the Trump kids’ choice. (They are, after all, the spoilt spawn of a tinpot autocrat, and Manafort has many years experience dealing with clients who think “but I wanna!” should have the weight of law.) Lewandowski’s “firing” was supposed to signal Manafort’s triumph in the struggle. But now Corey is safely embedded in CNN’s hide, somebody’s got to be held responsible for the RNC clusterfvck, and it sure ain’t gonna be The Donald…. or any of his offspring.

Jon Chait, of NYMag, is a man exquisitely attuned to every shift in the prevailing CW currents:

Donald Trump is not a Russian agent in the sense that Philip and Elizabeth from The Americans are Russian agents. There’s no hidden radio in his laundry room where he transmits secrets to the Kremlin. But his relationship with Russia is disturbing and lends itself to frightening interpretations.

Franklin Foer has detailed the connections between the Republican nominee and the Kremlin. In short, it includes a long series of economic and social ties, which fit the pattern Vladimir Putin has used to infiltrate and undermine governments elsewhere — including in Ukraine, a coup Putin pulled off through Paul Manafort, who is now Trump’s campaign manager. Michael Crowley and Julia Ioffe have both described how the Russian propaganda apparatus has thrown itself behind Trump’s campaign. As Foer notes, Trump’s lack of creditworthiness makes him unusually reliant on unconventional sources of financing. This makes him vulnerable to financial leverage by an unscrupulous foreign entity.

The evidence of Trump’s unseemly affinity for Putin is extensive but circumstantial. Yet the most disturbing explanation for the evidence continues to get more plausible. [Monday], Josh Rogin reports, the Republican Party officially altered its platform on Ukraine and Russia. The previous platform advocated “providing lethal defensive weapons” to Ukraine, reflecting the virtually unanimous position of the Republican Party Establishment. Trump staffers prevailed on the Platform Committee to replace that language with a milder endorsement of “appropriate assistance.”…

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  3. 3.

    Karen S.

    I’ll go nitpicky and say it’s Lewandowski. Corey Lewandowski.
    For a moment I thought he was somehow related to Monica Lewinsky. I think the poor woman has suffered enough.

  4. 4.

    dedc79

    Stalin and Kruschev, chatting in hell:

    Stalin: So, as it turns out, we really didn’t need to spend all that time and effort trying place spies in the american government. We would’ve been far more successful finding a dumb, unprincipled, easily manipulated, megalomaniac billionaire, and getting him to run for President.
    Krushchev: Sonofa….

  8. 8.

    Karen S.

    Authoritarians of a feather flock together, I guess. I’d always thought authoritarians were at least capable of putting on a good show for the masses. So, in addition to being a bully, Trump and the people he’s surrounded himself with, including his children, are incompetent. It’s humorous in a very grim sort of way.

  10. 10.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    Who in the heck would belive the a conservative presidental nomine being seriously accused of being a puppet of the Russians? This is taking “The Hippies were right” to plaid.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    Thursday, the glorious Five Year Plan will be announced.

    Cleveland is hosting a four-day shitzkrieg.

  14. 14.

    Patricia Kayden

    But now Corey is safely embedded in CNN’s hide, somebody’s got to be held responsible for the RNC clusterfvck, and it sure ain’t gonna be The Donald…. or any of his offspring.

    To whom is the RNC a cluster”f”? Perhaps to Democratic-leaning voters but certainly not to dyed-in-the-wool Conservatives. I’m sure they loved Christie’s revving up of the lynch mob last night and the cries of “I hold Hillary Clinton personally responsible for the murder of my son … Benghazi!!!” from Monday night.

    Let’s wait and see whether Trump gets a bump in the polls out of the Convention before saying that someone has to be held responsible for it.

  15. 15.

    bystander

    Their story that a staffer, I.e., not a paid campaign member, plagiarized Michelle O compounds the offense.

    “Given the identification of McIver as an ‘in-house staff writer’ at the Trump Organization in both the statement and letter, and her resignation from the Trump Organization ― printed on Trump Organization stationary ― and not the campaign, it appears that corporate resources may have been used to prepare the speech,” said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for the campaign finance watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “That would make the speech an illegal in-kind corporate contribution from the Trump Organization to the campaign.”

    Sorry, but it’s a HuffPo link.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    Someone weeks ago posted the link to a Slate story about how Trump was being kept afloat because of Russian financing. Always follow the $$$$$$

  17. 17.

    Jay B.

