Trump in CBN Interview... Putin Liked Hillary Better

I can believe they were in a hot tub more readily than anything else Trump claims happened between them.

Sad.

I agree that Putin didn't so much want Trump for president as he wanted to create chaos for the U.S., and promote distrust and discord.

That said, Trump as president, with his history of grifting, bombast, and erratic positions and statements, promotes that. And IMO I think there is little question Trump's administration is more favorable to Russia overall than Hillary's would be. It's clear the Russians got involved in this election, and it's clear that everything they did was to the advantage of Trump.

But what would promote American chaos even more than merely electing Trump is getting Trump elected, and then blowing him up  and compromising him by, e.g., demonstrating that he was perfectly willing to collaborate with hostile powers.  Also, I think Trump has a shitload more sleaze to hide than Clinton (hers has been under a microscope for a couple of decades).  Hence, more for the Russians to expose and manipulate.

I posted a joking Nigerian-scam type letter from the Russian lawyer in the silly forum, and of course, it is a joke. But in all seriousness, I think it's quite possible that the whole meeting was part of a set up.

I emphasize "part of". Let's not forget Flynn, Kushner wanting to set up secret back channel communications with Russia, etc. All of this stuff is not normal, and it all goes in one direction. I keep saying tip of the iceberg, but I will say it again -- we ain't seen nothing yet.

That said, nighttimer, Amadan, et al. may be quite right in their cynicism that it will actually bring Trump down. I am increasingly struggling to have faith in American institutions and the American people. The few on the conservative side who are standing up to decry this mess as it should be decried (e.g., Max Boot) are being hissed off the stage by the Trump Republican Brain Trust as traitors and idiots. (I just watched Boot's debate with that repulsive preening fucker Tucker Carlson. Christ.)

Sure. But at the same time, those America-first polices are damaging to Russia in the energy market. See my OPEC thread. And that's big bucks to Russia, to the oligarchs who support Putin.

And let's remember Uranium One, now owned by a Russian state-owned corp.

So again, there's stuff for both positions, which I think make both largely untenable.

I must also add -- does it ultimately matter whether the Russians wanted Trump to win and why? Does it exonerate either Russia or Trump's camp?

They meddled in our election -- our intelligence confirms that beyond a doubt.

Everything they did during the campaign was aimed to assist Trump rather than Clinton -- can you name an exception?

Trump's team was delighted to covertly take help from the Russian government. See Don Jr.'s email.

Trump's team lied and lied and lied about its contacts with Russian government agents until forced to do otherwise. See, e.g , the news.

Maybe Putin thought Trump would be better for Russia. Maybe he just wanted to sow chaos. Maybe he was acting on a mistaken premise that Trump would be better.

It's an interesting discussion, but does it actually matter? Does it disprove Russia's interference or erase the Don Jr. emails demonstrating their eagerness to go along with it from existence?