This is an interesting and plausible analysis of our national drama.

Why is Trump deferential to Putin? What’s the connection?

Categories Education Reform

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speduktr says:

December 30, 2018 at 12:57 pm

A must read. Explains a possible reason why Trump is so invested in the government shutdown, the latest distraction. It keeps everyone’s attention on his silly demands.

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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

December 30, 2018 at 1:04 pm

I recall that Reagan was known as the Teflon coated president.

“Teflon-coated presidency

“A president’s ability to deflect charges of corruption or scandal.

“The term originates was coined by Rep. Pat Schroeder (D-CO) when she took to the House floor in 1983 and said of President Ronald Reagan: “He has been perfecting the Teflon-coated presidency: He sees to it that nothing sticks to him.”

“Writing in USA Today two decades later, Schroeder explained she “got the idea of calling President Reagan the ‘Teflon president’ while fixing eggs for my kids. He had a Teflon coat like the pan.”

“Steve Kornacki notes Schroeder’s characterization “was meant to be disparaging, but in coining the term ‘Teflon president,’ Schroeder actually identified a significant phenomenon in politics — the willingness of voters to excuse in some politicians shortcomings that they wouldn’t accept in most others.”

Did you know that Teflon is toxic if you consume it by not using your Teflon coated cookware properly?

What is Donald Trump coated with that has allowed him to get away with fraud and white-collar crimes for decades, and will that toxic, poisonous coating be enough to allow him to slip away again like Ronald Reagan got away with the Iran-Contra affair, The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grant Rigging, the lobbying scandal, the EPA scandals, the Savings % Loan crises, Operation ill Wind, the Wedtech scandal, and Debategate?

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- Susan Lee Schwartz says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 1:40 pm
  
  I love the way you have with metaphors… He is coated with shit!
  
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  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    December 30, 2018 at 5:35 pm
    
    Not any old shit. DT’s coated in wild turkey droppings. Wild turkeys carry a bug (virus or bacteria) of some kind that should be avoided.
  - Threatened Out West says:
    
    December 30, 2018 at 10:27 pm
    
    You won’t want to see what happened to some poor couple in Idaho then, Lloyd: https://www.ksl.com/article/46456468/idaho-couple-finds-wild-turkey-trapped-in-home
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    December 30, 2018 at 10:45 pm
    
    Looks like they need bullet proof glass or at least turkey proof.
Susan Lee Schwartz says:

December 30, 2018 at 1:38 pm

The connection is simple. Forever, Trump has been using the Russian banks to launder money Russia to help him hide any and all of his corrupt and criminal enterprises.

\He is scared witless!

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dienne77 says:

December 30, 2018 at 1:39 pm

Except that your assumptions are faulty. Trump hasn’t been any more deferential to Putin than any other president. He has, for instance, imposed more sanctions against Russia in two years than Obama did in 8. He sold lethal arms to Ukraine which Obama refused to sell. He tried to scuttle a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany which was very important to Russia.

I’m sure people here have their counter-examples and I’m not really interested in getting into dueling proofs. Sure, there are ways in which Trump has been deferential. But the fact remains that he has done many things that he would not do if pleasing Putin were a main goal for him.

The danger here is that the “Resistance” is setting this up such that practically the only way that Trump can prove he’s not “in bed” with Putin is to start a war with him. Why on earth do we want to encourage such saber rattling with the second largest nuclear armed power on the planet? Think people, qui bono?

I know, I know, I’m a Putin pawn and a Trump troll, or at least a useful idiot. Don’t bother, I won’t be back to read it.

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- James E. says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 1:55 pm
  
  Well said.
  
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- Cheryl says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 2:08 pm
  
  It was the admin that pushed the sanctions to make it look like Trump did. Those sanctions were minor and tiny. And while the arms to Ukraine appeared to be a done deal, it did not go through.
  
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- Joe says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 2:28 pm
  
  Trump had connections to Russia and Putin before he was even president. I don’t remember Obama fawning all over Putin or kissing up to Putin as Trump has done.
  
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- NYC public school parent says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 2:39 pm
  
  “Don’t bother, I won’t be back to read it.”
  
  That is the very definition of troll. Someone who refuses to legitimately engage in a subject with an open mind because they absolutely know that Trump is the very object of perfection and every bit of evidence that suggests he is not is either fake or does not exist or is “what every President in history has done” and “I’m not going to listen to one bit of evidence that contradicts it.”
  
  And the very definition of a Russia troll is to insist that if you dare to offer up any of the myriads of evidence gathered by a man who is himself a Republican and has never shown any desire to invent evidence to “get” a man of his own party, it means you are hoping for a nuclear war.
  
  It is impossible to discuss any facts with the pro-Russian trolls because any fact that suggests that Putin was involved in our election with the HELP of the Trump campaign will bring about nuclear annihilation and we must remain quiet so as not to hurt Putin nor Trump. Funny how the trolls never feel that criticism of the Democrats will bring about nuclear annihilation but if you dare to offer up facts about Trump and Putin’s relationship, that is definition annihilation so must never be spoken.
  
  “I’m not really interested in getting into dueling proofs”. My pro-Trump relatives say exactly the same thing when they insist that he is perfection and the real problem is the evil Democrats led by the evil “she who must not be named”.
  
  And now the trolls usually come back to say “I’m not pro-Trump” and yet the worst thing they say about him is he is orange haired but really gets such a big rap for doing less than what the evil Democrats do all the time.
  
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- GregB says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 3:04 pm
  
  The very definition of a useful idiot.
  
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- Wait, What? says:
  
  December 30, 2018 at 6:53 pm
  
  If this is no different than any other President (seriously?) – then why lie? Why lie about meetings that he didn’t know about – but did? Why lie about a meeting to discuss adoption? Why lie about “no business with Russia” when he did?
  
  If there is nothing to cover up, why has he worked so hard at covering it up?
  
  How – how in the world do you defend a man who shuts down the government, denies hundreds of thousands paychecks, shuts down research and other “non-essential” functions for one reason and one reason only – so he can deliver on a promise he made to confederate-flag-waving lock-her-up screaming goosestepping white rallies?
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    December 30, 2018 at 8:11 pm
    
    That infamous meeting in Trump Towerto discuss adoptions wasreally about the Magnitsky Act. Magnitsky was murdered by Putin’s thugs for daring to expose corruption. He was jailed and murdered. In response, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions. Russia reacted to sanctions by prohibiting adoptions of Russian children by Americans.
    
    So…a discussion of adoptions was really a discussion of lifting the sanctions.
    
    Have we ever had a presidential candidate with so many campaign aides deeply involved with Russians?
Cheryl says:

December 30, 2018 at 2:09 pm

Follow the money

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