What do you call a political figure who opposes protecting our elections from foreign interference?
Read what Dana Milbank of the Washington Post said.
Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset.
This doesn’t mean he’s a spy, but neither is it a flip accusation. Russia attacked our country in 2016. It is attacking us today. Its attacks will intensify in 2020. Yet each time we try to raise our defenses to repel the attack, McConnell, the Senate majority leader, blocks us from defending ourselves.
Let’s call this what it is: unpatriotic. The Kentucky Republican is, arguably more than any other American, doing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bidding.
Robert Mueller sat before Congress this week warning that the Russia threat “deserves the attention of every American.” He said “the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in our election is among the most serious” challenges to American democracy he has ever seen. “They are doing it as we sit here, and they expect to do it during the next campaign,” he warned, adding that “much more needs to be done in order to protect against these intrusions, not just by the Russians but others as well.”
Not three hours after Mueller finished testifying, Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, went to the Senate floor to request unanimous consent to pass legislation requiring presidential campaigns to report to the FBI any offers of assistance from agents of foreign governments.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) was there to represent her leader’s interests. “I object,” she said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) attempted to move a bill that would require campaigns to report to the FBI contributions by foreign nationals.
“I object,” said Hyde-Smith.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) tried to force action on bipartisan legislation, written with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and supported by Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), protecting lawmakers from foreign cyberattacks. “The majority leader, our colleague from Kentucky, must stop blocking this common-sense legislation and allow this body to better defend itself against foreign hackers,” he said.
“I object,” repeated Hyde-Smith.
The next day, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the minority leader, asked for the Senate to pass the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act, already passed by the House, that would direct $600 million in election assistance to states and require backup paper ballots.
McConnell himself responded this time, reading from a statement, his chin melting into his chest, his trademark thin smile on his lips. “It’s just a highly partisan bill from the same folks who spent two years hyping up a conspiracy theory about President Trump and Russia,” he said. “Therefore, I object.” McConnell also objected to another attempt by Blumenthal to pass his bill.
Pleaded Schumer: “I would suggest to my friend the majority leader: If he doesn’t like this bill, let’s put another bill on the floor and debate it.”
But McConnell has blocked all such attempts, including:
A bipartisan bill requiring Facebook, Google and other Internet companies to disclose purchasers of political ads, to identify foreign influence.
A bipartisan bill to ease cooperation between state election officials and federal intelligence agencies.
A bipartisan bill imposing sanctions on any entity that attacks a U.S. election.
A bipartisan bill with severe new sanctions on Russia for its cybercrimes.
McConnell has prevented them all from being considered — over and over again. This is the same McConnell who, in the summer of 2016, when briefed by the CIA along with other congressional leaders on Russia’s electoral attacks, questioned the validity of the intelligence and forced a watering down of a warning letter to state officials about the threat, omitting any mention of Russia.
No amount of alarms sounded by U.S. authorities — even Republicans, even Trump appointees — moves McConnell.
On Tuesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray — Trump’s FBI director — told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Russians “haven’t been deterred enough” and are “absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections.”
This year, National Intelligence Director Daniel Coats — Trump’s intelligence director — told the Senate Intelligence Committee that “foreign actors will view the 2020 U.S. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests. We expect them to refine their capabilities and add new tactics.”
And on Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a bipartisan report finding that “Russian activities demand renewed attention to vulnerabilities in U.S. voting infrastructure.”
The committee concluded that “urgent steps” are needed “to replace outdated and vulnerable voting systems.” (The $380 million offered since 2016 is a pittance compared with the need.) “Despite the expense, cybersecurity needs to become a higher priority for election-related infrastructure,” the report concluded.
But one man blocks it all — while offering no alternative of his own.
Presumably he thinks whatever influence Russia exerts over U.S. elections will benefit him (he’s up for reelection in 2020) and his party.
“Shame on him,” Schumer said on the Senate floor this week.
But McConnell has no shame. He is aiding and abetting Putin’s dismantling of Americans’ self-governance. A leader who won’t protect our country from attack is no patriot.
All one has to do is look at who he is married to. His wife (in a cabinet position) is the daughter of one of China’s wealthiest families and they make their money through shipping goods. There has been much speculation that China is a big data hacker which likely keeps “the family” rolling in the green. If we clamp down on Russian hacking influence it would likely uncover Chinese hacking that bolsters trade….. AND most of our electronics and computer parts are manufactured in China (among other asian countries) at ridiculously low cost and then shipped to the US and sold for high prices. Mitch makes money by being unpatriotic and I would say that he is a traitor to the USA.
