WH furious over Russian government photos of Trump meeting with Lavrov/Kislyak. "They tricked us," an official said of Russians "They lie."
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) May 11, 2017
Sooooo unlike our very own Republican Party…
These Oval office photos show men who share the same contempt for rule of law. Remember them. https://t.co/s1rAfEN75Z
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) May 11, 2017
“He chose to receive him because Putin asked him to.. Putin did specifically ask on the call when they last talked.” https://t.co/xPBbdmFPsk pic.twitter.com/nDTtnNpz5s
— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) May 10, 2017
Lavrov was "right where he wanted to be" this week, "mocking U.S. while being welcomed into Oval" by Trump https://t.co/CJQg4dUgKV
— Greg Miller (@gregpmiller) May 11, 2017
Probably would’ve been enough just to tell the President-Asterisk that you-know-who refused Putin’s request…
… The meeting was Lavrov’s first in the White House since 2013—and came after several years of the Obama administration’s flat-out refusal to grant him an Oval Office audience, two former senior White House officials told me. “The Russians were begging us for years to do that,” one of the former officials said. “They were constantly pushing for it and we were constantly saying no.”…
Russia’s longest-serving foreign minister of the post-Cold War era, Lavrov has worked alongside Putin since 2004 with a single-minded goal: to make Russia great again—and all the better if he could do so at America’s expense. So, for Lavrov and Putin, the scene was more than just a bizarre moment of Washington political theater in which they played walk-on roles. It was vindication, proof that their tilt toward Trump after years of tense dealings with two successive American presidents could yet pay off.
In some key respects, this already is a down payment on the Russian reset Trump promised on the campaign trail. Or at least an appearance-laden first step toward the renewed relations and potential grand bargain with Putin that Trump has never disavowed even as the politics of doing a deal with Russia have gotten dicier amid the political furor here in Washington over the Russiagate investigation of team Trump that Comey was overseeing…
On a personal level, Lavrov is universally disliked among U.S. diplomats. “He’s a complete asshole,” a top Bush official told me for that Foreign Policy profile. Added a top Obama official in a conversation Wednesday: “He’s a nasty SOB. He would be relentlessly berating and browbeating and sarcastic and nasty. His job was to berate and beat and harass us and Secretary Kerry into conceding the Russian view. It wasn’t defeating America; it was that Russia can’t win if it has to compromise at all.”.
And many of these same officials believe that gives Lavrov—who went out of his way at a news conference Wednesday to praise Trump as a “businessman” who wants to get deals done—an advantage in negotiating with Trump at a time when there is little clear about his foreign policy except that he wants to cut deals that are proving frustratingly elusive on other fronts.
“I don’t see him as zero-sum and suspicious of and averse to the West as Putin is,” said another former Obama official who sat in many meetings in recent years with Lavrov. “He believes more in at least tactical cooperation, at least in a broader context of strategic nonalignment. I think he did actually look for opportunities. I also think he plays to his bosses. So the extent to which he’s acerbic and nasty—that’s partly his personality and partly what he believes Putin and actual powers that be want to hear.”…
Ego-drunk, overconfident amateurs got played by the professionals. Hey, GOP, remember the old proverb: If you look around the poker table and can’t pick out the mark… it’s you.
“Now that those Russians are gone we can breath a sigh of relief”
“Yeah, at least that’s over”
“Uh…”
“Anyone seen the football?” https://t.co/nVK0u9b1eZ
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) May 11, 2017
Warren Terra
I just don’t get this claim from the Trump White House that they didn’t expect the professional photographer with the bag of camera equipment, who was there for no other reason and whom Trump and his guests posed for, to post the photos online. What did they imagine he was going to do with the pictures? Treasure them always, but privately? Use them in a satanic ritual? They were only ever intended for blackmail purposes?
On the other hand, now that a known agent of the Russian foreign ministry has carried a bag of audiovisual equipment into the Oval Office, we have a shadow of a chance of reiterating yet another aspect of Watergate – if he left something to record what happens, and if we can get those recordings. I wonder how Putin would respond to a subpoena?
Gian
wait, they really thought the Russians were their friends?
shhh don’t tell Trump that the strippers don’t think he’s really cute, and are lying to him, he might have a stroke.
Major Major Major Major
I gotta say, this all seems to be falling apart pretty quickly. Did Watergate feel the same?
@Warren Terra: Yeah, with a lot of the stuff (“we thought obama was joking!”) it’s at least somewhat conceivable that they meant it. This excuse is completely implausible.
