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| For fuck's sake I made a deal. |
In the early weeks of the Trump administration, former Obama administration officials and State Department staffers fought an intense, behind-the-scenes battle to head off efforts by incoming officials to normalize relations with Russia, according to multiple sources familiar with the events.
Unknown to the public at the time, top Trump administration officials, almost as soon as they took office, tasked State Department staffers with developing proposals for the lifting of economic sanctions, the return of diplomatic compounds and other steps to relieve tensions with Moscow.
These efforts to relax or remove punitive measures imposed by President Obama in retaliation for Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and meddling in the 2016 election alarmed some State Department officials, who immediately began lobbying congressional leaders to quickly pass legislation to block the move, the sources said.
“There was serious consideration by the White House to unilaterally rescind the sanctions,” said Dan Fried, a veteran State Department official who served as chief U.S. coordinator for sanctions policy until he retired in late February. He said in the first few weeks of the administration, he received several “panicky” calls from U.S. government officials who told him they had been directed to develop a sanctions-lifting package and imploring him, “Please, my God, can’t you stop this?”
Fried said he grew so concerned that he contacted Capitol Hill allies — including Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the ranking minority member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — to urge them to move quickly to pass legislation that would “codify” the sanctions in place, making it difficult for President Trump to remove them.
Yet another reminder of how much we owe President Obama and his administration.
Remember this happened only weeks after the inauguration, as if this were perhaps the most important item on the Trump agenda.
And since then there has been almost constant talk of Trump's desire to roll back those sanctions, in fact he is also planning to give back two of Russia's American based spying facilities.
Gee, it's certainly a good thing there is no evidence of collusion.MD compound was RIS SIGINT site aimed at NSA & DoD facilities on the Chesapeake. IC wanted to close it for decades. https://t.co/AgCxA2m6el— John Schindler (@20committee) May 31, 2017
Unless of course you open your eyes.
I think there are people in power that are afraid to admit the current administration is in deep with the Russians. To admit this is to admit they were wrong about Trump. A politician will never admit they are wrong, especially if it means they might lose their power. Republicans think that if they cover for Trump, they will get every item on their wish list. They will - plus as an added bonus they get the demise of the United States. No one ever told them care what you wish for?
ReplyDeleteMy observations have showed me that they put self over party and party over the nation.
DeleteMitch McConnell is a prime example.
So there you have it.
It is why I will NEVER vote for any Republican, ever. Even those that seem to have some patriotism and integrity in the end show that party is more important than this nation. They supported Trump, even though they didn't want to or knew it would be bad for this country. They stood with their party.
Party over country.
The only thing that might save us is their self-preservation over party. If they see the party doing more harm than good to their re-election chances, they'll bail. But as we've seen in Montana, it would be a long, hard road for the Democrats to put enough pressure on those Republicans to abandon their party and Trump. Right now, the Democrats are no threat at all. Simply to ineffective in getting their candidates elected. (The too little, too late strategy is still in place, thank you Tom Perez.)
"Overreach is perilous, says this Russian tale; enough is enough. And too much is nothing."
ReplyDelete"“They were careless people,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote of the rich couple at the heart of The Great Gatsby. “They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” We keep each other honest, we keep each other good with our feedback, our intolerance of meanness and falsehood, our demands that the people we are with listen, respect, respond—if we are allowed to, if we are free and valued ourselves. There is a democracy of social discourse, in which we are reminded that as we are beset with desires and fears and feelings, so are others; there was an old woman in Occupy Wall Street I always go back to who said, “We’re fighting for a society in which everyone is important.” That’s what a democracy of mind and heart, as well as economy and polity, would look like."
Equality keeps us honest. Our peers tell us who we are and how we are doing, providing that service in personal life that a free press does in a functioning society. Inequality creates liars and delusion. The powerless need to dissemble—that’s how slaves, servants, and women got the reputation of being liars—and the powerful grow stupid on the lies they require from their subordinates and on the lack of need to know about others who are nobody, who don’t count, who’ve been silenced or trained to please."he must have imagined that more power meant more flattery, a grander image, a greater hall of mirrors reflecting back his magnificence. But he misunderstood power and prominence. This man had bullied friends and acquaintances, wives and servants, and he bullied facts and truths, insistent that he was more than they were, than it is, that it too must yield to his will"the power of the presidency was what it had always been: a system of cooperative relationships, a power that rested on people’s willingness to carry out the orders the president gave, and a willingness that came from that president’s respect for rule of law, truth, and the people." Jan 21st>"he had been rejected by more women in one day than any man in history"
"HE is the old fisherman’s wife" A "dungheap awaits his landing; the dung is all his; when he plunges into it he will be, at last, a self-made man." A PILE OF $HIT.
http://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-the-loneliness-of-donald-trump/
And when you cease to care, or never cared, what your peers think of you, when the opinion of others means nothing, then you end up with Donald Judas Trump.
