Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / GOP Venality Open Thread: #PutinsPuppet Gets His Strings Yanked

GOP Venality Open Thread: #PutinsPuppet Gets His Strings Yanked

by | 160 Comments

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I’m sure Cheryl & Adam will have more informed commentary later, but SRSLY: At this point, the Notorious P Tape is gonna be a live-on-air performance where Putin soils a kneeling Trump’s ‘very expensive silk’ tie, and Trump meekly comments, Thank you sir may I have another?

Is ‘Sure, Russia was paying a bounty on dead Americans, but when American intelligence found out, nobody bothered to tell Trump’ supposed to be some kind of vindication? What’s the message supposed to be — that everyone figured Trump knew about it already, or that nobody expected him to do anything about it but maybe tell some more lies?

I’d predict McEninny would be out of a job by Monday, except who the hell would they get to replace her?

Reader Interactions

160Comments

  2. 2.

    Punchy

    Perhaps I’m just an idiot, but if true, isn’t this….pretty much…..straight-up treason? Why isn’t this story in HOLY SHIT caps on every major digital newspaper?

    For the Pres to be aware of US troops being waxed for scratch by our enemy and to go all Sgt Schultz about it should be near-instant impeachment, right?

  3. 3.

    Craigie

    Perhaps Trump isn’t waiting for the post-election phase to say “fuck it, let’s damage this country as much as we can before we run to Moscow”

  5. 5.

    Martin

    Reminder that Trump doesn’t read his daily briefs. So it’s entirely possible they told him, and that he  has no idea because he’s just that incompetent at his job.

  6. 6.

    West of the Rockies

    Predictions:

    Collins will be concerned.

    Graham will be non-plussed.

    McConnell will be unable to comment because of an urgent lunch.

    Johnson will not have heard the news himself.

    Trump will, of course, have been kidding.  Oh, and no one has been as hard on Russia as Trump. (Or had quite such a hard-on for Russia.)

  8. 8.

    billcinsd

    I  might believe her if she said Trump didn’t pay attention and Pence didn’t understand so it’s as if there was no briefing of them

  9. 9.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Karen going wild at Trader Joe’s (video)

     

    We had the Karens contained, then Dump had cry “Havoc!’ and let slip the Karens of war.

  10. 10.

    feebog

    Pssst.  You know those daily intelligence briefings that Trump routinely ignores?  They keep copies.  And notes of the meetings.

  11. 11.

    Emma from FL

    I am still trying to process this. The president of the United States knew American soldiers were being hunted for profit and did nothing.  It’s… I don’t even know what it is.

  13. 13.

    Wag

    There was reason to brief Trump. He was the one who told the intelligence services and he ordered them not to follow up because he approved. Its the only way that I can make sense of the situation.

  15. 15.

    Nicole

    I just watched the Roy Cohn documentary on HBO- Trump features in quite a bit of it.  There are just some people who really don’t give a shit about anything that doesn’t benefit them, right up to including others’ lives.   My only consolation watching the documentary was that Cohn died feeling alone and abandoned by everyone and I can only wish the same fate for his protégé.

  16. 16.

    Ruckus

    @Martin:

    I’m going with your version. He doesn’t read the briefing paper, it probably can not be dumbed down enough for him and be useful. Or even maybe english. So that leaves someone telling him and he doesn’t give a damn if there isn’t a “trump gets x dollars” in the first half of the first line.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @Punchy: I expect that this will be front page news in tomorrow’s papers. The Daily Mail in Britain has it on the front page, with a big headline emphasizing the three month delay before the British were briefed, even though their troops were also subject to the bounties. I think this story will have legs, and that sources in and around the National Security Council will be dishing.

  25. 25.

    JMG

    He was told, and did nothing. And feebog’s post is right to the point. Everything the Presidents gets handed to him or told to him is documented up the wazoo. It is treasonous behavior although it is not technically treason. And I sincerely doubt this will be the last leak from the intelligence community. They smell blood, or rather, they see it in the polls of the past week. One thing about politics. When things go bad, they nearly always go directly to worse and worst quite quickly.

  26. 26.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Punchy:

    Perhaps I’m just an idiot, but if true, isn’t this….pretty much…..straight-up treason?

    Basically, the most benign argument you can make here is that Trump didn’t assist in any way and didn’t think it would be productive to push back at all.

    The real reason is that Trump doesn’t want to cross Russia at all and doesn’t care about our troops at all. Basically – it didn’t matter to him at all, so why would he piss off his major benefactor over it?

  27. 27.