Kropadope
I love how he gives Russian media more respect and credence than he does the American media. I suppose he must realize it’s tightly controlled propaganda and wishes we went on that model. Besides, even if the state has them report negatively on him, he won’t have the added insult of understanding any of what they say.
jacy
@Major Major Major Major:
I was 9. The only thing I remember clearly was my parents utter contempt for Nixon (Well, for Republicans in general, but specifically Nixon.) I do remember watching him get on the plane, I think my parents had a lot of cocktails that day.
Kropadope
@Gian:
I mean I would never wish a stroke on anyone, but we owe the man the honest truth. Perhaps it never reaches his ears. That stroke could represent an all-too-late epiphany. Though it may be his last moment, that moment could save his soul.
Smitty
Why is anyone surprised that Trump would turn down an opportunity to be photographed in the Oval Office?
Elaine Benis
My rep is Dave “Rubberstamp” Reichart – former Sheriff of Green River Killer fame – who is currently in hiding from his constituents. I am pushing on him HARD (and cc-ing local media) on each instance of Trump illegalities. Every instance.
You’d think a former Sheriff whose whole persona revolves around being a law-and-order guy would be interested in obstruction of justice, but apparently not. Odd, that.
John Revolta
Hilarious.
jacy
Mother of Pearl! Photoshop just borked itself in the middle of a project, and of course I hadn’t backed it up in 30 minutes. . Aaaarrrrggghh. I fucking hate insomnia. Starting over……
Keith P.
Is it “They *fooled* me, Jared!” or “They fooled *me*, Jared!”?
Elizabelle
@jacy:
@Major Major Major Major:
This does feel like it’s falling apart way faster than Watergate. Problem is, the Republican party and its base have been radicalized in the intervening decades (thanks, Fox News and Rush and “think” tanks), and it may take longer to get them to put country above party.
The Democrats are totally against what is happening. I laugh to see the MSM pretty much dismisses them and is pining for its white knight Republican.
I think we’re in for a fascinating summer.
patrick II
This is one more example of why it is clear that the Russians have something on Trump. Embarrass him and then laugh at him and he can do nothing. He will still make the oil for sanctions deal the first chance he gets.
dogwood
@Elaine Benis:
Maybe Kos can get the gang back together for another Darcy Burner run. I’m not as familiar with your district as I should be, but I’ve been under the impression that it’s not blood red.
Elizabelle
@patrick II: We need to try to stop that oil for sanctions deal.
I look forward to the Dems showing strength, slowing things down, because this administration does things that are bad for the American people.
I’m ready to come back and throw bricks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jacy: I’ve been on that chopper, and maybe the AF-1 he flew to CA. The chopper is at the Nixon Library, the AF-1 is at the Reagan Library.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gian:
Wait, they weren’t truthful when they said they wanted to have breakfast with me? I’m crushed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: It’s moving faster than Watergate, but the big difference is that Dems were in control of Congress in the 70’s and the current Congress shows no inclination of not slow waling this.
Elaine Benis
@dogwood:
Wow….I haven’t thought of her for years. We def need to find a strong dem challenger.
The 8th is gerrymandered (of course) but pretty tippy – Ryan gave Reichart permission to vote no on the AHCA.
NotMax
Best negotiator and greatest deal make ever.
In a pig’s eye.
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: True. This whole thing is an object lesson in “you are safer if you have Democrats in office.”
And maybe the general public needs to watch this and wonder “why aren’t we seeing some movement on resolving this situation?” and coming to the slow, slow realization that Republicans are not necessarily their friends. That Democrats actually have their backs. Good question how long that takes; maybe a long time ….
But maybe not. Recall that Quinnepeac (sp) poll: idiot and incompetent were the top choices to describe Trump. By a long shot. So the public is woke, to some extent. Turning out for a march, for the first time ever, has already happened a few times. If you can turn out to protest global warming, which threatens us over the coming years, you can turn out to protest a President trying to go dictator on your ass this year. (ETA: And most Americans know Trump is unfit. They might not admit it outside a tight circle, but we hear it among our Trump-curious friends and family.)
We err in assuming the rightwing and their Congressional servants hold total power. They’re only as good as their weathervanes in Congress. And the winds are blowing, and changing.
We need to be the winds, turning into gale force.
Elizabelle
Barcelona is sparkling this morning. Going out for a few hours.
To greennotGreen and her family: strength and grace. I think of you all often.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
On a funny, apolitical note, there’s a brilliant 80s slasher/monster parody out.