    It’s staggering just how awful they are. I really didn’t think it would be possible to be worse than GW, but, well, shows what I know.

  18. 18.

    debbie

    @bystander:

    When the original freelance writer (Matthew Scully, I think) came out yesterday and said the speech he’d handed over didn’t have those borrowed bits, Trump was forced to come up with something. Typically, he blamed it on a woman.

  19. 19.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    And then I think back to the first Clinton campaign and the oversized outrage that he’d gotten a donation from Charlie Tree. Funny how things change.

  22. 22.

    singfoom

    The idea that anyone could “manage” Trump in any shape size or form is folly. You don’t manage a narcissist, you point their vanity in the rough direction that you want them to go.

    So what’s the theme of the RNC shitshow today? Odds on whether it continues to be a “Kill Hillary!!!” chant regardless of the theme/topic? Need to get a pool going.

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    Will Cruz announce tonight that he’s throwing his hat in the ring to run against Clinton in 2020?

  25. 25.

    J R in WV

    The Republicans have been as treasonous as Jefferson Davis since President Obama was elected. It’s a miracle they didn’t destroy the country as they tried to make Obama a one-term president.

    Mitch McConnell should be the guy just put out of the Senate. For starters.

    So Trump working with Putin’s minions is no surprise at all.

  28. 28.

    jl

    @NotMax:

    ” Will Cruz announce tonight that he’s throwing his hat in the ring to run against Clinton in 2020? ”

    I thought Cotton already gave that speech.

  32. 32.

    Shalimar

    @Punchy: I read earlier that June fundraising numbers would be released this afternoon or evening. My memory from the end of last month was they would come out during the convention but not on the last day, so I don’t think I heard wrong earlier.

    Who is actually responsible for releasing the numbers? If it is the Trump campaign itself, I could see them just not doing it even though they have a legal obligation.

  34. 34.

    dr. bloor

    Paul Manafort: “We think the party is getting unified.”

    In Republicanstan, you don’t unify party, party unifies you.

    Edit to add that the low profile on the Putin/Trump link lasts until the Clinton campaign decides to amp it up. What’s the date of the foreign policy debate again?

  35. 35.

    Anne Laurie

    @NotMax:

    Will Cruz announce tonight that he’s throwing his hat in the ring to run against Clinton in 2020?

    Reince will be lucky if Cruz doesn’t use his Big Speech tonight to announce an insurgent run against Trump in 2016.

  36. 36.

    Splitting Image

    @Patricia Kayden:

    To whom is the RNC a cluster”f”? Perhaps to Democratic-leaning voters but certainly not to dyed-in-the-wool Conservatives. I’m sure they loved Christie’s revving up of the lynch mob last night and the cries of “I hold Hillary Clinton personally responsible for the murder of my son … Benghazi!!!” from Monday night.

    Arguably, Mormons. Utah was considered a bellwether state with a slight Republican lean until it went hardcore Republican in the late 60s or early 70s. The 1968 riots at the Democratic convention are one very good reason why that happened. Mitt Romney may have taken a lot of flak for saying that some things should be “discussed in quiet rooms”, but I think a good number of Mormons agree with him on that.

    Donald Trump is the complete opposite of a guy who keeps the dirty laundry hidden in quiet rooms, and having his aides say that Hillary Clinton should be locked up or shot probably doesn’t play well in Salt Lake City. I’ll want to see some polls from Utah before I mark it down as “leans Democratic”, but Trump is sure doing everything he can to lose it.

  40. 40.

    liberal

    Unfortunately, the fact that Hillary and her advisers aren’t unlikely to confront another nuclear power (Russia) in its backyard, where it undoubtably has escalation dominance, over things in which we have zero national interest isn’t exactly a glowing recommendation for the Democratic ticket.

  41. 41.

    dmsilev

    @Shalimar:

    Who is actually responsible for releasing the numbers? If it is the Trump campaign itself, I could see them just not doing it even though they have a legal obligation.

    The FEC releases them on their website. Not sure what sort of penalties there are if the Trump campaign just plain doesn’t submit a repot.

  42. 42.

    liberal

    @Splitting Image:

    The 1968 riots at the Democratic convention are one very good reason why that happened.

    I think another very good reason, at least for the current state of affairs is (drumroll, please)…that Mormons are pretty right-wing.

  43. 43.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @bystander:

    I don’t even believe such a person exists – I think “she” is the same person as “John Miller” and “John Barron”. If she does exist, she’s been railroaded. Nothing about anything of this story makes sense unless you assume Trump and Melania were the culprits.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    Humorist Merrill Markoe covers the convention.