    El Cruzado

    Well if Reagan could get off Iran-Contra by claiming to have dozed off in the meetings I’m sure Trump can get off GRUGate (or whatever we end up calling this) by claiming to be illiterate.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    We have been talking about this for FIVE years now, America!  The orange slime ball is owned by Putin…it’s been obvious FOR-EV-ER!!

    I forget who said it first, but to any who would deny it…what would be any different if he were a Russian agent?  NOTHING.  He would be doing every single thing he’s been doing for Vlad all along.

  30. 30.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Wag: As someone who’s actually had breathing problems, there are cases where you can seem pretty normal and yet it is really uncomfortable and/or difficult to breath with even mild barriers to your face.

    Not saying this lady has any of those (I would have been really clear about my condition and asked the store about it ahead of time) and she acted inappropriately. But I’m also having trouble getting annoyed at people who flip out these days – I have days where I feel like that all the time, now. >_<

  31. 31.

    scav

    Well, clearly, getting shot at by (special) actual enemies must be the major part of Trumpy’s vaunted unparalleled and unprecedented support and improvement of his military.  How dare they not spontaneously organize a tank parade and flyby in his honor?!!  Besides, look at the front page billing and clicks it’s getting his administration,  Ratings Through. The. Roof.  VICTORY!!!

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    @Martin: He also has very little short-term memory any more.  Having him remember something from 3 months ago is a huge stretch.

    It’s not the president’s job to micro-manage the results of a meeting.  The Defense and State Secretaries, National Security Adviser, etc., should have been given directions and acted on those directions.  And if they weren’t given those directions, then they should have burned up the phone to Donnie and/or the Chief of Staff every single day until they were given direction.

    As with everything in this administration, it’s not just Donnie.  We can’t lose sight of that.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  33. 33.

    The Moar You Know

    The press is burying this like they’d bury the neighbor’s dog they accidentally ran over.  As quickly and silently as possible.

    Have not seen one story about it on my news feed all day, in spite of the fact that every major news outlet ran it.

  34. 34.

    FelonyGovt

    @Geminid: I’ve been checking the news all day and I’m shocked that this outrage isn’t getting more play. I know there’s a new scandal every day but this one clearly amounts to treason.

  36. 36.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets”  ~
    Uday Trump

    “We have all the funding we need out of Russia” ~ Qusay Trump

  38. 38.

    Mike in NC

    Yup, Putin’s spokesman will deny everything and we’ll all get to watch Fat Bastard playing his invisible accordion again: “I believe President Putin tremendously!”

  41. 41.

    hueyplong

    Even if he found out yesterday, he should be denouncing Putin now.

    He can’t even do that.

    And 52 GOP lickspittles can’t even work a brow-furrowing muscle.

  42. 42.

    JMG

    @The Moar You Know: Not exactly true. Wait until Monday. Once upon a time, the big papers ran their best stuff on Sundays, because that’s when they sold the most. Now, the weekends are for long form projects, like the Times’ 100,000 dead thing, and weekdays are for the scoops, follow-ups, reaction pieces. Are any Republican office holders on the Sunday morning gabfests? They’ll be put on the spot. Look, I agree this is a horrendous scandal. But it’s hard to get people to divert their eyes and emotions from an actual plague.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    @JMG:

    I agree.  NYT dropped this on Friday. Other reporters are not going to get into this over the weekend when it’s harder to double check sources.

  47. 47.

    Wag

    @MisterForkbeard:You seem like a pretty reasonable person, from one jackal to another.  If you had serious enough breathing issues to preclude you from wearing a mask, I have no doubt that you’d send a family member to do your grocery shopping. You wouldn’t show up to the opening day festivities at TJ and make a scene.  

  49. 49.

    gratuitous

    This is bad, very bad. No doubt about it. But remember the iron first rule of the Trump administration: No matter how bad something seems when it first goes public, when the whole story comes out, it’s always worse. Every time.

  52. 52.

    Geminid

     

     

    @FelonyGovt: Yeah, this is very different than your average Trump scandal. But so far I’ve seen articles in NY Daily News, NY Post, and many other outlets. And the story broke yesterday afternoon or evening. I think tomorrow will tell the tale as far as coverage.

  53. 53.

