It's Official, Trump's Team Full Contact with Russian Intelligence.

[Belize]

Calm down with the capslock. Also no you don't, as Obama went golfing many times with foreign leaders of sorts and none of those moments were recorded or transcribed.

Yes, and Trump pisses off every Sunday and was briefed on NK with dozens of people taking instagram pictures with his staffers around.

Let's not get into whataboutisms, it's not something you can claim Trump has any moral ground in.

[Breccia]

Neither of these people work for the current republican administration.

So, it's okay, because they don't work for Trump anymore?

That's a stupid argument. Imagine if I rephrased it like this:

Trump: Hitman, go kill this person.
Hitman: Right. *BANG* Job's done.
Trump: Good. Also, you're fired.
Police: Mr. Trump, we have proof you hired a hitman to kill someone.
Trump: WHOA WHOA WHOA! He doesn't work for me anymore!

The fact that Trump dumped people like Page, Manafort, and Flynn, all of whom had direct and apparently routine ties with Russia, as Tillerson still does, doesn't suddenly absolve him of his actions in the campaign and beyond. Despite saying otherwise, his actions towards Putin and Russia have been anything but tough, and an investigation is called for.

I also like how you deflect to Clinton by suggesting EU, China, and Saudi money flowed into the US election, without proof I might add. Deflecting to Clinton won't absolve Trump, either.

[-Nurot]

I still want to know how, in the same breath he can whine -

"Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @Nytimes (and others) must apologize!"

and

"The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!"

but then 2 hours later whine-

"FAKE NEWS media, which makes up stories and "sources," is far more effective than the discredited Democrats - but they are fading fast"

and

"The Democrats had to come up with a story as to why they lost the election, and so badly (306), so they made up a story - RUSSIA. Fake news!"

I know he's delusional most of the time, but even he should understand that it's physically impossible to have an illegal "leaker" that needs to be discovered and punished, if the source material isn't real in the first place. Yes please do shine that "spotlight" on the "low-life leakers" that you claim are imaginary by nature. I'm sure that'll just make all the problems go away.

I suppose at least he's consistent. He's never had a long game and with how emotional and reactionary he is, he probably never will. Russia is playing Chess, while Donnie is too busy playing checkers with anyone who doesn't agree with him completely.

[NYC17]

I still want to know how, in the same breath he can whine -


and


but then 2 hours later whine-


and


I know he's delusional most of the time, but even he should understand that it's physically impossible to have an illegal "leaker" that needs to be discovered and punished, if the source material isn't real in the first place. Yes please do shine that "spotlight" on the "low-life leakers" that you claim are imaginary by nature. I'm sure that'll just make all the problems go away.

I suppose at least he's consistent. He's never had a long game and with how emotional and reactionary he is, he probably never will. Russia is playing Chess, while Donnie is too busy playing checkers with anyone who doesn't agree with him completely.

Checkers? Trump's been trying to find his nose from the mean old guy who took it right off his face ever since he started his campaign.

[Cyberowl]

Trump in November: "Who ares about who leaked it, the content is important!"
Trump in Februar: "Who cares about the content, who leaked it is important!"

At least he is entertaining and has as much self-reflection as class. Which is none.

[Deleted]

I suppose at least he's consistent. He's never had a long game and with how emotional and reactionary he is, he probably never will. Russia is playing Chess, while Donnie is too busy playing checkers with anyone who doesn't agree with him completely.

I don't get how the reports can be "fake news", when the leakers are legit. Trump doesn't discredit them, which means news are fake, no matter what they write :/ ?

[Breccia]

I don't get how the reports can be "fake news", when the leakers are legit. Trump doesn't discredit them, which means news are fake, no matter what they write :/ ?

The term "fake news" means anything Trump doesn't want you to believe. His hypocrisy on leaks (thanks @Cyberowl) and his contradictory statements as you said are proof of this.

He attacked the media and the intelligence community and they've teamed up on a common enemy. Trump is now faced with a foe of his own creation and is desperate to stop it, such as by only calling on conservative reporters at his press conferences. Thing is, the intelligence community does have actual evidence -- it's kind of their job. And the press has no legal or ethical obligation to turn them away, and lots of motivation to keep them around. So this is going to continue, especially now that ranking GOP members like McCain and Graham are asking questions.

[ringpriest]

The term "fake news" means anything Trump doesn't want you to believe. His hypocrisy on leaks (thanks @Cyberowl) and his contradictory statements as you said are proof of this.

He attacked the media and the intelligence community and they've teamed up on a common enemy. Trump is now faced with a foe of his own creation and is desperate to stop it, such as by only calling on conservative reporters at his press conferences. Thing is, the intelligence community does have actual evidence -- it's kind of their job. And the press has no legal or ethical obligation to turn them away, and lots of motivation to keep them around. So this is going to continue, especially now that ranking GOP members like McCain and Graham are asking questions.

