Maybe call it a "double lie with a backflip." Our
President, the leader of the free world, non-European division, on Monday
morning remarked
So Russia will interfere with an election and may have an impact even though it hasn't done so in recent memory.
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I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2018
"Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on
the upcoming election" is coming
from a President who still is denying that Russia even interfered in the
2016 election cycle, let alone had an influence. Below is a video in which he
is asked "is Russia still targeting the U.S.?" to which he responds
"thank you very much, no," remaining in his seat and turning left to await the next question.
So Russia will interfere with an election and may have an impact even though it hasn't done so in recent memory.
It makes perfect sense when your name is "Donald Trump"
and you know there are so many contradictions or lies there will be something
else within 24 hours to focus on.
Or in the same tweet.
"Based on the fact that no president has been tougher on Russia
than me," this President claims, "they will be pushing very hard for
the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!"
After the first, supremely disingenuous, remark, President
Trump manages to lie twice in one sentence.
It is not "they will be pushing very hard for the
Democrats," because it is possible- albeit very unlikely- that the Kremlin
will. But unless intelligence agencies
have told Trump that the Russians "definitely" don't want him in the
White House, he could not believe "they definitely don't want Trump."
We know he hasn't been told because if he had, he
would have tweeted it out immediately. Further, there would be a tragedy worse
than Cincinnati in December 1979 as Republicans trampled each other rushing to a
microphone to point fingers at the Democratic Party as a Putin fifth column.
But there is a far more important lie, which the media
generally accepts. In the mainstream media, Chris Cuomo has been a notable
exception, as has Yastreyblyanski, who tackled this days ago.
In Syria, President Trump barely inconvenienced Russia
inasmuch as the roughly 200-300 Russian mercenaries and other pro-government
fighters were killed and the airstrikes on Syrian airbases killed no one.Economic sanctions against Russia were mandated by Congress and delayed by the
Administration. Trump, first as a candidate and then as President, has
suggested that Crimea belongs to Russia.
And Ukraine. The
Trump forces squelched at the Republican National Convention a proposal to
provide weapons to Ukraine to fight pro-Russian forces. As President, Trump
stalled on supplying Javelin anti-tank missiles to the the Ukrainian
government, which was investigating former Trump campaign chairperson Paul
Manafort. After Kiev ceased investigating Manafort, the White House approvedthe weapons sale in a happy coincidence.
That's not to say the tweet wasn't brilliant strategically.
Arguing that "Russians" will be helping Democrats gives Trump an
excuse if Democrats retake the House in November. It alleges, dishonestly, that he has been
"tough" on Russia, received favorably by anti-Kremlin voters and those who think or feel they are. It also allows the GOP to claim that Trump is accepting the reality
that Putin has been involved, though he doesn't explicitly say so and cleverly
avoids use of the word "Putin."
Tuesday's big lie was classic Trump: clever, brazen, and transparently specious.
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) July 19, 2018
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