The silence is deafening.

[captain queeg]

I guess trump and the rest of the treasonous GOP are struggling to come up with a message. You can almost feel sorry for the rethugs (not really) who’ve hitched themselves to this clown, repeatedly trying to cover for him. They’ll be working on their messaging rather than working on actions to take and whatever story they come up with twit face will blow up and they’ll have to retreat and come up with a new lie. It’s going to be interesting to see what they come up with this time

[Girard442]

1. Hoping to be wrong, but I have a bad feeling this will fade in a day or so.

Hasn't it been pretty common knowledge for a long time that Trump is completely owned by Putin? Is this that much more shocking?

[mnmoderatedem]

2. yes Putin owns him all right, but this time it resulted in a direct attack on our troops

that will be difficult for Mr Patriot to talk around.

[Mike 03]

3. This story seems to take the idea that Trump is Putin's stooge to a level

of undeniability that will be hard to dismiss.

You'd think that pulling our troops out of Syria and Trump's flimsy reasoning and lying about oil fields would have been sufficient, but it wasn't, because it was also a favor to Erdogan.

You'd think us allowing Russia to take over the Arctic Circle with no pushback whatsoever would have been enough. But nobody paid any attention.

A lot of us have had this suspicion for a long time, but this story will elevate alarm to a new level. It's simply too hard to rationalize any justification for these actions and behaviors. IMO, there is no explanation other than that Trump is owned by Putin.

The strangest thing of all about this bounty story is that it in no way, shape or form helps Trump get re-elected, so it's far beyond rational self-interest. It's simply grossly immoral and inexplicable...unless he's owned by Putin.

[Progressive dog]

4. Trump has abdicated

his responsibilities all across the board, but this time his buddy is buying the murder of American soldiers. Trump not only does nothing, he helps protect Putin from retaliation.