Update no.863

Update from the Sunland

No.863

16.7.18 – 22.7.18

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

            To all,

            The follow-up news items:

-- Senate and House negotiators abandoned the congressional effort to undo the BIC’s deal with Beijing to save Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE and removed §891 of H.R.5515 [853/7,859].  The ZTE deal still baffles me . . . why?  What purpose is served in saving a PRC company that has violated international sanctions and threatened U.S. national security interests?

-- After the shock surrounding the execution of a federal search warrant on the office and residences of Michael Cohen [837, 850], someone leaked the existence of digital recordings (among the federal haul) of conversations between Cohen and the BIC (among others), and the Special Counsel and the Justice Department have those recordings.  I wonder how those recordings might affect the various on-going investigations.

            Just when we thought it could not get any worse, I will simply say that the BIC’s performance at the summit press conference with his good buddy, NKGB colonel, Volodya Putin was disgusting, nauseating and embarrassing.  I have never seen or heard of such betrayal by any president—Democrat, Republican, Whig or Federalist—in all of the history of this Grand Republic.

            The day before the magic meeting, the BIC tweeted this little gem to the whole world:

“Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”

11:05 PM - 15 Jul 2018

Beyond his denigration of the United States, he demonstrated the paucity of any detectable knowledge of history; 1948 or 1962 were far more threatening to the United States and the world—he probably does not remember.  His ego and narcissism vastly exceed his ignorance, and yet it is his ignorance I find the most threatening.

            After the BIC’s tweet above, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov simply responded, “We agree!”  How refreshing!  The BIC connected so well with his Russian . . . friends.

            Is this what “America First” looks like?

            I am all in favor of improved relations with Russia, with the PRC, with the IRI, with all our former adversaries.  I want peace throughout the world. Our disagreements with Russia are not with the Russian people; they are with the Kremlin leadership.  Those men have long sought to undermine U.S.-European relations—the alliance that has sustain what peace we have had for 70 years.

            It was NOT America First; it was Russia Over All.  His blatant genuflecting to the great dictator was outright embarrassing.  Congratulations Volodya, you played the President of the United States masterfully!

            We have no idea what was discussed or agreed to at his summit, but the Russians have been publicly rejoicing.  While the BIC’s intentions appeared to be good (we should all want better relations with the Russians . . . with everyone), his public performance was literally revolting. I listened intently to the full, live, joint press conference.  Of all the elements that seriously bothered me, it was one specific exchange that stands out to me as the ultimate betrayal.

            Associated Press Reporter Jonathan Lemire stated, and then asked . . . the fellow who occupies the Oval Office (he most emphatically showed no signs of being on his typical strongman bully) . . . 

“Just now President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did.  My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe?”  

With Putin stoically standing beside him, the fellow who occupies the Oval Office answered to the World:

“So let me just say that we have two thoughts. You have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server.  Why haven’t they taken the server?  Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the democratic national committee?  I’ve been wondering that.  I’ve been asking that for months and months and I’ve been tweeting it out and calling it out on social media. Where is the server?  I want to know, where is the server and what is the server saying?  With that being said, all I can do is ask the question.  My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others and said they think it’s Russia.  I have President Putin.  He just said it’s not Russia.  I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server (emphasis mine).  But I have confidence in both parties.  I really believe that this will probably go on for a while, but I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server . . . .”  

WTF!  What!  How the hell is the DNC server even remotely related to the question? So, this is all about him. He has never considered himself the chief executive of this Grand Republic or of We, the People. And, at best, he believes Putin has been as truthful, forthright and accurate as all the U.S. intelligence services, and at worst, he truly believes Putin over the U.S. intelligence community.

            The BIC returned to the White House amid the furor over his obscene performance in Brussels and especially in Helsinki, and tried to talk back the words he spoke.  The next day, reading from a prepared script in part, he said:

 “So I’ll begin by stating that I have full faith and support for America’s great intelligence agencies, always have.  And I have felt very strongly that while Russia’s actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election, let me be totally clear in saying that — and I’ve said this many times — I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place.  It could be other people also.  There’s a lot of people out there(emphasis mine). There was no collusion at all, and people have seen that and they’ve seen that strongly.”

He went on to say:

 “It should have been obvious, I thought it would be obvious but I would like to clarify just in case it wasn’t.  In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’  The sentence should have been ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t’ or ‘why it wouldn’t be Russia.’  So just to repeat it, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t,’ and the sentence should have been, and I thought I would be maybe a little bit unclear on the transcript or unclear on the actual video.  The sentence should have been ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia,’ sort of a double negative.  So you can put that in and I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself.  I have on numerous occasions noted our intelligence findings that Russians attempted to interfere in our elections.”

The BIC just cannot help himself.  He tries to fix things he screwed up, and all he does is make them worse.  The BIC says he believes his intelligence community, who have repeatedly stated the evidence that it was Russia is irrefutable and pervasive, but he must add it could be other people, which in fact means he does not believe his intelligence community.  The only thing that seems to be consistent with the BIC is his inconsistency and his inherent distrust and disbelief of the entire intelligence community.

            After his atrocious summit press conference and his lame, ridiculous “explanation” the next day, the BIC felt compelled to tweet:

The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin.  We are doing MUCH better than any other country!

3:59 AM - 19 Jul 2018

To which he added:

The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear........

6:24 AM - 19 Jul 2018

with a continuation . . .

....proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more. There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems...but they can ALL be solved!

6:30 AM - 19 Jul 2018

He just had to lash out rather than look to his own actions, his own words.  I quoted no words from the Press, not the liberal Press, not the conservative Press . . . ONLY HIS WORDS.  No one made him say those things.  He said them.  There is no “fake news”; there is only his words.

