Schwartz: Trump/Russia is the biggest, scariest story in the world. Let's stop pretending it isn't.

[highplainsdem]

Tweet, minutes ago, from Tony Schwartz, who wrote The Art of the Deal for Trump:

Link to tweet

Russia and Putin are fiercely dangerous to our democracy. Putin has something very big on Trump, which has rendered him an impotent toady. These two facts are obvious. This is the biggest, scariest story in the world. Let’s stop pretending it isn’t.

[poboy2]

1. You talking to me?

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[Cha]

2. Exactly. I get it.

[Iliyah]

3. Putting Pompeo and gawd awful Bolton in positions that is so dangerous

will no doubt start WW3. This whole effed up situation is nuts. Russia with the help of the GOP have hurt the USA.

[debsy]

5. And let us not forget the William Crystal rumor that Pruitt will take over as AG when...

... the dumpster fires Sessions. To paraphrase The Rude Pundit, we should get out into the streets and shut this whole mess down PRONTO. This is not going to get better. We can't wait until November.

[oxbow]

7. If Sessions leaves, we riot?

Never thought I would see such sentiments on DU but here we are. It all depends on what he does and how congress responds now

[Lucky Luciano]

11. Dumping Sessions would be yo get to Mueller...Pruitt will fire Mueller. nt

[YessirAtsaFact]

27. Just saw on another thread-anyone appointed by Trump now could not oversee Mueller

Hope it’s true

[DownriverDem]

48. Then will

the promise of impeaching trump happen?

[ollie10]

52. If Pruett becomes AG, doesn't need to fire Mueller.

Mueller reports to him. Mueller's report goes to him, not to the public. When he gets it, he deep sixes it. And we never will find out what was there.

So, even if he doesn't actually fire Mueller he can squash things.

Except, of course, any indictments that come out.....

Which Trump could deal with in pardons, explaining that top secret stuff is the reason for the pardon and he can't divulge what it is....

This could very well lead to a constitutional crisis, articles of impeachment....but I am not impressed with the motivation of Rs in congress to protect the people or the Constitution or to stand up to Trump

[bdamomma]

13. We can't stand silent

on this anymore, if Sessions goes what will happen if Mueller goes, people will mobilize.

[oxbow]

30. I agree! Its just a strange place to be...

I wonder how GOP congress will act. They have been very spineless thus far but the blue wave is becoming more of a reality every day. Also, Sessions seems to have a few friends in Congress. One hopes that fear, loyalty and maybe even love of country will compel them to protect Mueller. But if not, we certainly have to be ready to act

[Amaryllis]

69. How do you propose we shut it down?

[spanone]

4. K&R...

[Blue_Tires]

6. This is the part where I mention for the millionth time

that fearless, intrepid, self-appointed Gods of Modern Investigative Journalism like Matt Taibbi, Glenn Motherfucking Greenwald, Mark Ames, Jeremy Scahill, etc. are still in denial that it's even a real story...

(Hey, don't believe me -- Go visit their twitter accounts and see for yourself)

[poboy2]

9. Matt Taibbi, how disappointing he is turning out. Not only only minimizing,

He's persecuted. He's also full of straw men and lies.
What bullshit...

The New Blacklist
Russiagate may have been aimed at Trump to start, but it's become a way of targeting all dissent
By Matt Taibbi
March 5, 2018

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/taibbi-russiagate-trump-putin-mueller-and-targeting-dissent-w517486

[Blue_Tires]

10. That really felt like a betrayal because

I once believed Taibbi was fucking better than this, and I've defended him on countless occasions in the past...

Well not anymore...

[LiberalLovinLug]

56. Thanks for the link! Raises some interesting perspectives

While the Russians may very well have interfered and have done for years, decades, now, this whole RussiaGate story can also be milked by those in charge of each party to be used against political competition. Against any party or person that is publicly accused of being helped by Putin. Even if they never asked for help from Putin, and Putin was just helping them, if you could call it help, to stir discontent and chaos for everybody.

That it is being used to shut down anti-establishment voices not just from the right but the left as well. Disaster Capitalism comes to mind. Only this is Disaster Politics. Where you are either "with us or with the terr'ists" . No time for nuance. No time for alternative voices. Alternative views, in this atmosphere of paranoia, can be dismissed as a luxury. That now is not the time to push forward with more bold progressive agendas. We must all rally round our respective established leadership and rely on them for guidance. And one of the ways is to do that is to smear any group, party, person that Putin had 'helped', without their knowledge, by littering their websites, and FB with inflammatory memes involving Hillary doing some evil deed. Guilt by association, even if you didn't know there even was an association.

Something to keep an eye on for sure.

[poboy2]

57. Oh potential is there, but Taibbi is bullshitting me with this article.

[LiberalLovinLug]

58. Never found him to be much of a bullshitter

You sound like you are contradicting yourself in one sentence.

