[Tewodros III]

Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a puppet.
Trump said, "I'm no puppet; you're the puppet."

Then you realize, he was all along but you don't care cause Mah Wall. Please trump, take the South healthcare away, I want to see the bodies piled up.

[Hindsite]

Lt Gen Michael T. Flynn was from Rhode Island.
Another Northerner bits the dust.
Long live the South.

[Tewodros III]

Lt Gen Michael T. Flynn was from Rhode Island.
Another Northerner bits the dust.
Long live the South.

Please you redneck swampers would die, without the North. I do agree, the South should leave and form it's own society. That way you have you hypocrisy and I take bets on how long you last.

[Donna]

Both. He has hooks in him. But he is incompetent in general, so it is hard to make a call.

There are ways and there are ways to deal with a hostile foreign power. Capitulation is one most rightists would tend to avoid.

You have to ask yourself, what is Russia hostile towards? Is it the United States as a country or is it globalism? This all hinges on a deeply sophisticated question: are American interests the same thing as the interests of globalism? The Trump doctrine says no, the United States is first a sovereign nation before it is an engine for the transformation of global society. Amicable ties with Russia are a natural part of post-globalism.

[Tewodros III]

You have to ask yourself, what is Russia hostile towards? Is it the United States as a country or is it globalism? This all hinges on a deeply sophisticated question: are American interests the same thing as the interests of globalism? The Trump doctrine says no, the United States is first a sovereign nation before it is an engine for the transformation of global society. Amicable ties with Russia are a natural part of post-globalism.

But he's shill for russia, he broke the laws, he didn't help with any jobs; He's destroying the environment, he's already unpopular. How is this "america first" Hilary is obviously more america first than trump is. He's just an opportunist, the fact he doesn't know what he's doing and you loving it, says how traitorous you fucks are.

[Donna]

But he's shill for russia, he broke the laws, he didn't help with any jobs; He's destroying the environment, he's already unpopular. How is this "america first" Hilary is obviously more america first than trump is. He's just an opportunist, the fact he doesn't know what he's doing and you loving it, says how traitorous you fucks are.

lol that's a mouthful

[Tewodros III]

lol that's a mouthful

So you admit it.

[One Degree]

Liberals are all for 'one world without borders' unless Trump can be criticized for being friendly to a country.

[Donna]

So you admit it.

Nah bruh

[Atlantis]

I have no doubt that Trump is lying through his teeth. His crude views in international affairs are a mirror image of Flynn's views. Trump was in the habit of calling up Flynn in the middle of the night to ask about the economy or other topics Flynn didn't even know about. Trump knew and agreed with Flynn's views on Putin. He discussed with Flynn future policies towards Russia, including the sanctions. Everything else would be highly unlikely.

I will be very sorry if Trump is forced to resign now because 4 years of his administration would weaken the empire more than half dozen wars.

Tuesday 14 February 2017 19.12 GMT

Donald Trump is facing mounting pressure to explain his ties with Russia after it emerged that he knew weeks ago his national security adviser had misled officials about secret communications with Russian officials but did not fire him.

The retired general Michael Flynn was forced to quit on Monday night after reports that he could be vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow.

Democrats demanded an independent investigation into Flynn’s phone calls with the Russian ambassador, what Trump knew about them and when. A senior Republican promised to examine the matter “exhaustively”, but others in the party were reluctant.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told reporters how the resignation had happened: “The evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable incidents is what led the president to ask Gen Flynn for his resignation.”

He added: “There’s nothing that the general did that was a violation of any sort. What this came down to was a matter of trust.”

Flynn stepped down after just 24 days when it emerged that he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington before Trump took office, then misled vice-president Mike Pence and others about the conversations. FBI agents interviewed Flynn soon after the inauguration, the New York Times reported.

White House officials were reeling from the scandal less than a month after Trump became president amid reports of disarray and dysfunction. They also faced questions over why they had not acted more than two weeks ago when first warned by the Department of Justice that the retired general might be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.