Don’t Fuck in the Woods
Bloody goddamned brilliant title. Nearly as good as the name for a bar my friend mentioned during a mediation yesterday: “The 13th Step”.
My counter offering was “Relapse”.
Sab
Has Cosima commented lately? She said she was off to Dumfries a while back and nothing since then.
Elizabelle
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: ?
Elizabelle
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Love it.
Fred
Everyone is laughing like he was surprised by the photographer. How else can he get surveillance equipment in or hand off electronic storage for his keepers?
TS
He lies – non stop. It appears he has no idea of what is the truth. Can the GOP congress go on shrugging their shoulders?
tybee
@Elizabelle:
yeah, may you live in interesting times.
p.a.
“They lie… better than we do.”
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
Watergate was much slower and more reasoned. And we had two functioning parties back then and people of integrity in both parties in Congress.
evodevo
@jacy: I was 27 and remember it like it was yesterday … we were on the road and in the Atlanta “underground” doing the tourist thing, and we all went out and celebrated. In fact, the whole town was celebrating…..
Sab
@zhena gogolia: That is how I remember it also. Two parties of functioning grown-ups. Different political perspectives, but all Patriots. Nothing like the current GOP grifters who will take money from anywhere.
No Drought No More
@patrick II: You beat me to the punch. Simply put, Trump is being blackmailed.
He has no choice but to acquiesce to any demand Putin might make, because Putin can ruin him with a single press conference.
It also serves to explain Trump’s reluctance to fire Flynn (until his hand was forced by the intelligence agencies that briefed Yates). He very sensibly feared it might antagonize the Wily Russians who hold his fate in their hands (quite aside from fearing what Flynn might have on him).
Trump also feared to fire Flynn because it threatened to profoundly alter American’s perception of his corrupt ass. Which it has, albeit far too slowly for those Americans who have already gaged the depth of his depraved soul (i.e., the majority of voters last November). But however slowly, that’s exactly what is happening now. Erstwhile ignorant and uninformed Americans are finally getting hip, and they will grow ever hipper as this story unfolds (which also explains why he’s so hung up on those stupid little maps all covered in red that he hands out like candy).
The wisdom in Lincoln’s old chestnut sums up what’s ailing Trump: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all the people, all the time”. That dynamic is in play now, and it spells Trump’s doom. Those who doubt that need only recall The Trickster’s massive landslide of 1972, and the fact he was driven from office in a mere 18 months (which felt more like 18 years). Very few Americans shed a tear when he boarded that helicopter in August of 1974, simply because they had finally wised up. Even Trump must remember how relieved Americans were to see him go.
Finally, give Putin and The Wily Russians their just due. They’ve earned it. They cultivated the Bozo in order to blackmail and use him, and boy oh boy, did they ever hit the jackpot.
Which is not to say they initially held any hope that Trump would be elected president, of course- they’re not that wily. But that did happen, Trump is president, and so, suffice to say, life is very, very good nowadays for the Thugs of Moscow. All they need do is kick back now, pour some vodka, put their feet up, and laugh and laugh and laugh..
Come to think of it, I’d of had a shit-eating grin on my face on Wednesday, too, had I had been a Russian posing with Trump for photographs in the White House.
Wyatt Derp
@Sab: I was just a teenager during Watergate but remember my folks (diehard Republicans) focusing on everything but what Nixon did, even the appearance of democrats who were opposing him and the disloyalty of Republicans who stood up to him. Probably began my long slide into being a socialist pinko lefty. Anyway, this is not necessarily a new thing but has become much more pervasive in the Republican party.
Also, at least Nixon used American burglars…
StringOnAStick
@Wyatt Derp: Yeah, my folks acted like that too. My dad was a Bircher in mind if not an actual member and now spends his time completely submersed in FOX news and whatever crap his fellow wingnut buddies forward to him, seething with rage. FOX is an enemy of this country and has utterly poisoned the discourse, leading to the US being coopted by Russia via money laundering through super PAC’s and the idiot now in the Oval Office.
hugely
@Wyatt Derp: i thought they were cuban?
D58826
Listening to Gen. Mcmaster describe the upcoming trip by Der Fuhrer. He makes Trump sound like a cross between God and God. He describes an engaged knowledgeable POTUS. A POTUS with a deep historical knowledge and strategic vision.
And then we have Der Fuhrer’s tweets and the incoherent word salad in things the the Economist interview and the Holt interview. Sad
And give the WH points for being able to totally change the subject from Comey and Der Fuhrer’s tweets
rikyrah
Morning Everyone???