Russia Continues Attacks on U.S. Politics

If you thought Putin’s attempts to destroy the United States had ended think again.
Or do you really believe U.S. Sen. John McCain, a war hero, would call Vice President Mike Pence “an asshole.”
Here is one fake news piece that originates from Russian TV that states just that. But you won’t find his voice saying it, in this url or others.
YouTube
The Republican Party, often more anti-Russian than liberal Democrats, have given up their heritage.
But there were plenty of regular Republicans, members of Congress, including Benghazi hoaxster Trey Gowdy, pushing the pro-Russian line. He told the Senate that Russians have been doing it for decades and it was nothing new.
Earlier this year he pooh-poohed warnings from U.S. intelligence. Now, there has been so much evidence that Donald Trump is a Russian plant that the U.S., for the first time ever, needs to restage a presidential election.
The Republicans have lost their right to participate in this vote. It should be between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Even with all the Russian intervention Clinton got 3 million more votes. Perhaps more, if there had not been so much voter suppression, particularly in the states that gave Trump a lead in the electoral college.
The Washington Post reported: “As Russian hackers and propagandists tried to manipulate the American election last year, the C.I.A. noticed a series of suspicious contacts between Russian government officials and associates of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director, said Tuesday.
“In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Brennan described a nerve-fraying few months as American authorities realized that the election was under attack and worried that Mr. Trump’s campaign might be aiding that fight. His remarks were the fullest public account to date of the origins of an F.B.I. investigation that continues to shadow the Trump administration.
“I know what the Russians try to do. They try to suborn individual and try to get individuals, including U.S. individuals, to act on their behalf, wittingly or unwittingly,” Mr. Brennan said. When he left office in January, he said, “I had unresolved questions in my mind as to whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting U.S. persons involved in the campaign or not to work on their behalf.”
Washington Post

Is Donald Trump a populist?

More and more writers are declaring him one.

There are so many definitions it is difficult to say whether Trump qualifies.

In America’s political history a populist was someone who worked to help the poor. Democrat William Jennings Bryan ran three times for the presidency, losing each time.

“In his three presidential bids, he promoted Free Silver in 1896, anti-imperialism in 1900, and trust-busting in 1908, calling on Democrats to fight the trusts (big corporations) and big banks, and embrace anti-elitist ideals of republicanism,” said Wikipedia.

He was called “the Great Commoner.”

The one thing Trump does have in common with him is an opposition to the theory of evolution.

After Bryan came Robert M. La Follette.

“Robert M. La Follette was an American Republican and politician who is best known as a proponent of progressivism and a fierce opponent to corporate power. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Governor of Wisconsin and a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin during his career. He also ran for President of the United States in 1924,” according to Wikipedia.

There were many others who sought to fight for the poor.

It would seem that other descriptions might be more appropriate for Trump. His America First makes it clear he is a nationalist, although he has not avoided using the White House to add to his billions.

He got help from Russian President Putin in defeating favorite Hillary Clinton, though she got 3 million more votes than he did.

It cannot be ruled out yet that he arranged to win three states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which gave him a victory in the the electoral college. The race in all three, traditionally Democrat states, was extremely close.

French Crush Putin-Trump Fascist Hack Campaign

Despite a massive hack with four minutes to go in the French elections, Emmanuel Macron won with two-thirds of the vote.

Marine Le Pen, the candidate supported by Putin and Trump, barely got one-third of the vote.

“Jack Posobiec, a sympathizer of the American extreme right, accustomed to spreading false information, was one of the first very follow-up accounts to relay the pirated documents on Twitter,” Le Monde reported.

It said

“… Posobiec, the man who gave all their visibility to the documents emanating from the pirates of the messaging of members of the campaign of Emmanuel Macron, is not an unknown. In Washington, he works for the militant site The Rebel, resolutely in favor of Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen , who regularly takes false information,” Le Monde said.

The Washington Post reported: “France on Sunday shrugged off the siren call of right-wing populism that enchanted voters in the United States and United Kingdom, rejecting anti-E.U. firebrand Marine Le Pen and choosing as its next president Emmanuel Macron, a centrist political neophyte who has pledged to revive both his struggling country and the flailing continent.”