Spicer claimed that Trump was first made aware that Flynn had potentially misled the vice-president on 26 January and that the White House legal counsel, Donald McGahn, had been investigating the situation since in what Spicer called “a very deliberative process”, determining within several days that Flynn had not broken the law. Until 13 February, Flynn continued to have access to top-level information.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, called for an investigation into the “potential criminal violations” surrounding the communications between Flynn and Russia. “The White House knew for weeks that Gen Flynn misled the vice-president and that his discussion about sanctions with the Russian government could potentially compromise our national security because he was subject to blackmail,” Schumer said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“And yet they let him stay on for weeks present at – and participating in – the highest level of national security discussions until those reports were made public.”

Spicer flatly denied that Trump had asked Flynn to bring up the issue of sanctions in his conversations with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Asked whether the president had been aware that Flynn might have planned to discuss sanctions with the Russian envoy, the press secretary replied: “No, absolutely not.”

Spicer, in contradiction to statements made by the senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway earlier on Tuesday, insisted that Trump had asked for Flynn’s resignation and that it was not the national security adviser’s decision. “The level of trust between the president and Gen Flynn had eroded that it had to make a change.”

In contrast, Conway said on NBC’s Today show on Tuesday morning: “Mike Flynn had decided it was best to resign. He knew he had become a lightning rod and he made that decision.”

Intelligence agencies concluded that Russian computer hackers interfered in last year’s presidential election with the intention of hurting Hillary Clinton, and therefore helping Trump. The US president has repeatedly declined to criticise the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Spicer insisted that Trump had been “incredibly tough” on Russia. However, he only pointed to comments made by the UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, to back up that assertion. The press secretary, as well as the newly confirmed treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, did not go into detail about whether the sanctions discussed by Flynn, which were imposed after Russia was determined to have hacked during the 2016 election, would be lifted. “The existing policies are in place,” said Mnuchin.

Spicer declined to say whether the White House would cooperate with a congressional inquiry. Earlier Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, had called for a wide-ranging investigation. “The truth and consequences of the Russia connection: the American people deserve to know the full extent of Russia’s financial, personal and political grip on President Trump and what that means for our national security,” she said.

“Flynn’s resignation is a reflection of the poor judgment of President Trump and demands answers to the grave questions over the president’s involvement. By what authority did Flynn act and to whom did he report?”

“I think everybody needs that investigation to happen,” Blunt, a senator from Missouri, said on Tuesday in a local radio interview. “And the Senate intelligence committee … has been given the principal responsibility to look into this, and I think that we should look into it exhaustively so that at the end of this process, nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned, and shouldn’t reach conclusions before you have the information that you need to have to make those conclusions.”

Blunt suggested his committee would soon call upon Flynn to testify before Congress. “I would think that we should talk to Gen Flynn very soon and that should answer a lot of questions,” he said.

“What did he know? What did he do? And is there any reason to believe that anybody knew that and didn’t take the kind of action they should have taken?”

Fellow Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate armed services committee, described it as a “troubling indication of the dysfunction of the current national security apparatus” in a complex global environment.

McCain added: “Gen Flynn’s resignation also raises further questions about the Trump administration’s intentions toward Putin’s Russia, including statements by the president suggesting moral equivalence between the United States and Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine, annexation of Crimea, threats to our Nato allies, and attempted interference in American elections.”

The party was split, however, with some playing the allegations down. Paul Ryan, the House speaker and most senior Republican on Capitol Hill, said that Trump had “made the right decision” in seeking Flynn’s resignation.

“You cannot have a national security adviser misleading the vice-president and others,” Ryan said at a press conference.

“As soon as this person lost the president’s trust, the president asked for his resignation … It was the right thing to do.”

Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House oversight committee, said he would not pursue an investigation into Flynn’s contacts with Russia. “That situation is taking care of itself,” Chaffetz told reporters on Capitol Hill. “I know that the [House intelligence committee] was looking into the hacking issue previously, so I think he did the right thing by stepping out.”

The Republican-led House oversight committee did, however, investigate Hillary Clinton’s handling of the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack even as the Senate and House intelligence committees conducted their own inquiries.

Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee and a longtime ally of Flynn, said he had no plans to investigate his communications with Russia, adding he was more concerned with the leaks surrounding the former national security adviser.

Flynn’s departure deepened concerns over a chaotic start for the Trump White House and the national security council (NSC) in particular, as well as allegations of ties with Russia that continue to haunt the president.

The Democratic congressmen John Conyers Jr of Michigan and Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking members of the judiciary and oversight committees, called for a classified briefing for Congress regarding Flynn’s actions.

“We were shocked and dismayed to learn this evening of reports that three weeks ago, US law enforcement officials warned the White House counsel that Gen Flynn had provided false information to the public about his communications with the Russian government, but that the Trump administration apparently did nothing about it,” the two said in a statement.

Ben Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama, drew attention to the resignation last year of Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who also had links to Russia. He tweeted: “When campaign chairman and NSA both resign over Russia ties there is more. Manafort and Flynn had nothing in common except Russia and Trump.”

Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, described Russia’s election meddling as “a political Pearl Harbor” and said he had filed a bill to set up a 9/11-style commission to investigate it.

Trump named retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg as the acting national security adviser. Kellogg had previously been appointed the NSC chief of staff and advised Trump during the campaign. Trump is also reportedly considering the former CIA director David Petraeus and Vice Adm Robert Harward, a navy Seal, for the post.

The Kremlin had confirmed that Flynn was in contact with Kislyak but denied that they talked about lifting sanctions. On Tuesday, Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, said in a post on Facebook that firing a national security adviser for his contacts with Russia is “not just paranoia but something even worse”.

Kosachev also expressed frustration at the Trump administration: “Either Trump hasn’t found the necessary independence and he’s been driven into a corner … or Russophobia has permeated the new administration from top to bottom.”

The president broke his silence with a tweet that attempted to deflect attention: “The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?”

Flynn was often an angry, outspoken warm up act for Trump at his election campaign rallies. At last year’s Republican national convention in Cleveland, he encouraged members to chant “Lock her up!”, in reference to Hillary Clinton.

Trump must be feeling bit like Stalin, seeing a potential enemy in everyone serving his administration.

By what name will the Trump administration be remembered? Flynngate? Steelgate could be even more devastating.

[Donna]

Trump must be feeling bit like Stalin, seeing a potential enemy in everyone serving his administration.

He needs to stop feeling like Stalin and start acting like Stalin. This is a fucking revolution

[One Degree]

He needs to stop feeling like Stalin and start acting like Stalin. This is a fucking revolution

I totally agree. He should keep signing executive orders until the opposition runs out of attorneys to fight him. Trying to be 'Mr. Nice Guy' would be a serious mistake.

[Prosthetic Conscience]

You have to ask yourself, what is Russia hostile towards? Is it the United States as a country or is it globalism? This all hinges on a deeply sophisticated question: are American interests the same thing as the interests of globalism? The Trump doctrine says no, the United States is first a sovereign nation before it is an engine for the transformation of global society. Amicable ties with Russia are a natural part of post-globalism.

Putin's government (not quite the same things as 'Russia', though it does have sufficient support from the populace) is hostile to anyone who might limit its power to enrich itself and retain power. That could be America, that could be a globalism with strong anti-corruption rules, it could be either if they object to Putin's nationalist policies like seizing Crimea to keep up his populism in Russia.

Putin is quite happy with globalism when it enables him and his people to get rich (and remember, Russia has the greatest inequality of wealth of any country in the world with a population over a million). They like international business deals, tax havens, and multiple houses in many countries. The 'Trump doctrine' is nowhere near as sophisticated as you suggest; it is "the rich are the best, and you can tell because they're rich. The world should be ordered to allow people to get really rich, and it doesn't matter about those who don't, that's their own fault".

Trump sees in Putin's Russia a model for how to run a country along these lines. He also saw someone who interfered in the American election because Hillary would have been tougher on Russia. He thinks Putin will make deals with him if he lifts sanctions (he doesn't care about Crimea, Ukraine or the Baltic states), which will enrich Trump and his associates (mainly his family, but also people he can do business with). Putin may or may not; he has no affection for, or trust of, Trump.

