Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

People are weird.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / Do you wanna see me crawl across the floor?

Do you wanna see me crawl across the floor?

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Nothing to see here, folks:

A senior National Security Council official proposed withdrawing some U.S. military forces from Eastern Europe as an overture to Vladimir Putin during the early days of the Trump administration, according to a former administration official in the room with him.

[….]

p>According to the ex-colleague, Harrington considered it a gesture to the Kremlin that would enable the nascent Trump administration to see if its desire for a friendly relationship with Russia would be reciprocated. It was included in a strategy paper that, conspicuously to the former official, made no mention of Russia as either a competitor or adversary.

Reader Interactions

88Comments

  1. 1.

    Mnemosyne

    Remember, kids, it’s not treason if we’re not actively at war with the country you sell us out to!

  5. 5.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:
    @Yarrow:

    Also, white supremacy and hating all the same people — life for LGBT people really sucks in Mother Russia. Putin and Trump hate all the same people, so there’s a bond there.

  10. 10.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Mnemosyne:
    Trump also has a well-demonstrated fondness for sadistic assholes who don’t merely have a lot of power, but use it to brutalize those underneath them. Come to think of it, another argument in the ‘Trump considers himself a Nazi’ file.

  12. 12.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: That’s the stuff they use to get the leverage they need. Flattery, finding common ground. That gets dumbasses like Trump to trust them. Then the marks get tangled up with the money-laundering and so forth and then they’re owned.

  13. 13.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Naked fucking treason, selling out our NATO allies.

    These people need to be taken down.

  14. 14.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mnemosyne: Yup, that’s key. The White Supremacists view Russia as the Motherland, even though if you scratch a Russian, you find a Tatar.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m skeptical of the pee tape just because it’s almost too good to be true. Just skeptical, not dismissive. But I’d be surprised if there isn’t criminal money laundering at this point. I confess I’m not a hundred percent clear how money laundering works, what the indictable crime would be for the launderer–tax evasion?

    that gross house in Florida that the Russian cement mogul bought and tore down… it’s like a corpse in the middle of the drawing room, and we’re just waiting for someone to call an Inspector

  25. 25.

    Viva BrisVegas

    Russia is a fascist kleptocracy with a Potemkin democracy.

    What’s not to like. It’s a 0.1 percenter paradise.

    The Russians caught Trump by laundering their stolen money through his real estate. Though I think he would have volunteered if they had just given him a chance.

    As for the Republicans, the Russian social and political schema is what they aspire to.

    Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the 0.1 percenters with political influence have been debating among themselves as to how much of the economy they are willing to share with the plebs, and we are now seeing the answer. Not much.

  26. 26.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: Trump may have thought they bonded. Putin is using him. Discussing white supremacy would be a tool to that end. That they agree on it makes it easier, but doesn’t mean anything to Vlad. He’ll toss Trump under the bus as soon as he’s no longer useful.

  27. 27.

    schrodingers_cat

    Is Melania, the Philip to T’s Martha?*

    * The Americans, reference. Philip, the deep undercover KGB agent marries the secretary at the FBI counter intelligence unit.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Child prostitutes…

    Or as I like to refer to it, human trafficking. Can it be considered rape (legally) if you have sex with a child so young that she can’t give consent, even if you’re paying your pimp for her?

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    Trump and Putin bonded over their shared loathing of Obama, who’s one of Those People. The Trump Crime Family has been making overtures to the Kremlin since 1987.

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Yarrow: These guys don’t realize what they’re doing. They have no clue. Does Cohen even know what “discovery” entails?

  41. 41.

    SFAW

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There is no pee tape.

    What I don’t get is: even if there were a pee tape, why would any rational person think it would change anything? Shitgibbon’s base won’t care, because “at least he’s not Hitlary”; Turtle and ZEGS will tut-tut, as they semi-did vis-a-vis Roy Moore, and they still gave Moore a pass. About the only thing that would spur this Congress to action would be an EO which somehow put a hurtin’ on the Kochs, Mercers, DeVoses, Adelson, and so on.

    Hell, the tape — if there is even a tape — could be of Shitgibbon selling Tiffany into slavery, and his base would say “She must have done something REALLY bad, to deserve that.”