It also hurts Trump (badly) that he is both predictable and easily triggered - it's rather obvious that both the news media and elements of the government opposed to him are literally trolling him, and it works because he's a mentally disturbed idiot. If he had the talent or sense of a learning-disabled gerbil, he would just go do the job of actually being President of the United States and occasionally (like once a week), make a point of what he was actually accomplishing, genially sneer/snark at the people trolling him, and then get back to work; of course such a strategy is impossible for him, because he's a veritable hollow man, and has zero ability to really be POTUS (even in a perfunctory way) and his mental problems only add to that and force him to (over)react to his critics.

Right now, <30 days in, the Trump Administration is in a death spiral - maybe it can recover, particularly if his immediate circle can just get him to stfu, and let the more competent picks in his cabinet do their jobs (setting politics aside, people like Mathis, Tillerson, and Mnuchin do have the prerequisites to run large organizations, unlike their "boss" in the Trump House) - but if Trump isn't reigned in (or if more/worse skullduggery emerges) the death spiral will continue. Pulling out of it isn't made any easier by the fact that many of his close advisers are themselves also various degrees of dysfunctional.

[Deleted]

He attacked the media and the intelligence community and they've teamed up on a common enemy. Trump is now faced with a foe of his own creation and is desperate to stop it, such as by only calling on conservative reporters at his press conferences. Thing is, the intelligence community does have actual evidence -- it's kind of their job. And the press has no legal or ethical obligation to turn them away, and lots of motivation to keep them around. So this is going to continue, especially now that ranking GOP members like McCain and Graham are asking questions.

On the whole, the long list of powerful opponents is reassuring. Very much even. What's so upsetting, is Trumps understanding of a leader. Being titled Prez is a nice start, but the end game needs to be king (as he was quoted by Rogue POTUS Staff) and that's where I wonder, what kind of kings he admires.

[Breccia]

Right now, <30 days in, the Trump Administration is in a death spiral

About that.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-united-states

The first 25 days of Trump have been a zoetrope of galloping despair

The summary:

The common housefly lives for about four weeks and, in that time, lays about 1,000 slimy white eggs. One can’t help but wonder: how much does the fly know? Can the fly sense its own mortality? How competent is the fly? Is the fly crapping out eggs willy-nilly on pure wild instinct, or is it cannily exploiting its brief lifespan in order to maximise personal power and profit and ensure the political dominance of its offspring with the help of two other really racist flies? Does the fly even want this job?

[zmp]

I suppose at least he's consistent. He's never had a long game and with how emotional and reactionary he is, he probably never will. Russia is playing Chess, while Donnie is too busy playing checkers with anyone who doesn't agree with him completely.

Quit whining, Hillary lost get over it.

[Baneth]

Interesting news just came out:

Deutsche Bank examined Donald Trump's account for Russia links
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...r-russia-links

Deutsche Bank, which is under investigation by the US Department of Justice and is facing intense regulatory scrutiny, was looking for evidence of whether recent loans to Trump, which were struck in highly unusual circumstances, may have been underpinned by financial guarantees from Moscow.

The Guardian has also learned that the president’s immediate family are Deutsche clients. The bank examined accounts held by Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, her husband, Jared Kushner, who serves as a White House adviser, and Kushner’s mother.

The internal review found no evidence of any Russia link, but Deutsche Bank is coming under pressure to appoint an external and independent auditor to review its business relationship with President Trump.

Pascrell said the bank was under federal investigation for aiding Russian money-laundering - a “troubling potential conflict”. He said he would encourage Deutsche to “shine a bright light” on its lending to the president to “eliminate any speculation of wrongdoing ”. Congress should also be allowed to review Trump’s tax returns in closed session, he added.

According to an analysis by Bloomberg, Trump now owes Deutsche around $300m. He has four large mortgages, all issued by Deutsche’s private bank. The loans are guaranteed against the president’s properties: a new deluxe hotel in Washington DC’s old Post Office building, just round the corner from the White House; his Chicago tower hotel; and the Trump National Doral Miami resort.

In recent years the disgraced bank has been hit by a series of scandals. Last month the UK and US imposed record fines of $630m. Deutsche failed to prevent money laundering by its Moscow branch involving at least $10bn of Russian cash, regulators found.

The bank said it would not be drawn on what had prompted the internal examination, who had undertaken it or what its findings had been.

Deutsche said it would not say anything about whether the review had found any links between Trump’s loans and Moscow. However, two bank sources have told the Guardian that it found no evidence to show the loans had been underwritten by money from Moscow, or any Russian bank.

