President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Obviously, got skills as a shopping mall Santa.

 

Even better than phrenology. I like it!

 

Well, maybe the media would have a better idea of things if there were briefings at the White House and the Pentagon.

 

Conversely, if you scream "SOCIALIST!" at everybody who is the left of the John Birchers then aren't those on the right making it easier for kids to actually become socialists?

 

Too tied to Trump. Gonna swim or sink with him now.

The Dems have to avoid messing this up.

 

Because it's a rabbit hole I would rather not go down, not to mention I'VE SAID IT ALL BEFORE here. But since you insist.

In 2000 Putin became president, and the US pretty much had a blank state as far as he was concerned. Oh, he knew about the past sins (breaking their promise not to expand NATO, fucking with the 1996 election, bombing Russia's ally, Serbia) but was open to making things better.
In 2001 he was the first world leader to call Dubya after the 9/11 attacks and offer assistance. And the US took him up on it. Russia supplied airport runways and intelligence in those early months of the Afghan war, SAVING American lives.
In 2002 the US showed its gratitude by stabbing him in the back and withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which had been the bedrock of Russian nuclear security for 30 years. The US also started training Georgia's military that same year, sending American troops and weapons to Russia's back door (imagine Russian military training in Mexico).
In the ensuing years it was obvious that Putin was putting Russia's interests first (as opposed to Yeltsin, who did what the US told him to do). That pretty much made him an enemy to America, and things came to a boil in August 2008 when the US-trained Georgian military fought Russians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which were seeking independence from Georgia.
In 2011 --- with Medvedev as president and Putin running things as prime minister --- the US convinced Russia to waive its UN veto by promising that its intervention in Libya was for humanitarian purposes, not regime change. The US lied. Again.
The US had one more trick up its sleeve, however, and that was the coup in Ukraine. Russia responded in Crimea, and now as far as the US was concerned Putin was Hitler, Stalin, Pol-Pot and Mao all wrapped into one monster.

So yes, the US did play a role in Putin becoming president by ordering Yeltsin to sack prime minister Yevgeny Primakov (because they thought Putin would be like Yeltsin, and they wanted a Yeltsin clone as the heir apparent). And they turned against Putin with all their fury when it turned out he would not be another Yeltsin.

There will be a quiz on Monday. Class dismissed.

 

/what a little red schoolhouse might look like

 

Fun With Dmitri and Jana.

See Dmitri collude. Collude, Dmitri, collude.

 

You can use "Dick." One of our dogs is named "Дик," although we usually use the diminutive form "Dikusha." It means "wild."

 

This is all the more reason to not accept Russian interference in the U.S. election as acceptable. It is even more reason for the Trump administration to take action, not less. Yet you continue to normalize it and make excuses for it.

Thank you for adding even more evidence to support my argument. It's very much appreciated.