“Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat who has peddled allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections to help the Democrats, met with Rudy Giuliani in New York City — last week.”
I understand Telizhenko met with Giuliani only after Rudy accidentally butt-dialed him.
(Did Telizhenko confirm to TPM whether or not Rudy forgot to wear pants again in public?)
They. Are. So. Fucking. Stupid.
(yeah, I get that this is Sarah Kendzior-style oligarchic-intimidation: “yeah, we’re corrupt and there ain’t shit you peasants can do about it, suck it!” but it is fucking stupid of them to presume that what rolls in Moscow will work the same in Manhattan)
Um…
he got bought
–50pct by his wife’s family
–50pct by dirty campaign money
–50pct by Putin’s manipulation
–50pct by the 0.1 percenters
–50pct by Adelson
–50pct by big oil and gas
–50pct by Churchill Downs
–50pct by private equity interests
A big piece of the “Soviet Myth” seems to be the undying belief that the West is “just as corrupt” as the Soviet Union was and that we just manage to cover it up better. They refuse to believe that the “bad apples” in our midst tend to be more exceptions than rules.
We do have bad actors that do get measurable amounts of power from time-to-time, but ultimately we do seem to have cleaner governments and we do try to prosecute wrong-doers for committing crimes and not because they are political rivals. Some people seem to be trying change that and push a regression in the United States, but for the time being, we are still a nation of laws. The “East” has to keep pushing the Myth so that they can continue to justify their own corruption in their own nation.
The Bizarro World Scandal is a long-used technique. It figures prominently in the Kirkland & Ellis bag of tricks. In the 2010 BP oil spill, K&E argued a) wasn’t that bad, actually helped the environment, b) it was really somebody else’s fault such as Halliburton, and c) there wasn’t any gross negligence, so their entire liability was capped at $75 million, and they’d already spent more than that, so could the government please pay BP back for its service. The appeals court characterized these arguments as “fictitious” and “absurd.” But this was 6 years after the accident. Similarly, there is the VW diesel scandal. Guess what, K&E discovered that VW knew nothing about the cheating of emission measurement systems, it was a government plot! Please pay VW for all the damage to our share price. And now we have this. Russia? It’s Hillary’s emails and Ukraine has the server! How dare you try and deep-state us! Pay up.
I hope Manafort has gotten comfortable because he’s in his last home.
Shh, does KAC know? She has being the first female campaign manager whose candidate won as a cherry on her resume.
Someone needs to file a complaint on Giuliani to the Bar Association for numerous ethical violations and get him disbarred.
Moving from Manhatten to Florida where taxes are low and the corruption is high, is the message Trumpy got.
I hope Manafort has gotten comfortable because he’s in his last home.
For some reason, he thinks a pardon is yet going to extricate him. For some reason, the whole GOP seems still to think they still hold the winning hand. Most of the day, I laugh at this. Late at night, though, it worries me.
He told TPM that the two discussed the world series, as well as U.S.-Ukraine relations.
And also adoption of orphans, right?
I’ve said it before. You want confidence? Listen to Schiff and Pelosi. Either they’re great poker players and they don’t have enough evidence to bury these assholes, or they know they’re going to nail them.
It’s because he and his “lawyers” are stupid enough to think that if he’s a “resident” of Florida, he can no longer be prosecuted for crimes he committed in NY.
OT: Wow, Trump is really obsessed with Obama and with disparaging him. And it’s getting worse over time.
Via Daniel Dale.
I just had a flashback: I remember back in the 70s, some Soviet officials were taken to a Dallas Cowboys game. One of them, seeing the Dallas Cowboys’ Cheerleaders asked, “These women…are they wayward?”
I laughed for years about that, and used that line for laughs whenever I could, through high school.
Now I imagine it goes: “These Republicans…Are they wayward?”
Now let’s compare scandals and people who have left the administration and number of lies.
Hey, Trump wins! He wins. Finally!
Of course they’re doubling down. It’s their only strategy.
They’re caught dead to rights. They’re desperate. The only way out is through.
If they can gin up the Biden fantasy, maybe the Trump First Cult will save them. There are just enough Trump over Country cultists in the Media, Beurocracy, and Government to make a save. IF they can deliver the promised scam that will save the Trump acolytes from having to admit their folly.
But they have.
In other words, Trump and Guiliani continue their crime spree. They still seek political help from foreigners in the Ukraine government.
