The Trump Card...

Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The Lincoln Project is not a credible source for anything other than as a place to satiate a certain confirmation bias.
The report comes from the New York Times, who used unnamed sources with information that nobody else in the room knew about. That alone should tell you that it is almost certainly fake news. That the Lincoln Project has something to say about it is less than meaningless.

But let's say Russia did pay the Taliban to attack and kill Americans. So what? Do you think the Taliban is self-funded? Do you think this is the first time in the history of history that an adversary has given money or arms to another to be used against a mutual adversary? Do you think this is the first time Russia has given money or arms to be used specifically against the United States? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you, that Russia would do this.
It's not so much as Russia doing this, it's more of Trumpette knowing and saying nothing.
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
It's not so much as Russia doing this, it's more of Trumpette knowing and saying nothing.
How do you know Trump knew and didn't say anything? If your answer is, "The New York Times said so," you lose.

But even if he did know he didn't say anything about it, so what? He's under no obligation to relay any and all intelligence to the public.
 
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Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
How do you know Trump knew and didn't say anything? If your answer is, "The New York Times said so," you lose.

But even if he did know he didn't say anything about it, so what? He's under no obligation to relay any and all intelligence to the public.
If he didn't know, is even worse!
 
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RLENT

Veteran Expediter
How do you know Trump knew and didn't say anything? If your answer is, "The New York Times said so," you lose.

Apparently WaPo is confirming it based on their own sourcing.

But even if he did know he didn't say anything about it, so what? He's under no obligation to relay any and all intelligence to the public.

But he does have a responsibility and a duty to respond to Russia ... on behalf of the American people who send their sons and daughters into harm’s way.


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Turtle

Administrator
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Retired Expediter
Apparently WaPo is confirming it based on their own sourcing.



But he does have a responsibility and a duty to respond to Russia ... on behalf of the American people who send their sons and daughters into harm’s way.


Sent from my iPhone using EO Forums
Did WaPo name any of their sources? Of course not.
I'm not saying Russia didn't pay the Taliban, either in cash or in some other manner. If I had to bet on it, I'd bet they did. It's not like this would be the first time that Russia (or the US, for that matter) has aided some third party in a proxy.

The bigger question is, it appears the President wasn't actually briefed about it. The current and former WH Chief of Staff don't know anything about it, and the current and former DNI don't know anything about it. That's a problem. I realize the NSC is going to confirm everything, detail it out, and formulate response options, before taking something like this to the President, but somebody (namely the White House and/or the National Security Advisor) needs to explain why that didn't happen.

As for Trump's response, of course he has a duty to respond, but he's not obligated to publicly (especially if the public didn't know about it). He may need to respond publicly now, though. But he may have already responded. We don't know. But if he has yet to respond, he's certainly under to obligation to respond according to a timetable set by anyone outside the WH, least of all a timetable set by his critics.

His response could take any of a number of avenues. It could be diplomatic, sanctions, throwing a bigger monkey wrench in the natural gas pipeline to Germany, or he could go full-on John Bolton with it.
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I suppose it can happen, but there's nothing in the linked article that indicates Catherine Herridge was anything other than accurate in reporting what intelligence officials told her.

One funny snippet from the article, though: "... prompting speculation that Trump may simply have not read his briefing materials."
I don't know why that would prompt speculation, as the President has plainly stated, and others have said the same, that he doesn't read the briefing materials, he gets the most important and critical intelligence in an oral briefing, and leaves the written materials to his National Security staff and others who get the same briefing materials.
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Funny (and a little disturbing) thing is, Dems want Trump to Punish The Putin based solely on the allegation.
Apparently, the original intelligence for this came from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. <snort>
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
Taliban spokesman: "You know, we weren't even thinking about killing Americans. It's just not something we're interested in. But, Russia offered us money to kill Americans, so yeah, sure, why not?"

Totally believable.
 
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muttly

Veteran Expediter
I see the Dems are back on to the Russia grift again: Putin, Russia, Threat to democracy. Russian asset. What does Putin have on Trump? Treason. Why won't Trump condemn Putin? Carl Bernstein is aghast at the level of Putin's influence on Trump.
 

Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
The real shame here is, we have American citizens that don't believe tbe Russians are capable of such actions, and defend the current resident of the White House to the hilt.
 
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Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
The real shame here is, we have American citizens that don't believe tbe Russians are capable of such actions, and defend the current resident of the White House to the hilt.
No, the real shame is, we have American citizens who actually believe, without evidence, and in spite of real, actual evidence to the contrary, Russia not only has the capability, but has successfully co-opted the President of the United States to the point of the President committing ongoing treason as an agent of Russia.
 
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muttly

Veteran Expediter
The real shame here is, we have American citizens that don't believe tbe Russians are capable of such actions, and defend the current resident of the White House to the hilt.
Nobody actually cares about Russia.
Just virtue signaling.
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