I think its important to hear different perspectives and rehash and go over things to find details, and not just ride the simplest narrative wave.

[poboy2]

59. Read the exchange I replied to. No contradictions.

Dude is dropping the ball. Poor persecuted Taibbi.

Garbage.

[LiberalLovinLug]

60. "potential is there, but Taibbi is bullshitting"

So...that looks like a contradiction to me.

Taibbi is basically alerting us to that potential and to be aware of it. And how the whole Russiagate story can be used for ulterior motives. Its an important thing to be aware of. Thanks again for posting it.

[poboy2]

61. Well, you go with that. I'll go with minimizing TREASON.

Hell, he says there is no there, there. Fuck that noise.

Of course you can believe what you want. I'm done explaining.
Clearly a waste of time.

[LiberalLovinLug]

62. Either with us or with the traitors! got it.

"Still, you might say, it's all true! Russia did try to meddle in our election! We really are facing a foreign threat!

That might very well be. But the realness of a foreign threat in no way precludes Americans' ability to make a total cock-up of their response to it. That we could forget this is amazing, since we so recently went through an exactly analogous disaster." (with Bush 2)

Doesn't sound like he's denying it. He's only finding the story between the lines. But you also can believe anything you want.

It wasn't a waste of time for me. Good article!

[poboy2]

63. I'll reply only to kick this thread once more.

Oh, there is a danger in a 'witch hunt' mentality. How mundane. No shit shirlock (Taibbi).
Yeah, real cutting edge deep thinking. Maybe go read Glen Greewald next. He'd be up you alley as well.

That you did not understand or were confused as to why I posted this only reveals what is now obvious.
...and the waste of time I mention is mine in this exchange with you.

nevertheless, BUMP for Schwartz' warning (the OP)

[LiberalLovinLug]

65. I'll bump it too

Maybe someone else will scoll down to read the Taibbi article too. There are some that would not call a 'witch hunt' mentality, milked to shut out alternative points of view, 'mundane'.

Believe me, I was not confused or misunderstood your motives in posting it. But I still appreciate being made aware of it.

thanks again.

[pandr32]

55. This!

[Maggiemayhem]

68. Maybe the Russia defenders

ought to read today’s CERT report. US CERT. Russia is not a friend to USA or allies. Trying to take down our infrastructure as we speak.

[dalton99a]

8. People who deny it are traitors and idiots.

[Horizens]

12. Western democracy ..

is SOooooo at risk and Reps are allowing it to happen.

[bdamomma]

14. they(repigs) are jumping ship

or should I say retiring.

[brush]

28. Like pointy headed Gowdy who is now saying there's something to the collusion accusations.

He's quitting and trying to get away from being lumped in with the rest of the traitor repugs but he can't escape how many times he tried to hang Hillary with his endless Benghazi hearings.

Once this is over the repug party will be disgraced and in ruins.

[mikeysnot]

41. "Once this is over the repug party will be disgraced and in ruins."

I thought that with bush, but that party, it's base has no problem doubling down on dumb.

[brush]

47. IMO this is different and is for the nation to decide, not the repug base.

And Bush wasn't committing treason.

[mikeysnot]

49. yes he did as far as I'm concerned.

He lied us to two wars for profit and blamed the intelligent community for his lack of intelligence...

[brush]

53. That's horrible, stupid and incompetent but he wasn't working in concert with hostile foreign power.

[CrispyQ]

43. This:

Disavowing their oath for power. I hate McConnell the most.

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. I think many who deny this simply can't let themselves go there - it is too frightening.

Those of us who can go there (and I went there at about 9 PM on election night) are appalled - and, yes, frightened. But we avoid dealing with at our peril!

[CrispyQ]

45. This.

One of my non-political friends said, "I wouldn't be able to get up in the morning if I really thought we could go the way of Germany." And I have others who have expressed similar sentiment.

We are on a precipice & could topple either way.

[elmac]

16. the manchurian candidate is in power

with the backing of his party, banksters, religious nuts, billionaires, the press and 2/3rds of the military. It is scary, yes, but there is nothing we can do about it because we now live in an 100% fascist state.

[Ilsa]

18. I don't think trump has support of

military officers the way W did. I bet more than half oppose trump, and are watching for the his move.

[kairos12]

17. Toady to frogmarched. We can hope.

[Nitram]

19. Absolutely true!

[Moral Compass]

20. He's got that right

[triron]

21. Trump et al committed treason to get power.

Enough said.

[dflprincess]

22. And what makes it even scarier is that there isn't a Republican in Congress who doesn't know this

and are willing to ignore it if it helps them suck up to their donors.

(Though, in the cases of Pence, Ryan & McConnell, I imagine Vlad has plenty on them as well and for them, it's self preservation.)

[McCamy Taylor]

25. They are traitors. Scum.

[dalton99a]

31. +1

[Blue Owl]

23. No doubt

Now is the time for all good patriots to come to the aid of their country...

