Though ... let's go back: the scandal immediately surrounding the Flynn plea was whether Trump had agreed to work with Putin on Syria before or after the election. That's an interesting detail.
Here? I'm trying to distinguish what IS your clear stance: that Trump would be pro-RU no matter what (with no leverage), from whether or not you think RU does have leverage -- I'm not sure where you've stated that.https://twitter.com/empiricalerror/status/1005895973409783811 …
-
-
^that clear enough?
-
I believe that's what I reiterated here:https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1005914104240967680 …
-
trump thinks: - putin / russia is essential to "solving" terrorism and other problems. - trump admires putin's "leadership style" -- basically, trump would like to govern as putin does. putin is trump's ideal of a "strong leader." no leverage / blackmail theory is required.
-
Very clear, thanks.
-
Color me skeptical that those two things alone are enough to explain Trump’s attitudes and actions, in the face of blindingly bad optics, towards Putin and Russia.
-
trump's entire campaign was essentially run on "bad optics"... and he won.
- 5 more replies
New conversation -
-
I'm also (for my own thinking, not ascribing any view to you) trying to distinguish between non-public agreements that Trump and Putin have (eg, on Syria), from Putin trying to push Trump to take actions he might not otherwise have space (bc of investigation) to do.
-
i think putin is playing trump and us domestic politics to his advantage when he says stuff like that. it's the smart thing to do, and -- contrary to trump -- putin is not a complete dummy.
-
What do you include in "to his advantage" in that? Just RU domestic audience?
-
no, not just RU domestic. it's, among other things, a ploy to further fracture and polarize the political discourse in the US, and -- beyond US domestic politics -- further drive rifts in alliances putin dislikes.
-
and stating "trump is delivering on his promises" (as putin did in his recent interviews) is also, obviously, a good way to flatter trump, which again works to putin's advantage.
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Enh. I get much more worked up about JReid types getting all smug about the lack of 'pro' evidence with the gigantic quid/quo Clinton surrounds (from a Russian org). That w/o any Mueller type investigations.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.