Our Guy Flynn

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Basically Trump cannot play with a hidden card. If he has connections to Russia and they might help him, fine, but don't fucking make that so evident. Above all, don't make it so that your government and it's security apparatus starts to get worried about it.

Well, Trump probably believed his relationship with Russia as a business man would map onto his relationship as CinC. He hasn't come to grips with the fact that good business partner ain't the same as ally, or that proper espionage is a big fucking deal and he isn't qualified to know when he is crossing that line.

There is obviously a huge power struggle. I am curious as hell to see if someone like Bannon or Stephen Miller goes next, or if Priebus gets the axe. The Trump true-believers are trying to make a run on Priebus... but my money is on Miller. He is a perfect fall guy for some of the more controversial stuff if Trump really is pivoting to the GOP establishment.

[Smitty-48]

I think it is completely an ego problem. Trump thinks he is untouchable, and has been confirmed in that idea for a long time. But Putin is no slouch, and he KNEW that any fallout from trying to back door US-Russian diplomacy would land entirely on the US.

The problem is that deep game and lucky loose cannon look exactly the same, and you can never be quite sure which you've got until heads start to roll.

I don't think Trump's ego can compare to Flynn's, Trump is insecure and tries to compensate with bluster, but underneath is actually quite timid, whereas Flynn is the real deal megalomaniac, Trump only plays a megalomaniac on TV, Flynn is someone who has had thousands of people assasinated on his orders, Flynn is a real killing machine, Trump is reality TV star.

The problem for Trump here, is that he has followed a real megalomaniac down the garden path, and he is now in a jackpot for it, and he is panicking, because actually going high risk, like Special Operators such as Flynn go, that is not actually Trump's cup of tea, he's just got himself in over his head here, playing it fast and loose with a real deal killer and egomaniac, who was fully prepared to go high risk, and now Trump just wants out; "save me, Pence, this Russia shit is burning out of control..."

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

I don't think Trump's ego can compare to Flynn's, Trump is insecure and tries to compensate with bluster, but underneath is actually quite timid, whereas Flynn is the real deal megalomaniac, Trump only plays a megalomaniac on TV, Flynn is someone who has had thousands of people assasinated on his orders, Flynn is a real killing machine, Trump is reality TV star.

The problem for Trump here, is that he has followed a real megalomaniac down the garden path, and he is now in a jackpot for it, and he is panicking, because actually going high risk, like Special Operators such as Flynn go, that is not actually Trump's cup of tea, he's just got himself in over his head here, playing fast and loose with a real deal killer.

Trump's ego is why he thought he could keep up with the real deal. He will never admit that the reason he is flailing and tossing Flynn under the bus is because he doesn't actually have the stomach for a real game of chicken with establishment and the justice department, or whoever else with power might make a run at him over this... which, again, all ego. Blustery, bulshitty ego, but ego nonetheless.

And it isn't like people haven't known this about Trump since day one.

[StCapps]

Russia doesn't have to be the issue Trump wants help dealing with, the issue could just be Flynn, and/or wanting to clear outsiders for insiders with experience and then Pence gave him the advice to dump him asap because of the media brouhaha. Or a bunch of other things. It doesn't have to be the Russian connection boogeyman the MSM and ssu have been pushing for months ad nauseam.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Russia doesn't have to be the issue Trump wants help dealing with, the issue could just be Flynn being perceived to have gone rogue, and/or wanting to clear outsiders for insiders with with experience and then Pence gave him this advice. Or a bunch of other things. It doesn't have to be the Russian connection boogeyman the MSM and ssu have been pushing for months ad nauseam.

But there is a way to do that that doesn't make you look guilty. Maybe nothing is going on, and maybe this group of people who have been lauded for their ability to manage perceptions like some full-bone wizards really don't understand that their actions look bad, but I doubt it.

Remember, you don't have to be stupid to do stupid shit, you just have to believe your own hype.