Moscow Mitch represents one of the poorest states in the union. It’s also one of the least educated. Kentucky ranks 47th in the country in educational attainment, which perhaps explains why the people of Kentucky keep going to the polls and voting for this jerk and against themselves. Among other initiatives, Mitch wants to cut Social Security and Medicare to offset the vast increase in the deficit that resulted from his enormous tax cut for the wealthiest Americans.
YUP!
Many politicians don’t like public education and want to destroy it. Why? Answer: They want uneducated people who don’t question and who don’t vote. Thus, they GIVE public school teachers the “SCRIPT.” This is about who holds knowledge.
Donald Trump: “I love the poorly educated.”
Why? They vote for him. And, they reflect him like a mirror.
Why do you think they need all that bourbon and those mint juleps?
Oh, some folks are not too bright,
In my Old Kentucky home.
Irony’s the major trope in play.
The people there feed heartily
On social welfare checks
And wish the government
Would go away.
Sing It, Comrades !!!
👨✈️ Mitch Night In Moscow 👩✈️
IMHO, all leaders need to simply take all their loved ones to bet on their own country’s security and welfare.
Pitchforks’ and all intellectuals’ forces should hold the leaders’ families members in regions (districts) and in nation (states) as hostages before 2020 elections.
Motto is that do to benefit enemies is to die by enemies + by your own voters and don’t is to die by enemies only with glory and appreciation from your own voters. That is the only choice for being leaders. Please wake up to smell coffee. all leaders!!!Back2basic
Muller neglected to investigate the real Russian connection to Hillary.
The republicans neglected to investigate and then hang each other.
Because there was none?
Mueller also testified to congress that Iraq had WMDs and was a serious threat. I have no faith in Mueller or US intel.
Well, step right up and put your faith right here, my friend, in lawlessness, recklessness and disorderliness; bullying, racism, exploitation and predation; treason, treachery, injustice and inhumanity!
Arts Smart, that is right wing propaganda as you probably know. In fact, the FBI was not the organization giving that misinformation but it was Colin Powell and George Tenet at the CIA and the Bush administration.
Your lie has been debunked many times — the only “evidence” that any of the right wing Trump-adoring liars use when challenged on these lies is that Mueller referred briefly to Colin Powell’s testimony about WMD when he was briefing Congress about how the FBI was working to stop another 9/11 event from occurring.
Seymour Hersch, who has done more research about this issue than “Arts Smart” has ever done, has never blamed Mueller. The fact that the Trump apologists on Fox News have been spouting this to try to discredit Mueller speaks volumes.
Remember, Seymour Hersch himself does not say this. But the right wing racists on Fox News certainly do. If you trust Sean Hannity and you trust Trump to tell you the truth, then you would certainly believe what Arts Smart posted here.
Just trying to correct the record when these right wing propagandists post.
OMG, check your facts before spouting about right-wing propaganda. Mueller most certainly DID testify to Congress about WMD, it’s right there on C-SPAN: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4719428/mueller-testifies-iraqs-wmds
Not everything you don’t like is “right-wing propaganda”!
Intel tells Powell, Powell tells congress, Mueller repeats Powell’s statement and helps make the case for war with Iraq. Now Mueller’s making the case for stronger election protections based on US intel reports. After Intel misidentified supposed weapons facilities in Iraq (with absolute certainty!) I no longer trust anything they say.
How could any reasonable person oppose election security?
Thank you, NYC PSP. Very thorough.
Seems there may be confusion about the definition of propaganda. Not on your part, though.
Propaganda is what you and NYCPSP have been brainwashed by from watching/reading too much mainstream news. How you can say it’s “propaganda” that Mueller testified to Congress about Iraq’s WMD when there’s a video showing Mueller actually testifying to Congress about WMD is baffling, especially on a teacher website.
BTW, since when is criticizing the National Security State a “right-wing” thing? Does anyone else see how far the so-called “Left” has slid since the Bush administration? Didn’t liberals used to be the ones protesting the war because the National Security State was feeding us lies about WMD? Now “liberals” are the ones defending that same National Security State. Sometime around 2016 I woke up in a Kafka novel and I can’t seem to get out of it.
Context.
Anyway, we’re splitting hairs here while standing in front of a giant redwood.
Akademos,
We aren’t splitting hairs. I am trying to give a truthful account of what happened — notice I specifically said that Mueller referred to Colin Powell’s testimony — and dienne77 had every opportunity to provide a direct quote of Mueller doing just that and instead she linked to a headline.
