Why did Trump and his team think they could pull this kind of stuff and get away with it?

[Quixote1818]

Did Trump think he had the intelligence agencies heads on his side?

Or because he has gotten away with anything over the years he just thought his streak would continue? A bunch of group-think from a bunch of over privileged rich ass holes?

What is your best guess? What is the motive of the Russian connection? Does Trump have a business deal?

[spanone]

1. entitled shithead who always did what he wanted and the world kissed his ass.

and is in waaaay over his head. imho

[radical noodle]

29. Yep... this " " "

[democratisphere]

2. Always conducted business in this current corrupt fashion.

drumpf and co. believe it is their right.

[PatSeg]

3. I've wondered the same thing

In Trump's case, he can be a bit clueless. He has gotten away with so much his entire life and probably thought this would be the same, but the others baffle me. People who really should know better have made some ridiculous mistakes.

[brer cat]

24. He has surrounded himself with even more clueless people.

The ones who have his ear know no more than he does, and they are all blinded by the unlimited power they think they have. Republicans in Congress have been showing no signs of stopping him. The only one I can think of who should have known better is Sessions, and I think that is why he has a deer-in-the-headlights look today. He knows. The rest of them are going to be shocked when the walls come tumbling down.

[PatSeg]

46. Yes

Sessions has really been a shock. A seasoned senator lying under oath before the senate is astounding, something I'd expect from an inexperienced rookie. He does not strike me as a reckless risk-taker.

[JI7]

4. Trump is an idiot. he doesn't think that deeply. he is indebted to Russians

so does/says what's in his personal financial interest.

[cilla4progress]

5. The Russians own him

Loans. Deutsche bank was the only one that would lend to Trump. They do a lot of money laundering for Russian oligarchs.

And the huge windfall profit trump made on the Florida mansion he sold to one of them.

Rachel laid it all out Monday/ Tuesday night.

[Gabi Hayes]

6. l'etat, c'est moi, once removed....

[Lotusflower70]

7. Good question

I don't think he cares. I seriously thinks he thinks he is untouchable and everyone else will take the fall. He gets off on the attention and feeling invincible. He lives in his own world. The rest of them feel like their money will save them.

[demtenjeep]

8. because he thinks he can do anything he wants

up to now "citizen drumpt" could lie and cheat his way whenever he wanted because he was just a citizen. It is a lot different when one is a public servant

[C_U_L8R]

9. They are no-nothing's. Amateurs. Ignoramuses.

They are absolutely incompetent and clueless how awful they are.

[randome]

44. Agreed. Their brazenness fools us into thinking otherwise.

Because 'No one could be that stupid' is our first reaction.

[AJT]

10. May have been different if the GOP didn't have

both the house and senate.

[Freethinker65]

11. They believed what they read in "Art of the Deal"?

[Motown_Johnny]

12. He doesn't understand the limitations on Presidential Powers.

Which is also why he thinks he can rule by decree (Executive Orders).



I guess nobody knew how complicated it would be. At least nobody inside his bubble.

[briv1016]

13. What makes you think he hasn't?

I think a lot of people are counting their chickens before they hatch?

[Quixote1818]

15. It's possible he will but his minions are dropping like flies. nt

[Yavin4]

14. Trump never thought that he would win. Recall, Russia's primary goal was to undermine...

President Hillary Clinton. Trump went along for the ride thinking that there would be multiple deals with Putin afterwards. Trump would damage Hillary enough so that her presidency would be in complete turmoil. Meanwhile, Trump was setting up all kinds of deals with Putin and his oligarch pals to wash their money in his real estate business.

[Quixote1818]

18. Good points, my only thought here is that they knew they had Wikileaks as a secret weapon

Had the pussy grabbing episode not happened with all the leaks hurting Hillary I wonder if they really thought they were going to win all along. But that is part of what got them into hot water. They were working with Russia all along to undermine the election.

[Turbineguy]

16. Maybe they thought

we were all his supporters.

[mountain grammy]

17. So far, he's getting away with it.

[Luciferous]

48. Exactly

[TransitJohn]

19. They think the POTUS is a king

Idiots.

[moondust]

20. Divine right of kings.

Arrogant pigs used to seeing groveling toadies.

[womanofthehills]

21. The weird thing is that it seems like everyone around Trump met with Kislyak

What a dumb move on Trump's part. Now Bill Palmer has also reported that Trump met with Kislyak too. Sounds like someone is talking.

[herding cats]

22. My best guess is they banked on the Republicans in office turning a blind eye.

Which they have been, and will continue to do as long as they possibly can to further their own agendas.

This isn't even close to over yet folks. The Republicans have shown us they're more than willing to prop up Trump as long as they possibly can. They have no love of country, only a love of their personal agendas.

[vlyons]

23. narcissistic arrogance and stupidity

Trump is really smart, the smartest guy in the room, smarter than the generals, much smarter than Obama, who left such a mess of the gov.

There's only one thing to do, when someone sets himself up on a pedastal - and that is to knock him off. Everybody loathes Donald Trump. He has alienated everyone with his insults, bullying, humiliations. The IC are grand masters at reading and profiling people for over 50 years. They know how to spot and use psychology, spot human weaknesses, and manipulate people. Donald Trump is a very very stupid man. What we have here is a tragedy of Shakespearean proportion. Every week, every day, Trump's stupidity will dig his grave deeper and deeper.

[brush]

25. He probably has a deal with Rosneft, the Russian oil giant. Ass getting away with the whole...

thing?

Stupidity and greed is not a good combination.

[MFM008]

26. everything you said

Daddy always paved the way for the maggot, hes hardly been told NO his whole life.

