Former DNI James Clapper literally calls Donald Trump a "Russian asset."

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: Vladimir Putin "knows how to handle an asset and that's what he's doing with the President" https://t.co/1bOnWU9hVI

— CNN (@CNN) December 18, 2017

Damn!

James Clapper is done pussy footing around this issue. 

Vladimir Putin steps in to defend his puppet. Oh THAT should help.

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on U.S. citizens to stop disrespecting President Donald Trump, a trend that the Russian leader called a symptom of a poor political system in the U.S. 

Putin, who U.S. officials have accused of swaying the 2016 U.S. presidential race in Trump's favor, broke a streak of hostile diplomatic exchanges between the two leading powers during a speech Thursday in order to defend his former political ally from what he considers unfair criticism at home. Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Putin again denied any claims of Russian interference in last year's U.S. elections, asserting that Trump "won honestly" and that he and his supporters have behaved legitimately in response to the current U.S. political climate.

"Inside the country, disrespect is shown for him. This is a regrettable negative component of the U.S. political system," Putin said, according to the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. 

"One can argue but one can’t show disrespect, even not for him personally but for those people who voted for him," he added. 

Putin also defended Trump's nontraditional, sometimes controversial approach to leading the country, calling the Republican's unpredictable decisions a "reasonable response" to "great domestic resistance" that prevents Trump from delivering on electoral promises. Trump has made similar arguments, mostly blaming the media for what he considers to be an overtly negative portrayal of his administration. 

Putin said he believes "the president of the United States does not need any advice because one has to possess certain talent and go through this trial to be elected, even without having the experience of such big administrative work."

Okay at this point I have to believe that Putin is screwing with Trump, because even he cannot believe that this helps his lapdog one little bit.

Or perhaps I'm wrong and Putin really is so arrogant that he actually thinks his words will diffuse any criticisms directed at his Manchurian candidate.

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to hold bilateral meeting during G20 Summit.

Courtesy of CNN: 

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will sit down for an official bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday rather than an informal pull-aside meeting. 

The meeting, confirmed by both the White House and the Kremlin on Tuesday, will be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders and the first official bilateral meeting between a US and Russian president in nearly two years. 

The meeting comes amid ongoing tensions between the two countries stemming from Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, its annexation of Ukrainian territory and its support of the Syrian regime. 

"It is planned as a fully-fledged, 'seated' meeting," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to the state-run TASS news agency. 

National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton also confirmed that the two leaders will sit down together Friday for a bilateral meeting. 

The format remained an open question through this weekend. Homeland security adviser Thomas Bossert said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that the parameters of the meeting had not yet "been set."

There are lots of pundits weighing in on this and suggesting that Trump needs to bring up the Russian interference in the 2016 election or else he will be forever Putin's poodle.

But I am convinced that Trump is already Putin's poodle and that the topic will never come up.

Let's face it Putin would never admit anything, but then again Trump does not want him to admit anything.

Trump is terrified that his election victory will be made illegitimate, and the first step toward doing that would be for Putin to admit that he helped him to win.

It serves neither one to even broach the topic, and so they will talk about other things instead, and don't think that THOSE topics will be in any way controversial either.  

Best Putin/Trump gif EVER!

I don't know who made it, it just showed up in my inbox, but damn this is perfect!

And it is now my go to gif.

I love this cartoon.

I really think that the best way to obstruct Trump's agenda is to keep pointing out that Stephen Bannon is the actual president and that Trump is only an empty suit following orders given to him by the Alt Right and his Russian puppet masters.

I don't think that Trump's ego can handle that for very long.

The real power behind the power, behind the power.

Look not every person who voted for Donald Trump is a racist.

But if you ARE a racist, then there is literally no doubt who you voted for.

Vladimir Putin rides to his Donald Trump's defense. Nope, nothing telling about this.

Courtesy of the AP: 

In a biting attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused the outgoing U.S. administration of trying to undermine President-elect Donald Trump by spreading fake allegations and said those who are doing it are "worse than prostitutes."

Asked about an unsubstantiated dossier outlining unverified claims that Trump engaged in sexual activities with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel, Putin dismissed it as "fake" and "nonsense" and said it was part of efforts by Obama's administration to "undermine the legitimacy of the president-elect" despite his "convincing" victory.

"People who order such fakes against the U.S. president-elect, fabricate them and use them in political struggle are worse than prostitutes," Putin said. "They have no moral restrictions whatsoever, and it highlights a significant degree of degradation of political elites in the West, including in the United States."

Putin also mocked the scandalous dossier and pointed out that the visit to Moscow happened in 2013 before Trump was a politician.

"Do they think that our special services are hunting for every U.S. billionaire?"

Yeah actually. In fact we know you are.

Okay this is almost unbelievably tone deaf.

For Putin to launch such a passionate defense of the guy the American intelligence community is suggesting he helped to win the presidency, does nothing to help Trump, and gives critics even more reasons to suspect that Putin is his puppet master.

The BBC refutes the idea that the fabled Russian dossier on Donald Trump can be dismissed as "fake news."