In fact, the clip is exactly what I said and is described by C-Span as this:
“As Director Tenet has pointed out, Secretary Powell presented evidence last week that Baghdad has failed to disarm its weapons of mass destruction and is willfully attempting to deceive the international community. Our particular concern is that Saddam Hussein may supply terrorists with biological, chemical or radiological material. Let me turn if I could, Mr. Chairman, to…”
Where is the longer clip? Mueller must have testified for hours, and the one reference to what Colin Powell testified to is the best the Trump apologists (who keep insisting that Trump is an innocent getting railroaded in a plot that Mueller hatched with the Democratic party) can do??
As I said, Seymour Hersh did not blame Mueller because he had nothing to do with the fact that the CIA, the state department and the Bush/Cheney White House tried to insist that there was evidence that did not exist.
So why in the world would dienne77 jump on the Fox News bandwagon to insist that somehow this is all Mueller’s fault and he isn’t to be trusted based on the one clip?
Fact: Trump covered up Russia’s interference in the election. That is just as big as a crime as Richard Nixon covering up his campaign’s illegal activity. In both cases, Presidents decided they would rather cover up illegal activity that helped make their election possible than allow the truth to come out.
Nixon didn’t have a Mitch McConnell given complete power by the Republican Party to help the President cover up Russian involvement. Lucky for Trump he does.
Thank you for being a reasonable person. There are some very odd people on here who insist that there is no evidence whatsoever that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election and Trump has used his office to cover it up. They feel some need to demonize and discredit Mueller and will repeat any right wing propaganda to do so.
If this statement is the “worst” they can find about Mueller, we know Trump is guilty.
And oh yeah, do they care about protecting our 2020 election from interference? I don’t think they do.
^^^Sorry, that quote is the direct testimony of Mueller about WMD from the link dienne77 provided. It seems to be the only time during the testimony that Mueller even mentions this and he clearly refers to Powell.
Again, here is the transcript of the so-called “incriminating” statement by Mueller in the video that dienne77 linked to. Remember, I said that Mueller did refer to Colin Powell’s testimony in my very first post, so nothing in this video contradicts my comment:
““As Director Tenet has pointed out, Secretary Powell presented evidence last week that Baghdad has failed to disarm its weapons of mass destruction and is willfully attempting to deceive the international community. Our particular concern is that Saddam Hussein may supply terrorists with biological, chemical or radiological material. Let me turn if I could, Mr. Chairman, to…”
That’s it. That’s the entire reason the far right and dienne77 keep dismissing every bit of evidence about Trump’s corruption and obstruction in Mueller’s report.
As Diane Ravitch says: “How could any reasonable person oppose election security?”
Exactly.
There is something very sad about people who refuse to believe anything bad about Trump. If it comes from a Democrat, it’s suspect. If it comes from a Republican it is suspect. Apparently everyone is out to get Trump except the courageous, upright Republican Party who alone know the truth.
Splitting hairs was not directed at you, NYC PSP.
“How could any reasonable person oppose election security?” Hi Diane! From the Repubs POV Russian election interference is a delusional conspiracy theory from the Left similar to the Benghazi conspiracy or voter ID paranoia from the right. What does branding McConnel as a traitor and calling him Moscow Mitch accomplish? Could this behavior a perfect example of Matt Taibbi’s book “Hate Inc.: Why today’s Media Makes us despise one another”. Something to think about.
With or without his current efforts to block election security, McConnell is despicable.
Arts Smart says: “From the Repubs POV Russian election interference is a delusional conspiracy theory from the Left similar to the Benghazi conspiracy or voter ID paranoia from the right.”
Maybe you recall that there were multiple investigations and hearings — TEN investigations and 33 hearings into “Benghazi”. Hillary Clinton testified for 11 hours. Eleven hours! And yet the Republicans came up with nothing. Well,they did finally decide that because Hillary followed the advice that Colin Powell gave her IN WRITING and did the same as Colin Powell (and Karl Rove and multiple other high ranking Republicans) did and used a private server, she had somehow committed the same non-existent crime that Republicans committed — “extreme carelessness.”
No Democrat with a sterling reputation came out with a report documenting Hillary’s crimes. In fact, even the right wing Republicans on the committee couldn’t come up with a crime after ten investigations and 33 hearings.
So the false equivalency when a lifetime Republican documents Trump’s crimes in a single investigation for which Trump absolutely refuses to be questioned under oath certainly marks you as a Fox News-watching right wing Republican.
Thank you for reminding us what the far right Republican Party believes and posting their beliefs as your own. Good that you finally admitted it.
Trump didn’t commit the non-crime of “extreme carelessness” that the Democrats discovered after ten investigations and 33 hearings. Trump obstructed justice and a single investigation by a lifetime member of Trump’s own party revealed it.
I do appreciate your honesty in identifying where your opinion comes from. Mueller is a delusional conspiracy theorist. Got it.
