Joy ReidVerified account

Donald Jr. - with not the brightest statement I've seen, if your goal is exculpation - basically admitted as much.

The Occam's Razor explanation for Russiagate now seems clear: the Trump camp were looking for a way to win an unlikely election.

And since they're not politicos, they turned to their contacts from shady Russian businessworld, who helpfully offered an assist.

They figured, hey, these people help make us money, why not let them help us dig up dirt on Hilary?

If I'm a Russian intelligence agency, I'm thinking GOLDMINE - a bunch of people too ignorant and overeager to say no to help offers.

Some sought policy trades for help (sanctions, Magnitsky Act); some sought loan help, some thought they'd find the 33,000 "missing" emails!

Either way, they didn't have to know thing one about the origin of the hacks. They just knew their shady Russian friends could "help."

And so we get Watergate 2.0 but with Russian plumbers; complete w/ the same shady satellite player Roger Stone (+ his biz partner Manafort).

I've long said: these people aren't sophisticated. They're not 007. They literally reran the Watergate playbook: win dirty if you have to.

Dada wants to be president. He's pounding the table demanding the White House to show all the haters. Get it for him by any means necessary.

All the sycophants were in a footrace to give the emperor his fine clothes. Peter W. Smith, Jared, Jr., Manafort, who'd just taken over...

... and of course Mike Flynn, who also stood to gain his own form of revenge via power even greater than the DIA that turfed him out.

But in the course of this shabby slog to power, these people (again not rocket scientists), made mistakes, lied on security forms...

...and got a once respected political party to back up their 2 outrageous alibis: that Russian interference didn't happen or doesn't matter.

Russia did what they did. It's quite likely they've tried it before. But how could they ever imagine they'd have so many willing helpers?

Easy. Because these same people, with their lives of greed and need, have grubbed for money with Russian apparatchiks and oligarchs before.

What Russiagate winds up being at its shoddy, grubby core is the answer to the question: how do you win an election w/o your party's help?

How do you win when the data says you can't, and most Americans loathe you and your party officialdom are only going along out of cowardice?

How do you win without A-list consultants and advisers, because none will touch you? How do you win with a team of bloggers and trolls?

You use the Roger Stone rules: you do whatever grimy, slimy thing you can think of to win. If shady Russian biz is your thing? Go for it.