Good riddance. Their problem to deal with.
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I said right from the get-go: DTâs hostility to Biden was due to Bidenâs diligence and success in fighting corruption in Ukraine â during which they discovered Manafortâs little black book.
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Outstanding reporting by Mr. K. As always.
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How Manafortâs head grew out of Trumpâs shoulder. The sequel to How to Get Ahead in Advertising.
Interesting how TPM takes bucks from the Trump for President campaign as well as the NRA. I guess theyâre starving for money. Kinda funny how TfP and NRA even want to spend their money on TPM. They probably think itâs hilarious.
They donât. Itâs an ad service, so itâs picking up on your behavior around the intertubes. If youâre reading up on political stuff elsewhere, thatâs whatâs going to trigger you seeing those sorts of ads here.
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Unfortunately, the âkillshotâ was aimed at Manafort.
What Trump tries to claim is a sabotage attempt is really just standard news reporting.
Yes, it was damaging to his campaign to report on Manafortâs ties to Ukrainian oligarchs. But it was damaging to Hillaryâs campaign to report on her emails. Thatâs not bias, itâs standard journalism.
Itâs the same as Trump talking about âanti-Trump biasâ in the FBI: those guys know a crook when they see one, itâs not bias to be suspicious of a crook.
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well - except that putting the squeeze on him might be useful if we get the power back in November. He could be key to rolling up the bad guys.
Although her name doesnât appear in the article, I keep thinking how a straight shooter like Ambassador Yovanovitch would be in the way of these shysters and their nefarious plans.
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I think Google places the ads. TPM has no control over it.
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Btw, per 538, Trumpâs net disapproval rating has jumped from -8.2 the day prior to the impeachment vote to -10.1. In the 4 polls w/dates after 12/18, Trumpâs approval rating avg. is 41-55 (using 538 adjusted poll numbers).
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Sorry, yes, dyslexed it. But the pipeline is/was there.
You donât know much about how web-advertising works, do you?
He was more under water back when Yovanovich and Taylor were in the news, he was down about 14 points then crawled back up as far as 8 points under. That was dismaying to me as it seemed to indicate that everyone went back to sleep. Was it Ukraine fatigue? The good news is that he never gets above about 42% approval, but Iâm not comfortable until I see him down in the mid-30% range.
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Arenât all these pro-Trump Ukrainians associates of the pro-Russian government? That is who Manafort worked for there. So donât they have to dance to Putinâs tune?
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Another article that sees a bunch of trees and how a few of them were cross-pollinated but still misses the forest.
There was nothing untoward or strategically political about Manafort getting outed in the black ledger. He was a crook who was the top political advisor to Putinâs puppet, Viktor Yanukovych, whom the Ukrainian people had just sent into exile 2 years prior to the 2016 election. The Yanukovych govât was a brought and paid for client of Putin supported by the joint venture between the Kremlin and the Russian mob with oligarchs like Firtash and others serving as the front for that corrupt relationship. Russian money flowed through Ukraine and tied the hands of its government. So it was only natural that once overthrown, the opponents of the Yanukovych regime would seek to out the entire corrupt relationship that backed the Party of Regions and its offshoots so that UKR could gain control over its affairs. It was necessary for the post Maidan Revolution govâtâs to do so in order to get IMF aid, European and American support, position UKR towards the EU and NATO and away from Russia and for self-preservation as the remnants of the pro-Putin Party of Regions were still in Parliament and looked for ways to regroup. It had nothing to do with Trump.
Had Manafort stayed as campaign manager, Trump wouldâve lost the election. When Manafort left the campaign, Trumpâs election prospects looked bleak. Another month with Manafort at the helm and Hillary probably gets an insurmountable lead in key states to win the EC.
This article also almost completely misses the fact that the fake story that Ukraine, not Russia, intervened in the US election in 2016 came from the Kremlin and was brought into the US through the Killimnick-Manafort relationship. Gates testified as to this.
Russia needed to keep its corrupt relations in Ukraine from unraveling and needed to make sure that their connection to Trump would stay solid and that US politics (particularly the GOP) wouldnât sway Trump away from Putinâs orbit through political pressure and cooperation with Democrats. Thatâs why this story surfaced, not because of anything to do with preserving Manafortâs viability or even to take revenge on Ukraine. This was all about Russia preserving its ability to fully exploit its newest prized asset (their Sith apprentice if you will), Donald J. Trump, the Manchurian POTUS.
The other thing this article completely misses is the Rudy-Manafort connection. We all know that the Poroshenko govât abruptly stopped cooperating w/the Mueller probe at the pressure and behest of the Trump WH by way of Rudy. We also know that Rudy worked the angle with Manafortâs attorneys to coax Manafort into breaking his plea deal and pulling a Frank Pentangeli and take the hit for the team. Itâs an almost certainty that Manafort was the one who offered the idea of manipulating Ukrainian politicians like Lutsenko to pressure the Poroshenko govât to provide dirt on Joe Biden and also to undermine the Mueller findings by selling the UKR 2016 conspiracy. Manafort had a clear vested interest in the latter, as it was his pathway to a pardon. Manafortâs political skills wouldâve also made him very alert as to the Biden angle and how that dangle could be attractive to Trump. Trumpâs goals were two fold: 1. Knock Biden out of the Democratic primary and pick the opponent he wanted to face (Warren or Sanders), and 2. Undermine and flip the script on the Mueller findings and paint the Dems, the Obama administration and the FBI as corrupt and wield power through a Roy Cohn style AG to punish them all (enter William Barr, dark lord of the Sith).
I really wish we could focus on this bigger story and show that the defense Trump is mounting in the UKR matter was made in Russia and sold by Putin through his agents, most notably, the indicted fugitive from justice, Konstantin Kiliimnick, and Paul Manafort, who still impacts our politics despite being incarcerated.
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And Tom Barrack who helped Manafort get to Trump ?
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That same day, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent DOJ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein [a letter based on the same idea], asking whether federal prosecutors were examining if the DNC and Clinton campaignâs alleged âcollusionâ with Ukraine violated FARA.
A Grassley spokesman told TPM that the request was sent in advance of a âhearing on FARA enforcement that week where several examples of possible violations and enforcement failures were discussed.ââŚ
âIâm not sure we were even aware of the Ukrainian MP inquiry you reference.â
Itâs amazing how the entire GOP power structure suddenly and coincidentally became so knowledgeable about fake Ukrainian scandals. Itâs almost as if someone was whispering in their ear with a thick Russian accent.
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Whatâs that from?
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Concern trolls gottaâ concern troll.
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