The Post added: “The outcome will come as a major relief to Europe’s political establishment…”

The Trump-Putin duo had appeared unbeatable, partly because of their effective use of cyberhacking. Critics say they stole the U.S. presidential election and persuaded British voters to leave the EU.

Their agents were active in several other European nations, but it became tougher after investigators pointed out their work.

Trump Turns Elite Media Into Fox

Both the New York Times and Washington Post, arguably the best media in the U.S., have handed control to Donald Trump.

Here is today’s New York Times lead headline:

Trump Predicts Attack in Paris Will Have ‘Big Effect’ on Vote.

Here is today’s Washington Post lead headline:

“Trump predicts Paris attack will help Le Pen in French vote.”

Rather than turn to other media let’s see what some readers had to say.

David Hillman

 Port Townsend, WA 4 hours ago

I wish the NYT would understand its part in the rise of fascism. A newspaper of this magnitude must realize that it is not independent of events. It influences events. In particular, a headline such as this, "Trump predicts," based on a tweet, amplifies his power, and hence the power of fascism. And fascism thrives on power. It also thrives on fear, the fear of people who are afraid of fascism. If I am not careful, I will let a headline such as this increase my fear. Let us not be afraid.

A comment in the Post:

131Syzygy

“Donald can not even predict when his navy is going to be in North Korea. He knows as much about French politics as he does about being President.”

On Twitter:

ItsAGirlThang @bobbilaughlin

“Brave people of France, don’t give in to fear, don’t listen to our President. Trump is a terrorist.

This is from the writer, a veteram foreign correspondent. Just as Putin is doing, Trump is trying to take control of other countries.

The French candidate Trump supports doesn’t believe the French people had any role in the holocaust.

His nonsense is unlikely to fool the French as it has Americans.

Trump's Fake News Becomes Strategy

U.S. President Donald Trump is increasingly claiming phony news is being posted about him and his administration.

In fact, critics, including many respected leaders, say Trump lies consistently, almost daily.

TV show host Rachel Maddow is so tired of the falsehoods she said: “I don’t necessarily want to hear from the White House on almost anything.”

Another strategy that he developed years before ran for president was to say one thing and later, sometimes within a week, say the opposite.

Maddow and others say lying is a strategy for Trump to divert attention every time he or his staff is caught in a failure to conform to the law. And growing evidence that Russia had helped his campaign increased the pressure.

Usually, the lies were outrageous, such as that former President Obama had “wiretapped” him.

Within the past week Trump was forced to actually go to war – bombing Syria. Even his own staff was admitting Russia helped him defeat Hillary Clinton. The FBI and CIA had already reported this before Trump staff members admitted it was true.

There is “no question” that Russia interfered in the presidential election, according to the Trump’s UN ambassador, Nikki Haley.

“Well, certainly, I think Russia was involved in the election,” she told ABC News' Martha Raddatz. “There's no question about that. And I think when they finish with all of this process, yes, they need to address Russia, they need to act, and they need to make sure they're loud about it.

“We don't want any country involved in our elections ever.”
Independent

Now the New York Times reports the CIA warned the FBI last summer that Russia was meddling. Instead of taking action the FBI focused its investigations on Clinton. Only after the election did it concede Russia was intervening.

“… briefings indicate that intelligence officials had evidence of Russia’s intentions to help Mr. Trump much earlier in the presidential campaign than previously thought. The briefings also reveal a critical split last summer between the C.I.A. and counterparts at the F.B.I., where a number of senior officials continued to believe through last fall that Russia’s cyberattacks were aimed primarily at disrupting America’s political system, and not at getting Mr. Trump elected, according to interviews.”

New York Times

Despite Russia’s claim of anger about the Syria attacks it is not clear it was not a deal between Trump and Putin. There have been reports they set up back channels.

Some military experts say the cruise missile bombings distracted attention from Trump-Putin reports. There have even been claims that the latest war crimes in Syria may have included Russia involvement. With Syria winning the war against rebels why would it want to draw more attention for its atrocities.