    HumboldtBlue

    Times they are a-changing’

    The @JoeBiden campaign has released its staff diversity numbers. 35% of all staff members are PoC 36% of all senior staff are PoC 53% of full-time staff are women 58% of senior staff are women

  54. 54.

    debbie

    This is NOT a bad idea. It’s just a formality. He will get Secret Service protection & full Presidential level Intelligence briefs. Trump. Will. Be. Furious! https://t.co/ssXFdwIUSy
    — Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) June 27, 2020

    Make Biden the official candidate now, and he will be able to receive national intelligence briefings (which he will read!)
    — Nancy Kelly-Martin (@NancyKellyMart1) June 27, 2020

  55. 55.

    West of the Rockies

    Maybe Karen should be changed to Amy; after all, Amy Cooper still tops this woman.  Also, she is not a Boomer.  Other cohorts have their turds, too.

  58. 58.

    HumboldtBlue

    Maria Lamping Trump is a traitor. He is not worth the blood my son left in Afghanistan. I have a shirt with a bullet hole I’d like to show all his defenders. I don’t have a big account but if any of you do, please retweet.

    Note, the son was wounded not KIA.

  60. 60.

    James E Powell

    Bianna Golodryga

    Why on earth would the WH wait 24 hours to respond with this given how damning the story is?

    A)  They were searching for someone to blame.

    B)  They were getting their stories straight.

    C)  They don’t really care what the public thinks. He’ll still have ~41% approval.

    D)  All these and a few I can’t imagine.

  64. 64.

    Martin

    @James E Powell: Responding to the story presumes there’s a way to clean it up. Not sure there is in this case. They could go after the IC, but the IC will hit back.

  65. 65.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    One of the top comments on that thread nails the GOP’s relationship to the military perfectly: American troops are just human capital to them and only useful if they can help Republicans win an election. After that, they can just die

    Next time I see my MAGA relatives (whenever that will be), I can’t wait to hit them with this shit. “Trump did nothing while bounties were placed on the heads of our troops and you enabled it by voting for him. You have blood on your hands. Why do you hate the troops so much?”

  68. 68.

    West of the Rockies

    @James E Powell:

    I think he’s officially at 40.5 approval.  This story could drop him a point or 4 below that.  Call me a foolish Candide, but we may be nearing the point where elected rats begin jumping ship.

  69. 69.

    kindness

    This story still isn’t getting the coverage it should be.  I get Republicans trying to ignore it but you’d think the media would be pounding them.  Crickets.

  72. 72.

    prostratedragon

    @Martin:  Would they have just told him once and, getting no response in a day or two, just said, “Never mind?”

  73. 73.

    lamh36

    @LindseyGrahamSC

    Imperative Congress get to the bottom of recent media reports that Russian GRU units in Afghanistan have offered to pay the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the goal of pushing America out of the region.

    I expect the Trump Administration to take such allegations seriously and inform Congress immediately as to the reliability of these news reports

    Has the straw been found that broke the came’s back?

  75. 75.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Martin: I wonder if Barr will make any noise about tracking down the leaker.  Attract more attention to the actions of my traitorous boss.  Law and order, right?

  77. 77.

    Chetan Murthy

    @MisterForkbeard: If she had such breathing problems, she could have work a plastic face shield.  Her breathing problems do not trump everyone else’s right to not be infected by her.

  86. 86.

    Steeplejack

    @The Moar You Know:

    How is the “press” burying this if “every major news outlet ran it”? It was on the home page of the Post‘s website this morning.

    ETA: Or what everyone else has said.

  91. 91.

    Benw

    I missed this yesterday cause I was working late.

    This is pretty fucked up, even for Trump.

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Ah.  I don’t really know my way around reddit, so I just copied the text of the list, because it seemed like a useful list to me.  Thanks for posting it.

  94. 94.

    TS (the original)

    @Chetan Murthy:

    If she had such breathing problems

    Apparently she was outside for 30 minutes wearing mask waiting to be allowed into the store – guess she breathed OK cause there was much breath left for her to yell with.

  95. 95.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Wag: Yep, no kidding. its theoretically possible this woman is legit, but I’m pretty sure she’s not.

    Especially if she’s putting on an act like the other comments say she is. I still vsnt really care. Don’t have the energy to worry about drama queens.

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    @Benw:  I’ve added that to the list of possible rotating tags to pitch to Cole.  A few of the recent comments that I think would make excellent rotating tags:

    • No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.
    • Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?
    • My years long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year. (Baud)
    • This is pretty fucked up, even for Trump.
  97. 97.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Donald Trump will defend a Confederate statue but not an American soldier.
    — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 27, 2020

  100. 100.

    MomSense

    It just popped into my head that the word on the Harvard College Arms is Veritas.  I’d like to hear McNinny’s under oath version of what happened.