    Day One:

    By mid- morning a grating self-appointed representative of the millennials took the stage, carrying forward the annual tradition in which each succeeding generation takes its turn at a GOP convention demonstrating how their demographic sample will claim the mantle of ‘the absolute worst.’ This year’s youthful spokeswoman was filled with pride that the millennials are a generation of self-starters. “No one taught us how to be consumers” she boasted, pleased that the people her age hadn’t required tedious consumer classes or all-night study sessions like the coddled members of previous generations. Source

    Day Two:

    Another speaker, Dana White, President of The Ultimate Fighting championship, credited Mr. Trump with being the only person willing to support his desire to promote “a blood sport.” For some reason, this was extraordinarily easy to believe. Source

  47. 47.

    Corner Stone

    @liberal:

    Unfortunately, the fact that Hillary and her advisers aren’t unlikely to confront another nuclear power (Russia) in its backyard, where it undoubtably has escalation dominance, over things in which we have zero national interest isn’t exactly a glowing recommendation for the Democratic ticket.

    Aren’t unlikely? The double negative there makes me wonder if your heart is really in this comment.

  50. 50.

    Candia

    re: the state senator from NH who was asking for Hillary to be shot. Have you seen the response from the Trump Team?

    “We’re incredibly grateful for his support, but we don’t agree with his comments.”

    WTF? What a reaction is that? Is that all? Why include the first part of the sentence at all in that context; it only further qualifies and diminishes any teeny tiny smidgen of disapproval someone could interpret into that statement. No condemnation. No disavowal. No request on turning the heat down. No condemnation of any incitements of violence. Nothing.

    There is actually no one – no one – there in the GOP – to say “enough is enough”, to say, “we don’t want the support of someone like that”…

    As someone not from the USA: please, Americans, don’t let the rest of the world down! Deal Trump – and more importantly the too many people who follow him – a resounding defeat in November!

  51. 51.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @liberal:
    Are you through fucking yourself already? If not what are you waiting for? If you are please go do it again. Soon and for a long time.

  52. 52.

    gogol's wife

    This Putin connection really scares me. He has made Russia a really, really sad place. I never thought we could be defeated by the Russians via the electoral process.

  53. 53.

    singfoom

    @liberal: So you think that Hillary will provoke Russia in the Ukraine /Crimea area because reasons? You don’t think there’s a strategic reason for keeping Russian from slowly grabbing more and more territory from NATO neighboring states?

    Please explain the logic underlying that conclusion.

  54. 54.

    Felonius Monk

    Tonight the Trump Campaign releases the Cruz Missile. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it did a 180 and bit them in the ass?

  57. 57.

    Gvg

    I am sure I have read the report is supposed to be today however given it’s Trump I am kinda expecting them not to have it on time and maybe even try and get away with not doing it or lying in it. What exactly happens penalty wise if they don’t file. Can they not be on the ballot unless they file an acceptable true report? Because I can’t think of anything else that would likely make him if he decides not to. Fines and legal sanctions are something he would assume he could get out of and change the laws “when ” he got in office…

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @Gvg

    Deadline for filing was June 30. If no report had been filed, that would have already come out.

  60. 60.

    shortribs

    @NotMax:

    Thursday, the glorious Five Year Plan will be announced.

    I’m still convinved Trump will announce he will fix all the country’s problems in one term and then step down (and will make a reference to the Clinton “dynasty”). He likes gimmicks, that seems something he could toss out there and the media would spend the next week discussing it.

  62. 62.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @singfoom:
    “Please explain the logic underlying that conclusion your concussion.”

    It has become obvious the doofus is an agent of the gop, NOBODY could be that stupid by accident. He is such a Bernie supporter he will vote for Drumpf because that will teach us all a lesson.

  64. 64.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” They’ll need a year-long convention to say everything that needs to be said ”

    But I bet Baud! 2016! could sum it all up for them in one great speech. Or maybe a demonstration on kicking liberals in the shins. Or, you could yell at an empty chair.

  68. 68.

    srv

    Sometimes I don’t know if I’m reading reddit/r/conspiracy, redstate or Balloon-Juice.

    Next up, Trump behind Turkish fauxcoup.

  69. 69.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @singfoom:

    Please explain the logic underlying that conclusion.

    HRC is a neo-liberal, warmongering, corporate whore – just like her supporters, duh.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    Ed Wood couldn’t direct a more pathetic production.