Another source familiar with the issue said speculation about possible ties to Russia could be part of a “disinformation campaign”.

Trump and his businesses have a long history with the German bank, which this month posted its latest net loss, of €1.4bn. It has been the only financial institution willing to lend Trump significant sums. In the 1990s other Wall Street banks, which had previously extended him credit, turned off the tap after Trump’s businesses declared bankruptcy four times.

In November 2008 the German bank took the unusual step of suing Trump after he failed to repay $40m of a $640m real estate loan. Trump countersued. The tycoon argued that Deutsche had contributed to the global recession, which had depressed property prices. He demanded $3bn in damages.

Deutsche’s astonished lawyers described Trump’s lawsuit as frivolous and demanded immediate payment. The two parties settled in 2010.

The bank then quietly re-established its relationship with Trump via Deutsche’s private bank. The private wealth division deals with ultra high-net worth individuals, typically with assets in excess of $50m.

A person familiar with the matter said the relationship resumed because Deutsche Bank hired a group of private wealth bankers including Rosemary Vrablic, who had previously worked at Citigroup and Bank of America and was Trump’s personal banker. Vrablic began working for Deutsche in 2006.

Sources in the banking world have expressed astonishment that Deutsche would continue lending to Trump in the wake of his $3bn 2008 lawsuit. Asked whether this was normal practice, one former Deutsche Bank employee, who worked for the bank in New York, said: “Are you kidding me?”

Another former CEO of a rival investment bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “The idea that a bank would walk away from an enforcement lawsuit on a defaulted loan with a litigious borrower because they hired a banking team is preposterous.”

The article is a tad contradictory, but it's definitely interesting. Especially the last few paragraphs.

[Breccia]

Quit whining, Hillary lost get over it.

Trump in the last 24 hours just blamed Clinton for all the shitstorm that's happened because we found out major members of his team were intentionally talking to Russian intelligence agencies. Yep. He blamed Clinton.

Also, Trump in the last 60 minutes has talked about how he won the election so much. He has clearly not gotten over it.

Your argument is invalid.

[Kujako]

Quit whining, Hillary lost get over it.

Only people talking about Hillary, are Trump and his supporters. However....
Row V Wade, you lost, get over it.
Obamacare, you lost, get over it.
etc, etc.

[Breccia]

Interesting news just came out:

DB citing an internal review that everything is okay, is just as valid to me as Trump citing White House internal council who told him the Muslim Ban would be legal and that Flynn did nothing wrong (but he fired Flynn anyway).

Not only is Trump afraid to show us his taxes, the people loaning hundreds of millions of dollars from overseas are afraid to tell us whose money it is.

[Baneth]

DB citing an internal review that everything is okay, is just as valid to me as Trump citing White House internal council who told him the Muslim Ban would be legal and that Flynn did nothing wrong (but he fired Flynn anyway).

Not only is Trump afraid to show us his taxes, the people loaning hundreds of millions of dollars from overseas are afraid to tell us whose money it is.

Thats why I highlighted it :P. but it seems like they are coming under pressure for an external investigation. IMAGINE the colossal shitstorm if they were found to no only launder the money between trump and russia, but that they intentionally hid the fact.

[Breccia]

Thats why I highlighted it :P. but it seems like they are coming under pressure for an external investigation. IMAGINE the colossal shitstorm if they were found to no only launder the money between trump and russia, but that they intentionally hid the fact.

Trump's rabid fanbase is impervious to reality, but a bank isn't. If their investors were to find out they could have their money in a Moscow laundromat, they'd make a run on the bank and destroy it.

[-Nurot]

Quit whining, Hillary lost get over it.

Wait so I pointed out Trump was whining and contradicting himself and that's all you can come up with?

Oh, I see what you did there, you posted something salty because you're one of those people.

Carry on useless troll, carry on. Thanks for whining, about me pointing out Trump's whining though.

-----Update------

As a side note did anyone see Trump's tantrum during the press conference 2 hours ago. It was definitely worth the watch.

"I don't have to tell you anything."

What a comedian.

[Halicia]

Calm down with the capslock. Also no you don't, as Obama went golfing many times with foreign leaders of sorts and none of those moments were recorded or transcribed.

It doesn't matter what Obama's golf score was.

If you call certain phone numbers, they are recorded and transcribed. A hostile foreign consulate being one of them.

That part isn't even important.

The important part is that he lied about them, and that there is proof of his lies. And Trump sat on that proof for a month after firing the person that brought it to his attention.

[DeadmanWalking]

Did you see the delicious tidbit that Trump is so demoralized about all this that he's holding campaign rallies again? In official 2020 campaign events?

Yeah he is addicted to the crowds like an old out of shape wrestler and basically likes running for president more than being president.