  106. 106.

    germy

    Imperative Congress get to the bottom of recent media reports that Russian GRU units in Afghanistan have offered to pay the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the goal of pushing America out of the region. https://t.co/dm4QWATzgg

    — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 27, 2020

    Imperative!

  107. 107.

    prostratedragon

    @Ilieitz:  They’re pretty cheap on Amazon and you can reuse them with a quick alcohol swipe. I have a couple.

  108. 108.

    Benw

    @WaterGirl: the first three are timeless.

    I really hope there’s a hard sell-by date built into the 4th. :)

    If we don’t need it after 2020 maybe we can dust it off for Ivanka’s 2024 run! :(

  109. 109.

    germy

    BREAKING – Sensors in Sweden have detected a rise in nuclear particles from somewhere near on or near the Baltic Sea. The Stockholm monitoring station detected 3isotopes; Cs-134, Cs-137 & Ru-103 associated with nuclear fission at higher than usual levels. pic.twitter.com/tkLsMqZK62— Disclose.tv ? (@disclosetv) June 27, 2020

    Time to check "undisclosed potential nuclear accident" off your 2020 bingo cards. https://t.co/updvPvXzmo— Zack Whittaker (@zackwhittaker) June 27, 2020

  110. 110.

    Yutsano

    @WaterGirl: My eviction date from the hospital is still on schedule. I’m feeling really good although I still don’t have an explanation for what happened. I’m REALLY pissed the doctors just stopped looking, but the neurologists in Eastern Washington are pretty terrible. I’m going to use a couple connections and get me a consult on the west side soon.

  111. 111.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: “Imperative” is better than Fauci’s “I will be disappointed if e deliver a vaccine that hasn’t been proven to be safe and effective”.  Disappointed!

    Sorry to beat a dead horse, but that one was a bridge too far and I can’t seem to let it go.

  115. 115.

    Amir Khalid

    This is … words fail me. Billboard reports that ahead of the Tulsa rally, Trump campaign staff went around the BOK Center arena removing the Do Not Sit Here Please stickers that venue management had put on every other seat.

  118. 118.

    Calouste

    @Amir Khalid: Thing is, if there has been social distancing, the upper tier of the arena would not have been so glaringly empty. Own goal really.

  119. 119.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @germy: I’m glad most of the accounts are putting up front that the amounts being measured are not a danger. Let’s hope that continues to be true.

    That said, the emissions are clearly from a nuclear reactor. I’ve seen other reports that Russia has said that none of their civilian reactors have had a leak. It’s possible it’s another test of their Burevestnik missile.

    But of course, Russia’s response to this sort of thing is always that nothing has gone wrong.

    I’ll write a post tomorrow.

  120. 120.

    prostratedragon

    @Yutsano:  That’s good. I also think the West Point photo that Pete Buttigieg put in his tweet is a very powerful image, especially if one knows its context. Replies in that post use it effectively as the backdrop for statements such as

    Trump stood there at their graduation, knowing that Russia had targets on the graduates’ backs. After putting them at risk of COVID19.

     
    Illustrates the horrendous violation of trust. Those who serve have entrusted their lives (and often souls) to the nation.

  124. 124.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: This one was yours, right?  I didn’t make a note at the time, but I think it was.

    • No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

    edit: or were one and two both yours?

  125. 125.

    CarolPW

    @Yutsano: Oh god. I’m in Benton County and several years ago when I got a diagnosis of kidney cancer my doctor said get out of here. Went to California because my sis was there as well as the doctors that took care of my first mastectomy. Seattle would have been my second destination.

    We do seem to do heart stuff good around here (if the available medical care lets you live long enough to need all the fancy cardiac stuff).

  127. 127.

    Yutsano

    @Cheryl Rofer: I don’t mind this getting posted twice. Hell it needs a bigger audience than just YouTube and the DC broadcast market. Any chance this is going up in swing states?

     

    @debbie: Yeah. Exactly. I wish this one could go national.

  130. 130.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: No. Lindsay is still backing Trump on the key parts of this: Ignoring that Trump has known about this for months, and acting like the Administration is as surprised as we all are.

    He’s just asking for them to make a statement that the bounties part of the story is true. Then he’ll congratulate Trunp on whatever tiny action he takes.

  133. 133.

    Mike in NC

    Really loving this material the Lincoln Project is putting out. Allies of convenience.

    ETA: Many people didn’t know that Lincoln was a Republican, or so said an anonymous stable genius.