            A rapidly growing number of people, far beyond me, are asking, what the hell does Putin have on the BIC . . . to get him to act like that and say those things?  To me, if there is some implied threat, which is quite common tradecraft for the NKGB, it has to be something a whole lot more than a bunch of prostitutes urinating on the BIC (before he was the BIC). My guess is financial.  He exhausted U.S. banks, and then exhausted European banks, and I suspect now he has turned to former Soviet banks for financing his “deals.” My suspicion, ol’ Volodya’s banker oligarch comrades hold the majority markers on the whole organization; thus, the threat is calling those markers and sending his entire family into bankruptcy.  That would be far more embarrassing to the BIC than prostitutes urinating on him as a private citizen.

            I have long felt the Russians have something very powerful on him, hanging over his head like Damocles’ Sword, and it is not a bunch of prostitutes pissing on him; he would see that as a badge of honor.  Putin does not even have to remind him; the BIC knows the sword is there—always there, hanging by a fragile thread.  The issue is not prostitutes; it must be financial; prostitutes peeing on him cannot hurt him; financial ruin would emphatically, permanently and personally hurt him deeply, if not expose him to criminal charges.

            The BIC has confused and conflated the national security issue of Russian cyber-warfare and meddling in our elections with potential collusion and the legitimacy of his election. Emphatically, he was duly and properly elected to be POTUS.  The Special Counsel’s investigation is focused on Russian cyber-warfare activity relative to the election process.  There has never been, to my knowledge, even a rumor that the Russians manipulated the vote count; therefore, the votes are the votes. His election was proper and legitimate.  If the Russians affected the minds and thoughts of American citizens before they voted, that is a completely different matter from actually changing the vote count.  The BIC has compromised the national security of this Grand Republic because he is apprehensive and self-conscious about any implication regarding his election, which I suspect he did not believe possible himself.

            Prostrating yourself before a ruthless, omnipotent killer and begging for mercy is a valid tactic to garner favor or seek survival; it works sometimes.  If that was the BIC’s tactic in the “negotiations” with Putin to gain extended peace and better cooperation, we shall have to wait and see if it worked.  From my perspective, showing weakness before a dictator is usually encouragement for further aggression rather than restraint, e.g., Chamberlain at Munich in 1938.

            I think we have clearly seen in graphic terms that he believes the majority of were not listening, could not understand, or just did not care what he said.  To that end, CNN interviewed a number of voters in Wisconsin.  An adult woman in a restaurant was asked, “What did you think of President Trump’s performance in Helsinki?”  Her answer was most illuminating.  “I don’t care. That does not affect me.  The economy is doing great.”  There you have it, and she is not alone.

            Another relevant cover from TIME magazine for July 30, 2018 . . . and the associated cover story: The Summit Crisis.

http://time.com/magazine/

They also produced an eerie video of the cover image morphing process:

http://time.com/5342562/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-crisis-cover/

            Please indulge me . . . a little history lesson might be useful.

            Montenegro . . . why should we defend Montenegro?  [FYI: Montenegro is the most recent accepted member of NATO.]

            Then Secretary of State Dean Acheson, in a speech to the National Press Club [12.Jan.1950], perhaps inadvertently signalled to the communists that South Korea was not in the U.S. sphere of influence . . . the result was DPRK dictator Kim Il Sung (Kim Jung Un’s grandfather) believed he had a greenlight to extend his communist dictatorship to the south by force of arms [25.Jun.1950], because the United States did not care.

            The death, destruction and sacrifice of the Korean War [25.Jun.1950 to 27.Jul.1953, and technically just suspended by armistice] were a direct consequence of imprecise language.

            I still have not found one of those magic decoder rings [758] to understand what the BIC is really saying when his lips move. To me, he is extraordinarily imprecise with his language.  Such a trait in a president or any other leader of any organization is dangerous beyond measure.  A business leader might lose millions or even billions for his company with just one incorrect or inappropriate statement.  A president might well get a lot of citizens killed as a consequence.

            I continue to ask the question of those who worship the BIC, or at least voted for or support him: Is this really what you sought when you voted to put the current fellow in the Oval Office?  If so, why? What national interest purpose does his employment serve?

            Comments and contributions from Update no.862:

“Cap, Cap .. (Shaking my head) .. You really need to quit believing CNN .. Key words here .. DISTRACTION, NO INDICTMENTS.. JUST MORE INVESTIGATIONS .. lets keep our Democrat supporters believing in a Russian collusion, especially during an election year.

“Did you not know that just in previous months they did the same thing and a Russian lawyer showed up to go along with the supposed indictment, asking for our evidence at which the justice department back stepped and moved the indictment to merely an investigation.

“Did you hear Putin just question what about the $400M the Russians paid the Clinton Foundation?  Did CNN forget or neglect to broadcast that comment?

“By the timing of the previous supposed indictment, your special counsel and the Democrat party hoped to hurt Trump in the public eye before the Helsinki meeting, yet Trump was successful in his dealings with Putin in the Iran/Syria situation.

“Mueller cries indictment knowing he will not and CAN not prosecute due to NO evidence .. tries to continue to smear Trump and moves the indictments to yet MORE time consuming, costly, distracting investigations .. " Well Done ROD"  (NOT)”

 . . . to which I responded:

Is this one of those [855/6] I am just supposed to listen to and not respond?

 . . . with this answer:

“Just let the man do his job .”

 . . . to which I asked:

I am left to assume the answer to my query is YES.  So be it.

If you will permit me, what am I doing to interfere with his doing his job?  I would love for him to do his job.

[There was no response to my most recent reply.]

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)