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Reports on Russian connections to Trump [Summaries in OP] #GoldenShowers

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guek

Banned
I'll only believe this is he casts himself aside from what's going to follow this report. If he, like I assume he will, bites back and defends this and conspires with Trump and Co until the very end, I don't see how he escapes being complicit.

If he can, Trump would not go down without throwing Pence under the bus.
 

TyrantII

Member
Do liberals actually want president Pence?

The chance of Pence causing an international incident and massive loss of life is far less.

Trump is petty, incompetent, and reckless. Pence isn't pretty and would turn back all the dials on progress, but he's a much more stable actor than what's going on now.
 

Kifimbo

Member
Ok, this might be big. First time I think this might have some serious legs.

Notice how Carl Bernstein (Watergate) is a contributor to the story.
 
Pence is a hardline social conservative. Trump never struck me as a devoutly religious guy with strong feelings about social issues like gay marriage, etc. Pence on the other hand genuinely believes gay marriage is wrong and is a religious zealot.

and he is going to have full freedom to pursue those policies as VP, too. trump is more shit atop the pile, not a different pile of shit.

however, if trump gets taken down I'd imagine he'd try to drag everyone he's ever met down with him, so unless pence really is the treason-free establishment republican stapled onto the exterior of the campaign that the RNC probably wants us to think he is, there'd probably be enough to make him look like shit too.
 

RDreamer

Member
I don't think the Kremlin believed they had a realistic shot at Trump becoming president, I think their plan was merely to sew division and doubt amongst the electorate, to smear Clinton and encourage hyperpartisanship. Discrediting the American political system by Trump contesting a failed election, by painting a picture of rigged democratic primaries, rigged media, and all that shit was "the plan".

Him actually winning was just a success beyond measure, and now as you say there is no good outcome. If he stays on, major damage done. If he steps down amid conspiracies of dirt, damage done. If it all goes public and he is thrown in goal, major damage done.

Yeah, Russia's kind of in a big win/win situation here. If they do have dirt enough to manipulate him maybe that's worth keeping it secret and doing so depending on what he could actually accomplish for them, but on the flip side letting that dirt go and throwing the US into complete chaos could benefit them more. And if they don't have any dirt, leaking that they do keeps things interesting, too!

They gotta be smiling ear to ear.
 

Beaulieu

Member
I also have no doubt Obama would tell the FBI to not pursue treason charges even if he received evidence of it, going by how cowardly he's been over the last few months.

that, and to maintain the confidence of the people in the US democratic process.

nothing will happen guys.
 
While I'd love nothing more than to see Manchild Cheeto getting his ass arrested before he even steps into office, I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves.

The intelligence chiefs presented this information at the briefing last week. They're not seeking to charge Trump with anything in particular, just make him aware that they're aware of it. Even the CNN article mentions this:

One reason the nation's intelligence chiefs took the extraordinary step of including the synopsis in the briefing documents was to make the President-elect aware that such allegations involving him are circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress and other government officials in Washington, multiple sources tell CNN.

And there is currently an investigation:

The FBI is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations, which are based primarily on information from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump.

Granted this is the same Federal Bureau of Investigation that acted completely out of order in commenting on ongoing investigations about Clinton in a blatant attempt at swinging the election (which very well could have been a factor given the narrow margin of loss), so I have zero faith that they'll act on any (if they even uncover any) findings.

Orange Asshole WILL be inaugurated. There is zero doubt about that.
 

SRG01

Member
I don't think the Kremlin believed they had a realistic shot at Trump becoming president, I think their plan was merely to sew division and doubt amongst the electorate, to smear Clinton and encourage hyperpartisanship. Discrediting the American political system by Trump contesting a failed election, by painting a picture of rigged democratic primaries, rigged media, and all that shit was "the plan".

Him actually winning was just a success beyond measure, and now as you say there is no good outcome. If he stays on, major damage done. If he steps down amid conspiracies of dirt, damage done. If it all goes public and he is thrown in goal, major damage done.

Oh, I guess I should point out that if Trump does get arrested, the world markets will promptly melt down for a week or so. It'll mirror the chaos from late 2014/early 2015 when the Chinese stock markets crashed... but the markets will rebound as they always do.

What I'm trying to get at is that doubt may be sown for American political power if the arrests do go forward, but there may be enough inertia in the system to overcome it. Profit, as always, is a great impetus for stability and certainty.
 
So this is why Trump is electing the worst possible people for his administration.
Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers...
Trump is Putin's trojan horse. Putin probably told him who to choose, it wouldn't surprise me any more.
 
While this is interesting I doubt it will change anything (impeachment or otherwise). At most it will change his attitude towards Russia/Putin to be more hostile but that's all I can see happening at this point. Remember, this was the person caught talking about grabbing pussy and was still elected.

Edit:

Unless the damage is so severe that he resigns.
 

Joel Was Right

Gold Member
The problem is that the large group of people who chose to vote for him desire everything.

Trump being replaced does nothing to address the cause of his election; an uneducated, ignorant electorate that are seemingly easily convinced by an illiterate puppet of a foreign state.
 
I don't even know what would happen if the president-elect got arrested. It's unthinkable. Faith in the American democratic system would at minimum be torpedoed not just in America but around the world. I don't mean some abstract "oh no how could American democracy elect that terrible man" way, I mean arresting the opposition to stop them getting into government (regardless of whether or not there are valid reasons behind it) looks superficially like the intelligence organizations playing kingmaker as it might in any two bit dictatorship. The American right will further burrow into conspiratorial thinking, demand a purge of the intelligence apparatus and in a worst case scenario, start them down the path where they become unwilling to work inside of the democratic system, wishing to take control through other means.