[Smitty-48]

See, what happened here was; it was Pence who came out and lied on TV, Pence came out and knowingly lied about Flynn "not discussing sanctions", which Flynn obviously did, and obviously with the authorization of the President when he did, but they sent Pence out to be the big fat liar on Meet the Press or whatever...

... but, that was clearly a trap, because after Pence lied, only then did the adversary reveal that they have the SIGINT intercepts which showed that Flynn did discuss sanctions, even if they don't, all they have to do is leak that they do, and that leak alone has sent them all into a panic, wherein now they have to try to pin it all on Flynn as the "Rogue Agent".

The story keeps changing, as they keep getting caught in lies and then panicking and lying some more, which is what is fueling this, it's not the media which is fueling it, it's all the lies coming from Trump and Pence, one after another in a panic.

Everybody knows that they are lying, everybody knows that Flynn wouldn't quid pro quo with the Russians without Trump directing him to do that, for them to try to claim Flynn was some sort of rogue agent promising the Russians stuff without the Presidents consent, is farcical, and when they then throw Flynn to the wolves to try to make it go away, that is what has the sharks circling, they're bringing this shit on themselves, with their own fucking clown show.

[ssu]

Well, Trump probably believed his relationship with Russia as a business man would map onto his relationship as CinC. He hasn't come to grips with the fact that good business partner ain't the same as ally, or that proper espionage is a big fucking deal and he isn't qualified to know when he is crossing that line.

At first I thought that this is the case, that Trump wants new insight at US-Russia relations and hence brings American businessmen that have worked in Russia to the table. OK, to do anything in Russia you need at least not oppose the Kremlin. But then came the whole hacking thing and what seems to be a far more closer relationship with Russia. That really puts the thing on a new level.

There is obviously a huge power struggle. I am curious as hell to see if someone like Bannon or Stephen Miller goes next, or if Priebus gets the axe. The Trump true-believers are trying to make a run on Priebus... but my money is on Miller. He is a perfect fall guy for some of the more controversial stuff if Trump really is pivoting to the GOP establishment.

The huge power struggle simply happens because Trump isn't a fantastic leader. The Trump campaign already showed the problems of a Trump administration. Naturally the stakes are higher, so likely the power plays will continue.

Now his campaign itself wasn't an efficiently working machine, but that didn't matter as Hillary was a terrible pick and Trump was a good communicator. Trump is a great even if unconventional communicator. But in the end the President's thing is to keep the government running well.

[Smitty-48]

It's compounded now as well, because not only is there a power vacuum because Trump is not actually running the show, but Trump is now running from his own convictions, if Trump had just stood by Flynn, said "yeah, we talked to the Russians about sanctions, we told them the truth, which is that we didn't support those sanctions and when we took office we were going to review all that and make our own determinations", then this would have nowhere to go; courage of convictions, loud and proud.

But now that Trump is lying and weaseling and trying to flee from it, that is chumming the waters, because now they sense the weakness, Trump is cucking out on his people, Trump is trying to duck it in a panic, which is just making the opposition think "a-ha, there's something more to this, this level of panic can't just be about the one Flynn call, they could have just shaken that off as a breach of protocol, the DOJ wasn't going to charge anybody under the Logan Act, there has to be something else, something much bigger than that, something that leads to the Hacking, this is the Russsia ball of yarn we are tugging on here, and if we keep pulling, it's going to start to unravel, Watergate style."

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

I'm going to go a little off topic here and just say that I was always a little upset that I wasn't quite old enough to really follow the Iran-Contra in real time.

Boy howdy though, things are just getting more and more interesting.

#blessed

[ssu]

I'm going to go a little off topic here and just say that I was always a little upset that I wasn't quite old enough to really follow the Iran-Contra in real time.

Boy howdy though, things are just getting more and more interesting.

#blessed

Then the Republican administration knew how to deal with it. Reagan did admit that it was his fault as President (of course), but was officially cleared (again of course). Bush was "out-of-the-loop", yet lower level people took the blame. But then there hadn't been a long time from the Watergate hearings.