    The whole mess is like someone played 52 pick-up with the loose pages of the scripts of Ishtar, Scarface and Showgirls, then randomly assembled them together.

  74. 74.

    jl

    @NotMax:

    ” Ed Wood couldn’t direct a more pathetic production. ”

    Like, can you see the wires holding Trump’s alien life-form hair-substance in place? I’d watch a clip of that.

  75. 75.

    jacy

    Swear to dog, every time I see Manafort speak, he puts me in mind of a ’60s Vegas mob guy. Chazz Palminteri would play him in a movie.

    I so want Cruz to lose his shit on stage tonight. He just needs a little push….

  76. 76.

    JPL

    ? One of my sons live in an apartment complex, and even U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent expressed concern about voting, because of payback if Trump won. We live in a Red State, but our vote still counts for the popular vote. Has anyone else heard about this?

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @liberal:

    I would change that slightly and say that Utah Mormons tend to be quite conservative. They share some features with the right wing — like being pretty virulently anti-gay — but they also have a lot of state lands and national parks that they’re very proud of and take a lot of steps to protect. There’s a reason the Bundys are not pulling their stunts in Utah where they would be much more frowned upon by their neighbors.

    They currently vote Republican, but Trump is not their kind of guy. McCain knew how to appeal to them because AZ has a large Mormon population, but I can see a lot of Utah Mormons voting for Johnson rather than Trump.

  81. 81.

    Aleta

    @debbie: I was thinking about that 1st Clinton campaign too. I believe at this point the Rs were trying to destroy him with “the character issue” and NAFTA questions, and (if I recall from the documentary) the Ds were attacking Bush for lacking policy (to fix the economy). Sort of like now, though Bill slithered out of the character issue.

  86. 86.

    Aleta

    Last week i copied down some of Manafort’s baldfaced lies from an interview transcript.

    There are very few people talking about (stopping Trump). The delegates to the convention who we’re dealing with on a regular basis are looking forward for an exciting time.

    (There ) aren’t going to be any serious issues in Cleveland. People are banding together. The broad base of the Republican Party has united behind Donald Trump, is working with us, helping us build out our campaign

    .

    And the integration we have with the RNC, is almost seamless. I mean, it’s coming together very nicely.

    They’re saying he doesn’t have a campaign structure. That’s just not true.

    (Manafort on C Matthews)

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @Mnemosyne:

    They share some features with the right wing — like being pretty virulently anti-gay — but they also have a lot of state lands and national parks that they’re very proud of and take a lot of steps to protect.

    Some of them do. The small town ranchers out in the Utah boondocks are nowhere near as protective of the national lands as the city dwellers are. There’s still a lot of anger about Clinton declaring Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and a fairly strong movement to demand that BLM land be turned over to the state.

  88. 88.

    Peale

    Yep. I’m glad this is starting to percolate up. Methinks I’d even prefer a candidate bought by the Kochs to one bought by the russian kleptocracy. At least the Kochs have SOME interest in keeping their penthouses and mansions secure.

  89. 89.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    McIver the Plagiarizer has a FB page that just appeared today, with no friends. Curiouser and curiouser.

  90. 90.

    Roger Moore

    @Aleta:

    They’re not even within 100 miles of Baghdad. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion… they are trying to sell to the others an illusion.

    I can say, and I am responsible for what I am saying, that they have started to commit suicide under the walls of Baghdad. We will encourage them to commit more suicides quickly.

  91. 91.

    Mary G

    You might think that exposing Mrs Trump’s admiration for Mrs Obama is embarrassing for the Republican party , but it’s just coming out a bit early. When Obama took office, he was the dangerous radical and Bill Clinton was the wonderful bipartisan president who cooperated and got shit done. The minute Obama leaves office, everything they’ve screamed about him will disappear down the memory hole. They will start quoting the David Brooks article about him and bemoaning his loss and Hillary will be the spawn of Satan.

  92. 92.

    singfoom

    @Geoduck: @pluky: Oh, there’s nothing wrong with “Agile” in and of itself. Product managers are going to abuse whatever system they’re using, whether it’s scrum or agile or kanban, etc, etc…..

    If you want to bang your head against your desk, ask your product manager what he think “agile” means. The gap between other people’s definitions is the problem usually.

    I’ve been in a bunch of “agile” dev shops and not one of them has done it the exact same way as another.

  98. 98.