Your prerogative. Distrust away. Just consider the relative political and technical proportions and logic involved, between what we’re talking about and what you’re talking about.
FYI, if you look at Mueller’s testimony from which that very short non-incriminating clip dienne77 linked to is from, you will see the majority of it dealt with threats from al-Qaeda.
dienne77 could have used the long paragraph in Mueller’s statement where he talks about the ongoing threat of domestic terrorism, and specifically mentioning the Oklahoma City bombing by right wing white men. But that would not have played into the Fox News conspiracy theory that Mueller was promoting the Bush White House propaganda as his purpose for testifying.
The far right posted a 36 second long clip so the people who help promote their propaganda could defend the great and wonderful Trump by pretending Mueller was an untrustworthy liar and there is no reason for any election security.
I know that even a broken clock is right twice a day, but when you are spouting the same propaganda that is seen on Fox News, there is a very good chance that it is a misleading lie promoting the far right agenda.
Not surprising to see Mississippi is the home of the new American KGB.
What are you referring to, Greg?
“I object,” repeated Hyde-Smith.
Ah, thank you.
Besides potentially a Russian asset, Trump runs the country based on really dumb TV. What the heck kind of Twilight Zone episode is this? It had better not have a crap ending. The main character so richly deserves his cataclysmically ironic fate.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/7/30/20747141/trump-fox-news-presidency-elijah-cummings
INT. OVAL OFFICE – DAY
Trump sitting behind the Resolute Desk. Camera back to reveal Rod Serling standing D.R.
His name, Mr. Little. A man will little education, little taste, little knowledge, little concern for other people. A black hole of neediness, he used Daddy’s money to build big, erected his name in Midas-gold letters across the landscape; cheated and harassed and ridiculed the unfortunate, the stranger, the down and out; appealed to the basest instincts of the basest among us; huffed and puffed and blew himself to gigantic proportions, at least in his own little brain. A twisted, malignant, metastasizing tumor of narcissism and knee-jerk nastiness, Mr. Little doesn’t know much, but the biggest thing he doesn’t know is that he just stepped over into a place where everything is bigger than he is, where everything is just beyond the grasp of his little mind and little hands. He just stepped over into . . . The Twilight Zone.
TARGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before the reveal, we see Trump looking at a newspaper with great surprise, then writing on it with a market, “You good!”, and hands it to a man in a dark suit. Looks over a printout with greater surprise and a smile. Writes, “You very, very good!”, and adds a smiley face. Hands it to the man. Looks at another newspaper with surprise, then consternation. Holds marker, hesitates, shakes with anger, “You muh . . . ,” then grabs a phone and begins typing frantically. Then the reveal.
I’ve read that for the most part he dictates his twitish twitterings, including what words are to be in all capitals.
I bet he wrote COVKEFE without help.
Thing is that part would be better left to the imagination in this case. And he’s Mr. Little, merely an allusion.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Are you referring, perhaps, to the story that Trump told people about his business background? LOL.
I’m just being absurd, since I actually wrote, ‘Trump’. But now that you mention it, look at what’s trending or viral, because of his claims about being at ground zero. #LostTrumpHistory
Some Trump history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump
Some more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lawsuits_involving_Donald_Trump
Some more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump
Some more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations
Will Kentucky reelect Moscow Mitch? If it does, will it be safe to conclude that more than half the state’s adults are in a vegetative state?
With no safeguards, will we ever even know what the actual vote was? And how many rubles does it take to buy a U.S. Senator or President on the current global market? Inquiring minds want to know.
There is a species of closeted gay man that goes over to the dark side –nihilism –and wreaks great evil on the world. Mitch, I believe, is one of these, alongside Ralph Reed, Lindsay Graham, Grover Norquist and others.
Meanwhile heroic figures like Russian dissident Alexi Navalny risk everything to promote the Good:
People go crazy in the closet. No doubt about that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvZIoZNYTN8
Reblogged this on What's Gneiss for Education.
Did you see this? Mitch McConnell’s actions pushed Katherine Clark to back impeachment.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/07/katherine-clark-house-democrats-impeachment/595051/
It’s up to 112 who back impeachment.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eliot-engel-trump-impeachment-inquiry_n_5d40c5c5e4b0db8affafcc73
We’re now at 117 for impeachment.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.jta.org/quick-reads/nita-lowey-powerful-house-dem-leading-jewish-lawmaker-endorses-trump-impeachment/amp
By the time they figure it out, it will be election season
More #MoscowMitch
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/31/mcconnell-staffers-lobbied-russian-backed-kentucky-project-1442550
Mitch McConnell is, quite simply, an @$$.
Well, a majority now supports impeachment.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2019/08/01/majority-house-democrats-support-impeachment-1440799