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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMartin O'Malley: 'There's a Bear in the Sit Room, a Trout in the Milk'
Link to tweet
A Trout in the Milk
Martin O'Malley - Feb 14
Many years ago, Henry David Thoreau once observed that some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk. It did not swim there by itself. Today with General Michael Flynns resignation, I say: there was a bear in the White House Situation Room, and the American people need to know how it got there.
The bear did not walk in on its own.
After just 24 days, Flynn, Trumps National Security Advisor, resigned after the public learned he had lied to VP Pence and the American people.
The lie? After first denying it, Flynn was forced to admit that he had conversations with the Russian Ambassador about lifting U.S. sanctions. These sanctions were imposed on Russia for state interference in the U.S. presidential election. In particular Russian espionage and the hacking of the email communications of the Democratic presidential nominees campaign and her Party.
Every U.S. intelligence service, even the FBI, has now come to the conclusion that the Russian hacking of our election process was clearly intended to help elect Trump. Trump was the only candidate for President in modern times to call for a re-evaluation of the U.S. commitment to the NATO Alliance. Trump also made it clear that he has no problem with Russias invasion of Ukraine. In fact, the only plank in the GOP platform he changed was the one that took a hard-line against Russian military aggression in Ukraine; he watered it down.
Shortly after this bizarre re-write of Republican policy toward Russian aggression, his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had to abruptly resign. Why? Because newspaper reports revealed that Manafort likely accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars for advising Russian puppet politicians in the former eastern bloc of Europe.
Back to Flynn: the real offense isnt that Flynn violated the Logan Act which prohibits citizens from undermining U.S. diplomacy or security efforts; the real offense against American Democracy is that Trump and his campaign had been communicating and likely coordinating with the Russians all through the campaign.
Flynn and likely Manafort maintained this channel of communication while Russia was deploying a sophisticated hacking and propaganda campaign to help Trump win.
Would he have won without it? Dont know. Dont care. The point is the Russians helped him. What they did was illegal. The troll farms spewing the Trump messages online while posing as American Joe Six-Pack. The cyber burglary of email accounts, releasing them through Wikileaks, and then dripping them out all through the campaign. The Russian media hiring former Bernie bloggers to attack Clinton throughout the general election.
And Trump was aware of all of it.
The circumstantial evidence of collusion was so overwhelming and obvious that Trump sought to cover it with something more sensational and outrageous. He publicly urged the Russians to do more of it at a televised rally. So much offensive stuff, so little time. It was the biggest and most under-reported story of the election. The truth itself was unbelievable; too hard to explain.
There is a bear in the Sit Room, and the American people need to know how it got there.
read: https://t.co/Q7EwUvCR9Q
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Martin O'Malley: 'There's a Bear in the Sit Room, a Trout in the Milk' (Original Post)
bigtree
Feb 2017
OP
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)1. Good read!
nolabear
(41,915 posts)2. It's always comforting to see the dots connected.
There's so much scribbling around, a simple straight line is great to see.
uponit7771
(90,225 posts)3. THANK YOU! How much it helped Benedict Donald is irrelevant Russians being involved at all illegal
northoftheborder
(7,566 posts)4. "A Trout in the Milk"
...and a Bear in the White House. Very succinct connection of the dots. Save.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,085 posts)5. O'Malley would have been a great part of the administration.
Hopefully he continues to stick around and be active.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,647 posts)6. 5 key sentences
"Would he have won without it? Dont know. Dont care. The point is the Russians helped him. What they did was illegal."
Bottom line folks.