    So, ignore the (presumed) tape, and keep working on getting a Dem House and Senate.

  42. 42.

    SFAW

    @Yarrow:

    I think you have that backwards.

    Actually, I seem to recall reading (in the last year or so) that Shitgibbon was sucking up to them around that time.

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Yep. Though some, I’m sure, are wonderful people.

    Well, LAO lives there — but, unfortunately, Queens isn’t sending her to the White House.

    ETA: Baud/LAO 2020

  45. 45.

    Millard Filmore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There is no pee tape.

    One can take that literally, as “there is no Golden Shower tape”, or as a shorthand for other sexually oriented tapes, “no underage, gay. or snuff tapes.” On the other hand you have mentioned “much much worse”. Which would only leave fabricated tapes of look-alikes playing. I don’t believe tapes of Trump signing documents of illegal transactions would get much of a rise.

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    @Yarrow:

    When I first read the Cohen tweet, I thought (for a second) that it was the Michael Cohen who sometimes writes Op-Eds that appear in the Glob, which would have been distressing. Then I realized it was Shitgibbon’s idiot lawyer. (Hey, Mike, how’s Felix Sater doing these days, you fucking traitor?), so my BP went back to normal.

  48. 48.

    Thoughtful David

    @SFAW:
    I think there is a pee tape, or its equivalent (probably underage girls), but we’ll never see it. It’s far more valuable to whoever has got it as long as it’s unseen. Once it’s “redeemed” it can never be used again.
    Keep in mind that Putin *wants* Trump in power.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Millard Filmore: The RUMINT is that allied, partner, and competitor intel services all have a variety of video and stills – some legit some dupes – of the President doing a number of different perverse things. Things allegedly worse than the pee tape referenced in the Steele Dossier. The issue, of course, is being able to prove the real ELINT collections of video and stills from the dupes. While the various intel services themselves may know, to validate them would require burning sources. And remember this is RUMINT. I would certainly expect that the intel services everywhere he travelled before becoming President have other SIGINT on him, specifically from telephone calls.

  51. 51.

    B.B.A.

    @Thoughtful David: Putin wants chaos. Hence his backing every challenger to Hillary.

    Whatever kompromat there is, will be released precisely when Trump is no longer useful to Putin, and no sooner.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    OT: Matthew Yglesias @ mattyglesias
    Trump seems confident that Bannon doesn’t know where any noteworthy bodies are buried.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yep. Definitely something not normal there. Remember those 3 photos that were going around before the election? 13-year-old Ivanka lounging very comfortably in daddy’s lap in a sexual way? Some things you just can’t un-see.

    edited

  62. 62.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    None that wouldn’t also send Bannon to jail for a long time, anyway.

    But narcissists are also prone to underestimating just how much they’ve pissed other people off, so we’ll see.

  64. 64.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    The speech is short. But it’s the most rousing speech I’ve ever read. It’s been worked on here and in Russia, on and off, for over eight years.

    Rallying a nation of television viewers into hysteria, to sweep us up into the White House with powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy!

    I served them, I fought for them, I’m about to win them the greatest foothold they will ever have here.

  65. 65.

    Jeffro

    I have to say, explaining how international money laundering works to my 16-year-old is not how I thought I’d wrap up the evening.

    One the one hand, I guess I’m a pretty good explainer: she ‘gets it’ now.

    On the other hand: this is our goddamn country, and now I’m all mad again before bedtime.

    Thanks Trump! Thanks GOP enablers! I really appreciate what you’ve done for the country and hope you are repaid in full at the ballot box and courthouse this year.

  69. 69.

    sdhays

    @WaterGirl: There were rumors in 2015/2016 that Trump had been a guest on the yacht of that millionaire/billionaire who had underage sex slaves on said yacht. Nothing ever became of those rumors, but after seeing that picture and seeing the interview on the daytime talk show where he answered the fluff question about what he and his daughter (sitting right next to him) had in common and he immediately answered “Sex.” made me a believer.