[McCamy Taylor]

24. For real. Putin could nuke the US and Trump would not retaliate. He would hide in his bunker

and let it happen. And we would all be dead and Putin would be king of the world.

[Eyeball_Kid]

26. Where are the media reports on Putins

evil history and evil agenda? Putin will invade the US once he softens it up for the kill. He’s at the softening stage right now, and he’s doing amazingly well. There’s no counterintelligence movement to alter the narrative that Putin means no harm.

WHY NOT?

Putin will crush all resistance. That means you.

[highplainsdem]

33. Did you see this 2017 Politico story on Russian diplomats/spies mapping our telecom infrastructure?

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/01/russia-spies-espionage-trump-239003

In the throes of the 2016 campaign, the FBI found itself with an escalating problem: Russian diplomats, whose travel was supposed to be tracked by the State Department, were going missing.

The diplomats, widely assumed to be intelligence operatives, would eventually turn up in odd places, often in middle-of-nowhere USA. One was found on a beach, nowhere near where he was supposed to be. In one particularly bizarre case, relayed by a U.S. intelligence official, another turned up wandering around in the middle of the desert. Interestingly, both seemed to be lingering where underground fiber-optic cables tend to run.

According to another U.S. intelligence official, “They find these guys driving around in circles in Kansas. It’s a pretty aggressive effort.”

It’s a trend that has led intelligence officials to conclude that the Kremlin is waging a quiet effort to map the United States’ telecommunications infrastructure, perhaps preparing for an opportunity to disrupt it.

[colorado_ufo]

37. And there you are.

Putin will not nuke the United States. That is a club, and Putin intends to use a scalpel, so to speak. Why destroy what he would like to have? I can almost hear them laughing about how they will take over the United States without ever having to fire a single shot.

Look around. Their plan is hiding in plain sight.

[Anon-C]

29. Where are you, 007? Nt

[StevieM]

32. An FBI determined to use their power to destroy Democratic candidates based on lies

is also pretty scary.

[The_jackalope]

38. Ironically, the FBI is also one of the few organizations standing between America and the abyss. nt

[arthritisR_US]

34. He is totally correct and Americans are

ignoring it like the Germans did in 1933. Doing this is at your own peril.

[StarryNite]

35. Kick!

[TwistOneUp]

36. Thank You! nt

[oasis]

39. Wake up America!

[duforsure]

40. There's things we have to do

Take control over both the House, and the Senate in Nov. elections. Both Ryan and McConnell are stooges for trump, so getting control over both is one way to regain power, and be able to lessen his impact on us, or he'll continue with Supreme court appointments with his yes men supporting him and Putin over us. Its also one way to impeach him, because the GOP won't, or will do anything if he fires Mueller, which is what their plan is now. They also can restart Mueller again getting them all this time.

[happy feet]

42. Exactly!

[BSdetect]

44. k&r

[DownriverDem]

46. Not talking to me

Tell it to the trumpettes. I remember when Romney said that russia will be one of the countries we need to watch. We all kind of went huh?, but now we know different.

[Locrian]

50. there are two stories

One is about trump, money, sugar daddies, and getting screwed

The other is about Stormy Daniels....

[uponit7771]

51. **** PAUL FUCKIN RYAN, MITCH McCONNELL !!!! **** Those are his enabler !!!

[C Moon]

54. I'm beginning to fear we're heading for another world war...

Putin probably wanted Trump to admit that Russia poisoned the spies.
I don't know, but it is fucking scary as hell, right now!
Trump is a god damned freak!

[workinclasszero]

64. For the first time ever in our history an outright traitor sits in the White House

Trump is controlled by Putin, it is so damn obvious to see.

Trump is corrupting and destroying our laws and institutions on a daily basis. He and his enabling party have done immense damage to this country already.

We have had weak presidents, racist presidents, idiot presidents, ignorant presidents but Trump embodies all of those terrible qualities plus treason!

These are dark days for America. I hope Mueller and the Blue Wave can save this country from becoming a quasi-religious fascist state but Trump still has cards to play: the war card.

Do you suppose all the ex fox news idiots and alt right ideologues he his placing around himself now would try to stop Twitler from starting a nuclear war to save his hide?

Democracy and freedom are in grave danger IMO. The filthy rich rule us and have bought the entire republican party. Their propaganda organs cover this country from sea to sea, pumping out lies 24/7/365.

The only thing that can save us is..Mueller...a blue wave election in the fall...and the new youth movement starting up that is tired of being targets in a shooting gallery so the NRA can sell more military weapons of death to enraged white males.

[2left4u]

66. It's Bigger than just that

I think that the GOP in desperation to rack up some wins is now completely involved too.


They act like blue states and anybody that isn't on their program are enemies of America...th eyre completely projecting

[barbtries]

67. a lot of people don't want to acknowledge it.

it's too scary. they just want to get on with their lives and i'm over here fretting about my grandchildren and their children and what will their lives be like?