    Aleta

    Paul Manafort, the Black Prince turned to unearthly toad who was supposed to remain out of the light of day

  99. 99.

    Schlemazel Khan

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:
    Well that fits with my theory that whoever wrote the stupid thing was trying to embarrass Drumpf! The theft might have been an accident but the rick roll was a dead give away

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne

    In their multitudes, they’re visitors. Or fans. Buddies, even. But friends?

    Precious time spent communing with actual friends abrogates squandering it with the pseudo-life of Facebook.

  102. 102.

    gogol's wife

    @srv:

    Oh yeah, it’s a really farfetched conspiracy. Do you watch Russian television, news, by any chance? They’ve been promoting Trump since the debate season.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    I’m sure that’s just the usual scaremongering. On a happier note, the Texas Voter ID law was struck down for being discriminatory.

  104. 104.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @NotMax:

    I re-established several relationships that had been lost for many years, and it’s a great way to keep up with my friends in other time zones. No one likes to talk on the phone any more because the timing is never right. Plus, kids grow up fast and I get to see what my friends kids look like before they’re old too. It’s a tool, like everything else.

  107. 107.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I don’t remember which R flunky I heard today say that Trump’s family were the best speakers for him. They could show his human side and talk to the “moms” who were so worried.

    What a patronizing jerk. Once a woman has a child, her brain is removed, and she’s influenced only by a candidates women and children.

  108. 108.

    gogol's wife

    The Hillary campaign just called me (although I have asked five times to be taken off their phone list; I contribute regularly online and do not need to be called, especially robocalls). The person on the phone said that Trump is now neck-and-neck with her in key battleground states. All it’s done is demoralize and depress me. How can she be losing to this guy, to paraphrase Jon Lovitt?

  114. 114.

    Peter

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: It can’t be a convention bump. The convention’s still happening, the polling isn’t out yet!

    Anyway, it’s probably just one weird poll that the campaign is using for a fundraising opportunity.Polling at this stage means nothing; it actually has less predictive value than polling done back in February.

  115. 115.

    Old Broad in California

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: OTOH I discovered today that one of the “friends” with whom I had re-established contact on Facebook thinks HRC is a “criminal” and is “leaning toward voting for Donald”. Aaarrrghh

  116. 116.

    FlipYrWhig

    @gogol’s wife: Why it’s almost as though a professional fundraiser is trying hard to make you believe that your funds will make a crucial difference! She should have said “Hillary Clinton is a lock to win this thing and we hardly need your dollars at all”!

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @Aleta:

    Paul Manafort, the Black Prince

    Billy Galvin (MA Sec State) used to be called something like “Prince of Darkness,” but he’s sweetness and light compared to that traitorous motherfucker. Yes, I mean traitorous — until he proves that he’s not doing Putin’s work here. I expect I’ll be waiting a long time.

  119. 119.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Old Broad in California:

    Yeah, had to get rid of one of my friends who moved away, who became a tea party “liker”. Can’t be friends with someone who lives in opposite world and believes in everything I despise. FB is kind of a sorting hat that way.

  120. 120.

    sinnedbackwards

    @gogol’s wife: HuffPost poll aggregations show Hillary ahead nationally, and in Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, NORTH CAROLINA, and two-tenths of a percent behind in Arizona.

    The NYTimes points out if she wins FL and PA he can win the rest and she still carries the electoral college.

    Polls are more meaningful after Labor Day, but the FACT that she has led nationally and in most of those states all this year is meaningfully suggestive.

    Lke Drumpf has a VERY long hoe to row.

    Not sure if that helps, but hope so.

    (As B. Clinton has said, it’s ARITHmetic.

  123. 123.

    Dadadadadadada

    @Jay B.: See, that’s the thing about Trump: yes, he’s cartoonishly awful, and yes his presidency would be an utter catastrophe for America, but would it REALLY be worse than W. Bush?

  124. 124.

    Dadadadadadada

    @liberal: Remember that the Mormon church (I speak as a disaffected non-practicing Mormon whose name is still on the rolls because I just can’t be bothered to deal with the technicalities of official excommunication) didn’t allow black men to hold the priesthood until 10 years after 1968. And that a Mormon apostle, in his official capacity (literally over the pulpit, I think) accused racial-equality protesters of being a Communist plot to destroy America.
    I think that right there is sufficient to explain Utah’s rightward lurch in the late 60s. You don’t even need to mention feminism, homosexuality, the welfare state, etc. (all things that Mormons officially despise).

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