  134. 134.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    “People are saying that the Russian bounty money came from Soros and was laundered through the Clinton Foundation and a pizza parlor in D.C., and I’m going to be looking into this for the President.”
    –Rudy Giuliani, Council to His Excellency The President

    — Harry Tuttle – Antifa™ Heating Engineer 1st Class (@howievermont) June 27, 2020

  144. 144.

    Ken

    @lamh36: Has the straw been found that broke the came’s back?

    Maybe, but you can also read Graham’s statement as “We need to settle on a lie to cover this up, I suggest saying that the report is not reliable.”

    Which won’t fit well with “the whistleblower is the real traitor here and we need to expose them”, but since when has blatant self-contradiction bothered the Republicans?

  145. 145.

    Shalimar

    @lamh36: Graham momentarily found outrage  when Trump abandoned the Kurds too.  In the end, it meant nothing and he did nothing.

  146. 146.

    Edmund Dantes

    It’s good that the Lincoln Project Is around. A dem group or politician would get raked over the coals until they apologized for using the video of the military coffins and funeral.

  147. 147.

    jayjaybear

    @MisterForkbeard: It’s not that Trump can’t defend America. He won’t. Because he’s weak.

    Nah. It’s because he doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself, including his constituents and the US armed forces.

  149. 149.

    Anya

    Why on earth would the WH wait 24 hours to respond with this given how damning the story is

    That’s easy. They were’t sure which lie would work best or doesn’t make Trump look the absolute worst. But then again, maybe Trump was consulting big daddy Vlad.

  150. 150.

    sdhays

    @Shalimar: He was spoofed by a Russian comedian pretending to be the Turkish foreign minister (or similar member of the Turkish cabinet) and he said very different things when talking to him, as I recall. He has absolutely no grounding principles other than what’s good for Lindsey Graham, just like Dump. He’s just not as stupid.

  152. 152.

    paper

    just spit balling.   Assume Obama was presented with the same intelligence, and he responded with a variety of actions, including sanctions.  Mike Flynn negotiates to release the sanctions, but is caught by the FBI in a lie.  The sanctions remain, but Trump has to look the other way when similar intelligence is presented to him.  This might explain why Judge Sullivan called Flynn a traitor at his first sentencing hearing and gave him a chance to come clean, which Flynn doubled down on.  a general would not enjoy being accused of selling out his troops.   please be kind, but I’ve always wondered why the WH is fighting so hard for Flynn (other than wanting him to yell “lock her up” on the campaign trail), but not for Manafort, Stone or Cohen.

  153. 153.

    sdhays

    @Anya: It’s just so disgusting. Only with this shitty administration is “The shitty people working for me don’t tell me stuff that is fundamental to my responsibility as President” is supposed to be exculpatory. “No, I don’t take any responsibility.” Fuck that.

    If Dump and Dense didn’t know, did the guy they elevated from writing neo-Nazi profanity in a McDonald’s toilet stall up to DNI know? Did Esper? Did Pompeo? If they didn’t know, why the fuck not? If they did, why didn’t they act? And if they knew, why the fuck didn’t Dump and Dense? Did they commit a crime by not informing the President*? How will they be disciplined?

  154. 154.

    patroclus

    It certainly matters that Trump was briefed about the bountys and did nothing about it other than try to get Russia into the G7 yet again.  But even if we believe his lies now about not being briefed, he certainly knows about it now.  What is going to do about it now?  Will he impose sanctions?  Will he even mildly criticize Russia’s conduct?  Will he launch an investigation?  Will he report to Congress and the American people?  Will he do anything at all?  Or will it just be more lies and blaming others?  What will the Republican Senate do?  Anything?

  155. 155.

    Anya

    @sdhays: Everything you said. There is absolutely no hope for our country if we let this one go. FFS, why not just have Putin as president if we’re okay with this.

  157. 157.

    evodevo

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  I read where a lot of their alacrity has to do with various sports venues threatening to cancel future events if they didn’t follow through on this…you threaten football/basketball in the South, and people listen lol

  159. 159.

    OldVet

    I’d predict McEninny would be out of a job by Monday, except who the hell would they get to replace her?

     

    Why?  There is an over-abundance of liars in the rePuke Party who would eagerly follow her in position!

  160. 160.

    jc

    So is the story of $ for dead Americans untrue? Or did no one tell Trump? If not, why not? Unfortunately, no one in this administration has any credibility at this point.

    Why does it take Trump more than 5 minutes to forcefully respond to this? Is he going to start making excuses for Putin?

    If this mess had happened under a Dem. admin., all hell would be breaking loose right now.

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