[Donna]

Putin is quite happy with globalism when it enables him and his people to get rich (and remember, Russia has the greatest inequality of wealth of any country in the world with a population over a million).

I think you're confusing globalization with globalism. The latter is a political project aimed at integrating different countries by eroding their sovereignty.

[Beren]

He needs to stop feeling like Stalin and start acting like Stalin. This is a fucking revolution

I totally agree. He should keep signing executive orders until the opposition runs out of attorneys to fight him. Trying to be 'Mr. Nice Guy' would be a serious mistake.

Sure, let's see if he can make it through by signing executive orders and firing people until he runs out of both. Besides bullshitting those are the two things he's the best at anyways.

I also wonder if lifting sanctions on Russia is still on the table.

[The Immortal Goon]

Since the Obama position on sanctions on the UK was "there are none", if Flynn had phone the British ambassador and said "yeah, forget that, we'll impose sanctions on you once we're in", I think it would be seen as a Big Fucking Deal.

I said "something similar." Let us assume that Flynn is talking to the British ambassador and something came up about Hershey and Cadbury having a tiff. One could conceivably put this under the same Logan Act that Flynn was railroaded out on. Now, obviously this is a bit of a stretch, but it's an example used to show how this can quickly become partisan more than anything else, whether it's fear of the Russians, party allegiance, or or anything else. But the way politics works is going to make this an even bigger deal because the pieces for everything are in the places that they are.

The Democrats are going to push against this hard because they know that, traditionally at least, the Republican base does not trust the Russians. This will not lead to outright divisions in the GOP until something, like repealing Obamacare breaks the skin of unity to begin with. Then this will be a further irritant and could be used to pry off Republican support for the president. That's if the Democrats were half as savvy as the Republicans are at that kind of thing.

[Tewodros III]

Nah bruh

Yea, bruh

I totally agree. He should keep signing executive orders until the opposition runs out of attorneys to fight him. Trying to be 'Mr. Nice Guy' would be a serious mistake.

So you want dead whites on the street, cause that's how you get it, if trump does what he does.

[Prosthetic Conscience]

I think you're confusing globalization with globalism. The latter is a political project aimed at integrating different countries by eroding their sovereignty.

Well, Steve Bannon, the White House ideologist, sees globalism as about economic competition:

The globalists gutted the American working class and created a middle class in Asia. The issue now is about Americans looking to not get f—ed over.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/s ... ent-948747

I said "something similar." Let us assume that Flynn is talking to the British ambassador and something came up about Hershey and Cadbury having a tiff. One could conceivably put this under the same Logan Act that Flynn was railroaded out on. Now, obviously this is a bit of a stretch

A bit? Yeah, there's a bit of difference between sanctions on a country and diplomatic relations over interference and elections, and trademark arguments between a holder of the trademark rights in a country, and a small shop in the same country that imports the original. Just a tad. A smidgen. As in, the chocolate is not a British government matter, so there is no conceivable way it has anything at all to do with the Logan Act. Try again.

[SpecialOlympian]

I'm fucking lolling at the Trumpenprole defending Trump by saying:

-Maybe he should be more of a dictator
-Working with Russia is only bad if you assume Putin doesn't have our best interest at heart
-I don't like reading

Good job guys, keep it up.

[The Immortal Goon]

As in, the chocolate is not a British government matter, so there is no conceivable way it has anything at all to do with the Logan Act. Try again.

Fine, sharing military information, which I'm sure has been done countless times.

The point is that this especially matters because of politics. Which is not wrong in a parliamentary system, nor is it necessarily not true in a general sense as it helps to establish a patter--as I noted in that there is certainly reason to believe that this pattern goes up the chain to Trump and Pence, and Flynn is just falling upon his sword.

The fact that we pretend that this isn't necessarily the case is because of politics as well. The GOP and everyone else knows damned well that the problem is that Flynn is confirming a seeming pattern. We pretend it doesn't for parliamentary procedure's sake; and we use the fact that it happened at all for the sake of parliamentary procedure.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person that understands that a lot of this is something of a game within the context of two liberal parties in Congress being liberal.