Trump careens off script on Russia after Putin meeting

[DonViejo]

After a week of delicate diplomacy in Asia, the president on Saturday again dismissed U.S. intelligence officials’ claims of Russian election meddling.

By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and NANCY COOK 11/11/2017 08:07 AM EST Updated 11/11/2017 11:11 AM EST

DANANG, Vietnam — President Donald Trump stayed on script for more than a week as he crisscrossed through Asia — and then Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up.

After chatting with Putin on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit here, Trump abandoned the diplomatic tone the White House had carefully scripted for his five-country tour, once again contradicting the overwhelming consensus among current and former U.S. officials that the Russian leader manipulated the 2016 election.

In a 26-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One, the president managed to dismiss probes into whether his campaign colluded with Russia as an “artificial Democratic hit job,” said he believed Putin's insistence that Russia did not attempt to meddle in the 2016 electon, and warned that the continued focus on Russian election meddling risks lives.

The president’s comments immediately reignited the politically volatile debate over Russia’s alleged efforts to propel Trump into the White House — and distracted from the administration’s Asia messaging.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/11/trump-russia-putin-people-will-die-244801?lo=ap_a1

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Putin is definitely tapping that shit! (And by shit, I mean Trump!)

[Ms. Toad]

7. Stop using homosexuality to insult Trump. n/t

[Ms. Toad]

10. Sorry - but that's just not credible

Implying someone is gay, particularly anyone who is conservative, is a favorite insult - that only works if homosexality is perceived as a negative thing.

When those of us who are gay point out how offensive it is, there number of excuses offered (we're doing it to point out the hypocrisy, anything is fair game {regardless of who it insults}, or gee - I'd say the same thing about a mixed gender couple).

None of them take away the sting of being used, over and over, by our supposed allies as a battering ram. The only appropriate response is, oops - I didn't think of it that way - sorry (and edit or delete the post). Your conscious intent is irrelevant - what matters is the impact on members of the group being used as a battering ram.

[Madam45for2923]

11. I see your point. Maybe you should make an OP out of the topic.

It is something that lots of us are doing these days. Would be good to bring to forefront and discuss.

My apologies.

I will delete, eh!

No hard feelings, eh?

[Ms. Toad]

13. No hard feelings -

But this has been an issue for years on DU - and no matter what the LGBT community does, it never changes. There was even a purge of LGBT people just before the current version of DU was rolled otu because we got loud about nothing being done about the repeated pattern of anti-gay bigotry (including using gay as an insult, and tolerating mAnn Coulter jokes), and cisplaining ad nauseum. That was followed by a welcome back and fence-mending post by Skinner.

Unfortunately, it continues. I know it is a new thought for a lot of people, and most of the time it is not malicious. I point it out when I see it. But it gets awfully tiring because it just never ends. And the explanation-less moderation on this incarnation of DU means that it always requries personal energy to address because - unless it is blatantly obvious to straight folks who haven't lived the insults - juries don't hide. So somone like me needs to decide to post a comment - knowing that the likely response is being told, "You're wrong." or "Stop whining" (at the mild end). When I don't have the energy to deal with the follow-up (or the follow-up is to tell me I've got no business asking them to stop using gay as an insult), I sometimes alert - knowing it is not likely to be hidden. I'm currently on an alert time-out because I alerted on a simlar post yesterday and lost 0-7. I've been on three (I think) jury time-outs in my DU career - all on this issue.

Bottom line - I wish I thought an OP would help. But even if it educated a few people, it would be vey transient, and it would likely just draw flack from the crowd who believes that Trump et al are so vile that any insult is fair game, regardless of the collateral damage. I occasionally have energy to engage in a bit of conversation - when I do I respond to individual posts. Typically, the personal cost is too high for me to take on all (or what sometimes still feels like all) of DU on this issue by creating (and tending) an OP.

[Madam45for2923]

15. I think things don't change till they do. Once something changes in people's gestalt it cant go back

Also it is good to call out because you are also teaching new generations. Change can come in one generation.

They are soaking knowledge as we speak.

So don't desist.

[Madam45for2923]

12. I made an OP here:

We Need To Stop Making Gay Jokes About Trump And Putin Casual homophobia yields nothing positive.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029831659

[Ms. Toad]

14. Thank you! n/t

[Yonnie3]

2. Kompromat at work?

Or just a narcissist being manipulated?

[SunSeeker]

3. He announces he believes Putin, not our intelligense services. And on Veterans Day no less!

Lock up this traitor!

[Thunderbeast]

4. Putin showed him the hooker video

....on his iPhone.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Trump turning over the US to the Kremlin in Da Nang is mind boggling.

So many Americans fought, died or were wounded on that spot to prevent communist takeover. And now we have a sitting US president handing the US over to Russia on that era spot.

[riversedge]

8. RED ALERT 🚨 Trump learned a new word. He used 'arificial' instead of 'fake'

...In a 26-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One, the president managed to dismiss probes into whether his campaign colluded with Russia as an “artificial Democratic hit job,”