They were already sort of doing that independent of Trump.
 
Just imagining the possibility that Trump could be tried and convicted for treason is insane. A fucking presidential elect executed for treason.

It won't happen of course, but this is still an unprecedented situation.
 
Capture.png

I thought he did this on purpose to bring up a "Trump Sex Tape" search to go to Machado(which doesn't exist) and not the rumors of his own sex tape held by Russian agents...the fact he's compromised.
 

Dev1lZ

Banned
"The memos originated as opposition research, first commissioned by anti-Trump Republicans, and later by Democrats. At this point, CNN is not reporting on details of the memos, as it has not independently corroborated the specific allegations."

So this is basically hearsay. CNN is basically making fake news. Nothing to see here and a waste of time.
 

RDreamer

Member
So this is why Trump is electing the worst possible people for his administration.
Climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers...
Trump is Putin's trojan horse. Putin probably told him who to choose, it wouldn't surprise me any more.

Occam's Razor: Trump is just an idiot with idiot friends/confidants.

So this is basically hearsay. CNN is basically making fake news. Nothing to see here and a waste of time.

That's not at all what "fake news" means.
 
I love we get an official letter from the director of the FBI concerning NOTHING. But a credible foreign agent's sources and assertions had to be evaluated at a glacial pace over 6 months.
 

Not

Banned
The problem is that the large group of people who chose to vote for him desire everything.

Trump being replaced does nothing to address the cause of his election; an uneducated, ignorant electorate that was convinced by an illiterate puppet of a foreign state.

But now we have proof that that group will literally vote for anyone. That's what's changed.
 

TyrantII

Member
I also have no doubt Obama would tell the FBI to not pursue treason charges even if he received evidence of it, going by how cowardly he's been over the last few months.

That's not treason. Treason is a very high bar in law.

This would be impeachable most likely.
 

Boke1879

Member
Just imagining the possibility that Trump could be tried and convicted for treason is insane. A fucking presidential elect executed for treason.

It won't happen of course, but this is still an unprecedented situation.

IF. IF anything comes of this. He won't get hit with treason. Someone else will take the fall for that.

But more and more is coming out and I doubt this is the last of it. Who knows. Impeachment could be on the table.
 
You know, when the political goings-on of the US and Russia are more ludicrous than Kojima's take on espionage and criminality of world leaders, you really should start to shiver.

We haven't gotten to the pychic gimps, sentient White House AIs or 100+ year old plant men snipers or pregnant dudes yet. Hell, we haven't even had the fairly reasonable old man fist fight on top of a giant submarine with a Mt. Rushmore parody molded into it. 2/10 Kojimas.
 

Not

Banned
While this is interesting I doubt it will change anything (impeachment or otherwise). At most it will change his attitude towards Russia/Putin to be more hostile but that's all I can see happening at this point. Remember, this was the person caught talking about grabbing pussy and was still elected.

Edit:

Unless the damage is so severe that he resigns.

Trump resigning lol.

Trump owning up to anything he's done ever lol.
 
that, and to maintain the confidence of the people in the US democratic process.

nothing will happen guys.

Obama would hold on to his deep institutionalist convictions even if all the governmental institutions had already crumbled to dust around him.

I mean, I greatly respect his view in principle, but this is a reality where principles have long been thrown overboard.
 

Curufinwe

Member
"The memos originated as opposition research, first commissioned by anti-Trump Republicans, and later by Democrats. At this point, CNN is not reporting on details of the memos, as it has not independently corroborated the specific allegations."

So this is basically hearsay. CNN is basically making fake news. Nothing to see here and a waste of time.

Keep dreaming.
 

Espada

Member
You know, I think if nothing happens we can't really call ourselves a democracy anymore, if it's IMPOSSIBLE to take down a President-elect because of partisanship no matter what he did.

Checks and balances stop being effective at that point.

Our country is fucking broken at a fundamental level. The Electoral College, for one, should not fucking exist anymore. The main reason it exists is to prevent people like Trump from attaining the office, and yet it has failed. And as you said, we can't even go after him with mounting evidence of assistance from a hostile foreign country that has leverage on the President-elect.

It does not help that one of our two parties is more interested in party over country, and their base mindless votes for them while ignoring any news that not Fox News.

Our republic has massive, glaring issues but we are in no position to address them.
 

tbm24

Member
That's not treason. Treason is a very high bar in law.

This would be impeachable most likely.
If the Trump campaign in some form spoke back and forth with Russia regarding this, and didn't present this information to Federal authorities who presumably exists to protect them, is that not treason to sit on it and pretend it's not there?
 
We haven't gotten to the pychic gimps, sentient White House AIs or 100+ year old plant men snipers or pregnant dudes yet. Hell, we haven't even had the fairly reasonable old man fist fight on top of a giant submarine with a Mt. Rushmore parody molded into it. 2/10 Kojimas.

Au contraire, we haven't seen the details of these reports yet. This is just the groundwork, you'll see.
 

RinsFury

Member
"The memos originated as opposition research, first commissioned by anti-Trump Republicans, and later by Democrats. At this point, CNN is not reporting on details of the memos, as it has not independently corroborated the specific allegations."

So this is basically hearsay. CNN is basically making fake news. Nothing to see here and a waste of time.

This isn't fake news. Trump was involved in treasonous activities, that is a fact.
 
Hm, I interpreted this as Russia was investigating into Trump without his knowledge to tear him down and just cause more chaos. I didn't read it as they are collaborating together, because I feel like that would be way bigger news. Only CNN seems to be reporting this.
 
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