7 thoughts on “Corporate slave’s view of the Russia investigation”

  2. When I see the tepid “Russian investigation” (Shouldn’t there by another word or so? Like, Russian Election Collusion Investigation or Trump Ties To Russia Investigation?)
    I see gross stupidity at its finest. It makes me want to proudly don my Trump election gear, t-shirt, cap, sweater, every day and wear it every where I go.

  4. @Tiago: Perhaps you can help clarify some confusion of mine.

    Is this the logic behind your comment and the investigation?
    1) Despite the candidates very different positions on nearly every issue, a lot of people were convinced/tricked into changing their vote from Hillary to Trump due to social media advertisements.
    2) Trump worked with “the Russians” implement this very successful ad campaign.
    3) Trump and his associates were so careful that they were able to conceal wrong doing to such an extent that it has so far taken a competent special counsel a year to investigate. The special counsel has still not uncovered anything dispositive.
    4) Trump is an ineffective idiot, and anyone that voted for him was tricked into it.

    Who is being fooled?

  5. Putin used our technology and democracy to fool a good percentage of Americans and he was successful at especially if you take into account how little money and resources he used. Sadly, the media doesn’t seem to be interested at discussion this.

  6. @Ogait, here’s some clarification. My reasoning was a lot simpler than the Russia investigation, of which we don’t know the outcome yet. I also don’t think Trump is an ineffective idiot, quite the opposite — a very effective idiot. Many of those that voted for him were fooled because:

    – He ran on a campaign to fight for the working class and bring back blue collar jobs, then proceeded to surround himself by the wealthiest cabinet ever (who do not seem even remotely inclined to heed to the problems of the working class, see e.g. Mnuchin, Pruit, De Voos).

    – He promised to “drain the swamp” in DC, then proceeded to surround himself with what seems the most corrupt and power peddling administration ever (several of his close associates convicted, indicted, or under investigation). Not to mention that his policy achievements have been the Republican bread and butter: cut taxes on the wealthy, cut on government programs and regulation, etc. So much for draining the swamp!

    – He vowed to embark on a massive infrastructure program to upgrade roads, rails, and airports. More than a year past, there is no sign of action.

    – He was going to build a wall paid by Mexico, but so far there’s zero evidence that Mexico will pay and there is no money in his budget for a wall.

    There are many more, but given just the above I think it is reasonable to say that Trump voters were fooled. (Even if one does not agree with the promises themselves.) Trump has nevertheless shown to be a buffoon more concerned about his image than with running the country. He’s constantly played by the Republican apparatchiks to pass their tax cuts and service to corporations, while achieving basically nothing on his core campaign promises. In this case, nothing is probably better than anything.

  7. Tiago: There IS money in “Trump’s budget” to pay for a border wall. However, Congress has not adopted Trump’s budget. See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/us/politics/donald-trump-border-wall-budget.html and https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/12/trumps-2019-budget-proposal-includes-funding-border-wall-infrastructure-and-opioids/327994002/ ($18 billion requested).

    Same deal on infrastructure. Trump has asked for the money and Congress has refused to appropriate it. (For this I am grateful! Spending on infrastructure at U.S. costs strikes me as madness; much better to end government policies that expand our population. See https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html for example)

    The corporate tax cut that Trump signed provides a huge boost to the working class. In the Obama era, the effective corporate tax rate for many enterprises that relied on a Democrat workforce was 0 percent (since the money was stuffed into offshore intellectual property trusts; see Apple and Google) while companies that hired blue collar workers to do actual work paid the world’s highest rates. Now the playing field is leveled.

    I try not to read the news, except when readers send me articles, so I’m not familiar with what Trump’s cabinet secretaries have done, but isn’t Betsy DeVos most associated with “school choice”? That’s of little value to rich people, who already have the option to send their children to a private school, but of tremendous value to middle class workers who can’t afford to pay for both public and private schools simultaneously when their children are going only to a private school.

    Isn’t Trump still quite popular with people who voted for Trump? Therefore what you’re saying is that Trump voters are stupid because they can’t understand their own self-interest, can’t process information, etc. How is that different than what Hillary and other Democrats were saying in the fall of 2016? (i.e., that anyone who doesn’t support Hillary is stupid)

    If Democrats are still saying all of the same stuff that lost them the 2016 election, wouldn’t it be fair to say that it is actually Democrats who are unable to learn from experience, process facts, etc.?

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