Delete(And Mitch McConnell for that matter.)
They only care about themselves and getting elected.
They have no self-reflection and no long term sight for the effects of what they are doing now and the impacts that will ripple down the line.
The simply don't care.
Immediate gratification. That's what it is. They don't have the self-discipline of a 2 year old.
We need to see his tax returns, they will explain a LOT. He and the Kushner family need Russian financing - desperately. The key to this entire fiasco is in those taxes, which is why he guards them so fiercely.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is putin must have some really big dirt on little donnie and company.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is putin must have some really big dirt on little donnie and company.
ReplyDeleteHe is putting our national security at risk by allowing the spies back in our country. Sounds like another impeachable offense.
Seems to me they don't want to give up the HUGE money train.
ReplyDeleteIt's been going on so long now.
Anything to not deport them. $$$
OT""I say to all those for whom the future of our planet is important: let us continue on this path together so that we can succeed for Mother Earth,""
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/merkel-vows-more-decisive-action-ever-climate-094233410.html
We the People! http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/earth-to-trump-fck-you-how-the-world-reacted-to-the-presidents-paris-climate-agreement-withdrawal/
Deletehttp://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/michael-bloomberg-offers-to-pay-15-million-deficit-left-by-trumps-decision-on-paris-climate-agreement/
Resist!
Peace!
California, New York and Washington State are already pledged to continue the Paris Accord despite the administration.
Delete61 mayors of major cities across the nation have pledged the same.
They will fight Trump's destruction of the world and our country little by little.
Jerry Brown is going to China to meet with leaders on climate change. A big fuck you to Trump. And you better believe that Jerry Brown knows how to behave in polite society. He's also in a lot better shape physically than Hair Furor.
Let Wyoming and Montana sell off their Federal land, poison their air and water and kill all their animals. They just better stay the hell out of California. We're the fifth largest economic "country" in the world. We aren't going to take shit from Trump or the Republicans.
Now isn't that a SUPRISE! Think his deplorable followers will finally get a clue? Oh wait... brain dead.
ReplyDeleteOT?"The Putin Interviews"
ReplyDelete" is set to air on the Showtime channel from June 12."
"Gesticulating at the wheel of a Mercedes with an interpreter sitting behind, Putin stresses Snowden is "not a traitor" and "did not give any information to another country that would have caused harm to his people.""The Russian leader adds: "You know what OUR people say: HE who is fated to be hanged won't drown,"
"I think you are a very cunning person,"
https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-says-snowden-no-traitor-oliver-stone-interviews-101250421.html
He also said (in a different interview?) that "perhaps patriotic Russian hackers might have interfered in the U.S. elections." Perhaps. Might. Spoken like a true liar.
Deletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/02/putin-save-trump-ends-making-guilty-collusion.html
ReplyDelete" Putin calls the allegations false. He blames Democrats. Putin attacked the US media and denied knowledge of everything."WE never AGREED on anything.”
Blond Bitch.
Putin Tries To Save Trump But Ends Up Making Him Look Guilty Of Collusion
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/02/putin-save-trump-ends-making-guilty-collusion.html
I wonder what is going on behind the scenes that putin is making all these statements all of a sudden.
Deletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-president-joe-scarborough_us_593175c0e4b0c242ca2344ab
ReplyDelete"Joe Scarborough: "
Steve Bannon Is President Of The United States"
"“Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about policy. Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about politics. Donald Trump doesn’t know anything about anything,”"Scarborough wasn’t buying it, noting we’ve been “the top power in the world” for the past decade, not “43rd, 44th, 45th.”
“It’s stupidity. It’s ahistorical,” he said of Trump’s statements. “It’s a lie that Donald Trump is telling to himself and to his supporters.”