Courtesy of the BBC: 

The opposition research firm that commissioned the report had worked first for an anti-Trump superpac - political action committee - during the Republican primaries. 

Then during the general election, it was funded by an anonymous Democratic Party supporter. But these are not political hacks - their usual line of work is country analysis and commercial risk assessment, similar to the former MI6 agent's consultancy. He, apparently, gave his dossier to the FBI against the firm's advice.

And the former MI6 agent is not the only source for the claim about Russian kompromat on the president-elect. Back in August, a retired spy told me he had been informed of its existence by "the head of an East European intelligence agency". 

Later, I used an intermediary to pass some questions to active duty CIA officers dealing with the case file - they would not speak to me directly. I got a message back that there was "more than one tape", "audio and video", on "more than one date", in "more than one place" - in the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow and also in St Petersburg - and that the material was "of a sexual nature".

The claims of Russian kompromat on Mr Trump were "credible", the CIA believed. That is why - according to the New York Times and Washington Post - these claims ended up on President Barack Obama's desk last week, a briefing document also given to Congressional leaders and to Mr Trump himself. 

Mr Trump did visit Moscow in November 2013, the date the main tape is supposed to have been made. There is TV footage of him at the Miss Universe contest. Any visitor to a grand hotel in Moscow would be wise to assume that their room comes equipped with hidden cameras and microphones as well as a mini-bar.

It appears that the Trump team push back, and support from Right Wing news outlets labeling this "fake news," have been successful enough for the American press to have dropped it, however that really does not mean it is not credible.

James Clapper called me yesterday to denounce the false and fictitious report that was illegally circulated. Made up, phony facts.Too bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017

.@CNN is in a total meltdown with their FAKE NEWS because their ratings are tanking since election and their credibility will soon be gone!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017

And remember this fits in nicely with the pattern of Russian support and influence over Donald Trump that we have witnessed for ourselves this last year.

Now I personally have no means for determining if this story is valid or not, but if it is that simply reinforces what we already suspected, and that is that Trump is Putin's puppet.

No matter what Donald Trump does while in office, this is how most Americans are going to see him.

Putin's puppet.

The man who could not beat a woman without the help of a foreign government.

The illegitimate president.

He colluded with others to undermine and sabotage an historic campaign that would have continued to move this country forward.

And the easily manipulated allowed it to happen.

Vladimir Putin sends Christmas greetings to his presidential puppet.

Pres.-elect Trump releases letter he received from Putin. "A very nice letter...his thoughts are so correct." pic.twitter.com/o8OTpAsIxi

— ABC News (@ABC) December 23, 2016

Gee, look how cooperative Putin is, and how willing he is to work with America, now that his Manchurian candidate is in place.

I'm sure that Trump was careful to respond in a dignified manner so as not to give the impression that he is a Putin fanboy.

Trump: "A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct. I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts" https://t.co/PSjdvrKJZg

— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) December 23, 2016

Nope he might as well be wearing an "I Love Pootie" t-shirt and writing in his diary about how handsome he is on horseback.

You know I think Benedict Arnold at least PRETENDED like he was not working for the British.

By the way in one of his press conferences Putin claims that "only Moscow" beleived in Trump's chances of winning. Gee I wonder why?

Courtesy of Reuters:   

Putin dismissed suggestions Moscow had helped Trump to victory in any way however. 

"It's not like that," he said. "All of this (the accusations) speaks of the current administration's systemic problems."

However right after saying that, Putin added this: 

Putin, who spoke positively of Trump before his election win, said that only Moscow had believed in his victory however. 

"Trump understood the mood of the people and kept going until the end, when nobody believed in him," Putin said, adding with a smile. "Except for you and me."

Wow, virtually every poll in the country suggested that Trump was going to lose, and that he was going to lose big, but Putin and his pals in Moscow were totally confident he was going to win? 

Gee nothing at all suspicious about that, right?

In other parts of the news conference Putin launched scathing attacks against the Democrats sounding far more like a contributor to Breitbart than as the leader of a sovereign nation.

Which I am sure also means absolutely nothing.

Speaking of Sarah Palin.

This photo showed up yesterday on the Saturday Night Live Facebook page.

Underneath it said: Excited? You betcha!

This is the clearest indication yet that Palin has successfully inserted herself back into the nation's consciousness. Her infrequent appearances on Fox only garnered an occasional ridiculing from blogs and a bored MSNBC host, but lately she has been impossible to ignore.

At first I thought that having Tina Fey mock her on television would irritate her, but of course that is the opposite of the truth. She will love it!

After all the worst thing that can happen to Snowdrift Snooki is for nobody to pay any attention to her, and this last week that certainly has not been the case.

My only hope is that SNL has figured out WHY Palin is back with such a vengeance and will make the connection that she is now nothing more than a sock puppet for Jim DeMint's Heritage Foundation.

I think seeing Tina Fey play a Sarah Palin with puppet strings controlling her mouth and movements would not only be quite humorous, it would also be quite accurate. As well as having the added benefit of actually pissing Palin off.

Hmm, perhaps I ought to submit a script?