Congressional Republicans are once again furiously condemning President Trump for not being sufficiently anti-Russia this weekend, following a Fox News interview in which Trump was prompted to condemn President Vladimir Putin as a killer and declined to do so.
Trump, who has yet to meet with Putin, said he “respects” the Russian leader and sees him as a potential help in fighting against ISIS. When interviewer Bill O’Reilly insisted “he’s a killer,” Trump shrugged it off, insisting “there are a lot of killers, You think our country’s so innocent?”
That predictably sparked angry condemnations from Congressional Republicans, who insisted “America is exceptional” and that any attempt to suggest any sort of equivalency between when America kills people and when anyone else does is wrong.
There was so much anger, Vice President Mike Pence felt the need to walk back Trump’s comments, insisting Putin and Russia are much worse than the United States, and that there is no equivalency, that Putin is “a bad guy,” but that it’s possible the US has “done some bad things too.”
Even that’s unlikely to satisfy many, for whom American exceptionalism is seen as absolute and unquestionable. Fear that Trump is going to stop short of being an eager partner in a new Cold War with Russia is likely to keep such questions coming at him, and any answer short of unconditional condemnation is likely to provoke a reaction like this.
And most Americans denounce Republicans for failure to condemn Trump over his illegal EO(s).
And we think that Soros tentacles are only in the realm of marching, Berkley molotovs, or Antifa. But Soros and his less visible backers are having their marionettes dance on strings on command. Putin has destroyed many Soros projects, from Chechnya to attempted White Revolution, and Russia has overcome many a terrorist attack on cities, theaters, schools, trains, subway. Hit on Ukraine was answered with Crimea. Earlier hit on South Ossetia resulted in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia springing free.
List of Putin sins, is long indeed.
And yes, it is clear that the wuestions will keep on coming, as if Congress is running foreign policy. As Trump said earlier — they need to focus on this country not looking for ways to start WWIII.
Tough **** for them. Trump ran on friendly relations with Russia from the get go and the voters elected him knowing this.
Any American citizen who denies President’s Trump’s pre-Super Bowl LI assertion to Bill O’Reilly that We ~ as a nation and as a people ~ are “not innocent,” is and can only be either totally ignorant of and oblivious to, or else in complete denial of the history of the United States.
That loss of innocence began with the Indian and Mexican Wars, and continued with Manifest Destiny and the sinking of The Maine. Then, there was the waging of “the war to end all war” so as to “make the world safe for democracy,” and creating what was to inevitably, ultimately follow: a Great Depression, Auschwitz, Dresden, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then: Korea, Viet Nam, Central America, Kuwait, the Balkans, and, since 9/12, the so-called “global” so-called “war” against so-called “terrorism,” with Cold War II looming in the South China Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Bosporus Straits, and who can only imagine where else.
The mutual consternation of both the Left and the Right at Mr Trump’s calling it like it is, was, and has been, is, frankly, a delight to behold. One can only hope that it leads Both ends of the spectrum to give what he says some serious, history-based thought, and not just more wrapped-in-the-flag ~ or else some 60s-based ~ rhetoric and noise.
America never was innocent. We didn’t waste much time importing slaves.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for ignorant and cowardly Americans to acknowledge or learn the truth about the USA’s past history of molesting other nations! These morons would rather live in a fiction that says the world’s foremost violator of human rights is the “good guy”!
How dare he speak the truth.
Screw these warmongering “leaders” in the USA who don’t even have the balls to align themselves with the FACTS and TRUTH! How long is it going to take for the US government to cleanse itself of all this war mania crap? It has almost destroyed this nation up till now because the USA is to “tough and sacred” to admit that humanity and kindness are the best ways to win people over to your side, if your side IS actually the RIGHT side! McCarthy was censored by the Congress for calling everyone a “red” or a “commie” and here we are 60 years later STILL spinning our wheels on some subjective political name-calling just for politcal purposes! God help us!
more of theater.
Many votes for Trump were because of his recognition of the truth as it relates to Russia-bashing by most of his political opponents, including 90% of the media.
Exactly! President Trump will be sinking into political quicksand every time he gives in to the warmongering cancerous leeches that prey on the ignorance and hatred of Americans!