Dan the Man Rather>"Trump is "enraged, scared, the Russian narrative is closing in on him," and said his decision wasn't grounded in anything other than his need to cultivate his base."the only winners in this decision are Russia, Saudi Arabia, China -- and Steve Bannon."history "is going to punish Donald Trump for this decision. and the question is how much will it punish our own country.""What did he know, when did he know it?"
Deletehttp://crooksandliars.com/2017/06/dan-rather-trump-most-psychologically
Not only doesn't he know anything, he doesn't WANT to know anything and he has no opinion on a lot of it. That's why he flip flops back and forth. It's why he doesn't change his stance even when those around him tell him it is a bad idea and what damage it will do. He "promised" during the campaign based on some shit and he won't change. Tillerson and others tell him how pulling out of Paris is a bad idea, will cost money and jobs and status as a world leader, but Trump is going with Pruitt and the coal miners. His economic advisor says coal is dead and manufacturing jobs aren't coming back but this is a campaign promise Trump has authority to fulfill. He failed on healthcare and the Muslim ban so he's grasping for anything he can follow through on and this is it.
DeleteSelf-centered. Short sighted. And stubbornly ignorant.
No wonder Steve Bannon finds him so easy to maniupulate.
Yeah, Bannon that Nazi is our unelected president.
Paris Decision Was Driven By the President’s Rage and Fear
ReplyDelete...Trump got into a growing fight with Europe. France rejected Bannon’s favorite Le Pen. He met with and got disrespected and criticized by the leaders of NATO and the EU. He got mad. Both Merkel and Macron spoke about him as a bully and a child. Macron has happily spoken publicly about over-manning Trump when they met in person.
This isn’t about climate and it isn’t about Trump’s base. It’s about sticking it to the leaders of Europe. That’s what gave the Bannonites the edge. That and one other thing.
Trump is scared. He’s entering a a widening gyre of political crisis over Russia. He’s scared and he’s angry and he needs friends. So he’s more and more likely to hug his base – both the most aggressive advisors and the most committed supporters. He’s trying to bring back Corey Lewandowski, his wildest and most troubling-driving advisor who has the unshakable loyalty and lickspittledom Trump now requires. Indeed, we can take it as a given that as the Russia scandal crisis deepens Trump will become more aggressive and more extreme in his policies both to maintain his emotional equilibrium and reinforce his backing from a shrinking base of supporters. This is as certain as night follows day.
It’s worth noting, if it is not obvious, that the growing rupture in Trump’s relations with Europe is also driven by the Russia issue and Trump’s desire to hamstring or break apart the EU and NATO. Whether Trump’s affinity for Russia is legitimate or corrupt, the reality itself is indisputable. That drives his hostility to the EU and NATO.
In any case, this is about wanting to lash out at enemies, strike a blow in a context in which people can’t easily fight back and try to assert control over a situation that increasingly feels (and is) out of control. Rewrite the last four weeks, leave Trump less angry and threatened, I’m confident the US would still be in the Paris accord. That’s how he operates.
The entire outcome was driven by the President’s current, besieged, emotional state.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/paris-was-driven-by-the-president-rage-and-fear
I actually think that he rescinded the Paris agreement, because he thought that it was French idea. Remember how his tiny hand got crushed by Macron in that infamous handshake? THAT is why he said he is the president of Pittsburg, not of Paris!
DeleteWell, Trump and the United States have just become irrelevant. His influence is nil. He's turned the U.S. into a third world banana republic and it will be treated as that. Trump's opinion and approval are now worthless.
DeleteThe world will look to Germany and France now.
Americans need to support our European allies. They are far better people than are Donald Trump, Pence, Ryan, etc.
DeleteI'm embarrassed for our country and the fact Trump will have run us into Hell. He needs to be stopped, impeached or may a stroke or heart attack take him! He is NOT an American!
OT? Who Knew?
ReplyDeletehttp://dailycaller.com/2017/05/31/wasserman-schultz-admits-hill-it-security-violations-blames-house-administrators-for-not-stopping-her-video/?google_editors_picks=true
She never should have been re-elected.
DeleteI see want to see Trump out of the presidency. He's pure evil. Thank God we had the smart and forward thinking President Obama steps ahead of the actions of Trump! President Obama had him figured out to a tee!
ReplyDeleteFuck Donald Trump, the Republicans in Congress and Republicans throughout our nation. They need to lose their seats if running next in a reelection bid!
I detest them, their nastiness, anti America methods and lack of support they blatantly are providing the poor and minorities throughout our country! They are not American and are treasonist individuals!