  70. 70.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @SFAW:

    Hell, the tape — if there is even a tape — could be of Shitgibbon selling Tiffany into slavery, and his base would say “She must have done something REALLY bad, to deserve that.”

    No. They would laugh and think it was hilarious. This is important to understanding Republicanism in general and Trumpism in particular. They don’t excuse things we consider horrible, like Moore’s pedophilia. They enjoy them.

  76. 76.

    Millard Filmore

    @B.B.A.:

    Whatever kompromat there is, will be released precisely when Trump is no longer useful to Putin,

    It would not be a good assumption that Trump’s evil deeds were only done in Moscow, or that Putin’s spies were the only ones with recording devices in the right place.

  77. 77.

    Millard Filmore

    @WaterGirl:

    13-year-old Ivanka lounging very comfortably in daddy’s lap

    I think this photograph suffers from ambiguous perspective. If you look closely, she is sitting on Daddy’s thigh. If may be inappropriate, or not, but its not a lapdance.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @Yarrow:

    He’ll toss Trump under the bus as soon as he’s no longer useful.

    Maybe if there is video evidence of something particularly vile or distasteful. Otherwise Trump has better teflon insulation than Reagan. Bannon disses Trump and is torn apart and discarded. It seems like only yesterday when he was described as Trump’s indispensable Rasputin.

  80. 80.

    marv

    @Aardvark Cheeselog:
    I was going to make some sort of half-hearted reply – there’s a lot of great songs on that record. But when you’re right, you’re right. And thanks to Doug for the reminder

  82. 82.

    scott (the other one)

    Whether or not the pee tape is real, I actually think—and, yes, I know that so far there has been absolutely nothing Trump can say or do to make his base turn against him—that if there really is a video of him happily getting pissed on, that THAT would be a bridge too far for…let’s say all but 27% of his supporters. And I think it’s just barely possible he manages to get that down to sub-25%. Because Trump’s one strength, the reason he baffled everyone, is because he always always always doubles down, no matter how shitty his hand. Which connotes strength. But (and no shaming anyone’s kinks!) I believe to the overwhelming majority of people in the south and midwest, a man getting urinated on is inherently showing weakness, and that would be his one undoing.

    Now, if he were the one urinating, well, then, never mind.

    (My god what has the world come to…)

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @scott (the other one):

    that if there really is a video of him happily getting pissed on, that THAT would be a bridge too far for…let’s say all but 27% of his supporters. And I think it’s just barely possible he manages to get that down to sub-25%.

    First of all, he’s not that far above 27 percent now, so it would hardly be a “fall.” Second: what the electorate thinks has been shown not to matter, if the Rethuglican Congress wants something bad enough. They didn’t want to repeal O-care bad enough in the spring, but their masters told them what they wanted re: tax heist which helps destroy the so-called “welfare state.”

    I’m thinking that the only thing that would get Shitgibbon in true hot water would be a tape wherein he all-but-confesses to giving aid and comfort, in very explicit terms, to an enemy, or one where he is acting like he’s John Gotti — maybe we call him The Crapper Don? — wherein he explicitly puts out a hit on someone who later turned up dead. His base wouldn’t care, but Turtle might actual say “Fuck it” and try to get him taken away. (ZEGS would be ZEGS, meaning do nothing but mouth platitudes.)

    I was semi-joking earlier re: selling Tiffany. And I don’t think the hoped-for tape has him doing anything like what I describe above. So I guess I’m saying: pretend there’s no tape, and proceed accordingly.

  85. 85.

    joel hanes

    @Aardvark Cheeselog:

    That is the best song on that album.

    with the quibble that “Little Wing” is probably the best song,
    but “Bellbottom Blues” is probably the best performance of a song

  86. 86.

    Yarrow

    @Brachiator: Trump’s loyalty only goes one way–he demands people be loyal to him. He has no loyalty in the other direction. It’s no surprise he threw away Bannon. He’d do it to anyone, including his own kids.

  87. 87.

    SFAW

    @Yarrow:

    Trump’s loyalty only goes one way–he demands people be loyal to him.

    You’re forgetting his legendary loyalty to the Truth.

    “Legendary” like the Loch Ness monster, or the Yeti, or a “moderate Republican.”

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