Its long overdue.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. He has no clue how government works. It's obvious that he thought

he could manage the government just like he managed his businesses. He was never a CEO of a public company so he didn't have to answer to a board of directors or shareholders - he just gave orders and expected them to be followed, and he'd managed to get away with all manner of sketchy activities because nobody ever tried to stop him. He is just now discovering that presidents are not all-powerful and that other government entities don't necessarily have to answer to him. None of his minions - notably Bannon, Miller, his children and his son-in-law - have any experience in government, either. I think they figured they could just take over and nobody would challenge them.

What the Russians have on him isn't altogether clear yet, but it's likely to be worse than golden showers. More likely he owes the oligarchs and mobsters a buttload of money, and the deal is that Trump gives Putin what he wants - lifted sanctions, weakening NATO - and the oligarchs don't call the loans.

We'll see. This is not going away.

[flamingdem]

28. Wait a minute...

.. we're still not sure he won't get away with it.

[LOL Lib]

30. This exactly!

At this point I have no reason to believe he and the repukes won't get away with it. The writing was on the wall when he shit on the khan family and grab em by the pussy was deemed locker room fun talk by the deplorables. I am so sickened by his supporters and they still stand behind him. He tries crazy shit because he ALWAYS comes out smelling like a rose. Any number of his scams would have put average people behind bars, but instead, he is the SCROTUS as his reward.

He is literally golden I guess.

FUCK YOUR UGLY FACE DRUMPF!

[Beartracks]

33. 40% of voters still think it's all just liberals whining...

.... and stomping their feet and making shit up about their golden (showers) boy, because they (we) are supposedly sore losers.

I kinda think we need better than 60% of the voters to realize the Trump regime is indeed dangerous and treasonous before we'll see the truth "stick" where it needs to stick.

====================

[Cosmocat]

41. Yeah ... they ARE getting away with it

I mean, we are down 30 points with one minute left in the game.

[Amaryllis]

31. maybe because enough top repubs were in bed with him that he thought he was covered.

[MedusaX]

32. 45 did not realize he was the mark....

I am sure 45 thought he was playing Vlad this whole time--
what could be more bigly than successfully running a game on the Ex-KGB Russian President ?

Especially when you(45) think that there's no way in hell you will actually get elected...
so 45's end game was to get in Vlad's good graces by "trying to win" knowing he would be able to "blame stupid Americans for not voting for him" or "blame Obama for rigging the election so no one would find his fake birth certificate in the whitehouse vault."

When he won... it was oh f*ck - this was not part of the plan - so now what?
Bannon to the rescue... with the Hail Mary Pass strategy.. I believe his words were something to the effect of -- deciding to just throw it up there and see what sticks--

[dchill]

34. Hubris.

Sociopathy.

[SticksnStones]

35. Because nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition

[Kablooie]

36. He planned to install his loyal stooge as AD and then be immune from prosecution.

Based on the time line from another post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028739226
it looks like Sessions was the main guy that got all these Russian connections started. If Trump goes down he will too so he'd work like hell to prevent a Serious investigation.

That isn't going quite as well as expected.

His deputy, who hasn't been chosen yet, will now helm the investigation.
Trump will be working like a madman to install another indebted stooge into that position.
No one will be as reliable as Sessions would have been though because Sessions was in to it up to his neck.

[UCmeNdc]

37. Yes

They did think that. Plus they were desperate. Hillary would win without the Russian's disinformation campaign help.

[VOX]

38. One-party-rule in effect. They ARE getting away with murder right now.

They even don't seem to have the slightest concern when accused of anything. They just play dumb and, in the next breath, threaten retribution. Like all good fascists do.

[Cosmocat]

42. Right

nm

[nocalflea]

39. Partly, thrill is getting away with it .

Trump believes he is smarter than most people and that he is a superior being.He is so smart and so superior, the rules don't apply to him.Every successful scam reinforces this belief. (He can get away with anything-he's that damn superior.
He is not the most sophicated con-artist-he doesn't try to hide his pathology-he's very blatant.His stance on Russia is blatant.The more sophisticated type would 've toned it down.I can't figure out if this is a product of intellect (lack thereof) or hubris.I expect a little of both.
His fellow travelers seem to have the same narcissistic and or socio-pathalogical tendencies.Birds of a feather.They seek each other out. He was mentored by Roy Cohn for god sakes & Roger Stone (Stone's twitter posts reflect one hell of an ego-me , me,me-look at me ! ).
The thing that kills me is the number of people involved. If you're gonna sell-out your country,you would think they would have been more selective.
It's gotta be stupidity and hubris.
(funny,Trump doesn't trust e-mail, but he does trust god knows how many psychopaths).
Go figure .

[annabanana]

40. .... not subject to the law of gravity..

or any other law.. all his life

[no_hypocrisy]

43. Couple of things:

1. Trump didn't believe he was going to win, so why not?
2. Reagan and Bush got away with something similar with Iran in 1980. Nothing succeeds like success.
3. Trump has always thought he was smarter than everyone in the room. Why should this be different?
4. Promises of unlimited loans of money by Russia and its banks in exchange.

[truebluegreen]

45. Because he's stupid and rich and has powerful allies

who want to use him.

As for motive, what has ever motivated The Donald (and his benighted spawn) but Money? The blackmail thing always seemed weak to me--what has he ever done or said that he is ashamed of? Otoh, he and his kids starting trying to sell access, promoted their various businesses, etc. the second they could...Ikanka was tweeting to promote her dress at the convention that night iirc.

I think there's no question: there was a business deal. Oil revenues, or something Really Big.

[maxrandb]

47. Two reasons

The Retrumplican party currently controls everything and would form a coalition with ISIL if the end result is damaging the Democratic Party.

And

The media... nothing more needs to be said about them

[trof]

49. In a word...yes.

'His' party is in control of the entire government.