So, my wishes Trump wins and gets along better with Putin than half or more of Europe and most Americans wish right now, are still ok. I am not withdrawing them.
The hit on Ukrainian elected government was a criminal act and Russia would also have been criminal if it hasn’t tried to protect Russians of the Krim and the Donbas.
We now hope DT sees it as i do.
I still do not see the reason or justification for Russia not invading Ukraine March ’14 and deploying peace keepers on the borders of Donbas and Ukraine!!
Was Putin afraid of doing that and if so, why did he not do what seems to me the right thing; thus saving lots of lives and destruction.
Here is a big question-
Will Trump’s support fracture if he stands up to the military/civilians who push the war agenda based on lies and distortions of the truth? Is there an issue among Trump supporters that would undermine the President’s support?
Consider this-
1) How many people voted for Trump just because he was a Republican?
2) How many of these are pro-military and clueless about the Russian accusations being throw out every day?
3) How many voted for Trump just to be on the winning side?
4) How many voted for Trump to keep the warmongering criminal Hillary out of the Oval Office?
5) Finally. how many voted for Trump based on his peaceful overture statements regarding Russia?
If this nation is to have Presidents who respect other nations based on the facts and truth, the CIA and military are going to have to have some some leashes of accountability put around their collective necks! The business of the USG should be taking care of the American people and the American homeland, not waging wars all over the globe for lucrative profits the .1%! “America First” means taking care of the USA with ANY funds that are available to “our” lawmakers, not coming up with another excuse to wage “humanitarian” wars that are actually just the opposite!
Trump did a knight move on Bill O’Reilly’s stupid comment. Putin is not a murderer; he just does not fill the bill. Anyone with a speck of knowledge of Russia’s history and governance would have to agree. Russia’s post-Soviet ethos has deep roots in the Soviet dissident movement which was led by two remarkable individuals, Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The former is the liberal, secularist, western-oriented version, the latter a religion-based (traditional Russian orthodox) set of ground values. Both are united in a desire to restore in Russia the rule of law and sense of morality. If Putin was anything like a murderous tyrant, there would be a groundswell of popular resistance to him, as a response to machinery of repression with omnipresent secret police, surveillance and a new version of Gulag. Nothing of this has materialized in Putin’s Russia. The pathetic accusation of him somehow having homicidal yen for opposition journalists or marginal political figures is based on blind hatred and malevolent spite.
Putin’s portrait of himself in interviews, “First Person” in English is well worth reading. It gives his background in his own words and those of his teachers, friends, wife. Even at his first election he was criticized in Russia, and these comments are answered too.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Among the reasons I voted for Trump this past November is his desire and pledge to restore friendly ties with the Russians, especially Putin. Another reason is that he’s no politician (he ran a huge real estate corporation for at least 40 years) and has a keen nack for negotiating deals.
These freaking Republicans in Congress should keep their big mouths shut if they can’t find anything good to say about Putin. Here’s a man who’s taken a bankrupt nation from an incompetent, drunken stooge of the Oligarchs who had bled it dry and let the population starve and turned it completely around into the strong superpower it is today. Putin also led a religious revival in Russia and kicked out the Oligarchs. Now, Trump’s trying to do the same to the US. His predecessor (Obama) left office a few weeks ago with this nation at least $20 billion in debt. In his 8 years in office, the golfer-in-chief spent more time on vacations, playing golf, instead of doing his job as POTUS. Obama murdered more innocents overseas with his Predator Drones than had Bush the Lesser done with bombers. Obama also orchestrated regime changes in Libya and Ukraine – to name two – and created unending chaos in those two countries. Thankfully, he failed in his attempt at regime change in Syria, as Putin had come to Assad’s aid.
So where were these Congressional RINO’s when Obama was on a murder spree with his drones in countries such as Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, etc,? Not a peep escaped their cowardly lips. These idiots should be standing behind Trump, whose aim is to totally defeat ISIS/ISIL and other like-minded Jihadists and restore order and peace in those war-torn nations.
Eileen dear, the friendly ties with Russia was a lie. Isn’t it just too obvious already?
luv from Canada.
He did not stop Haley condemning Russia in the UN, just like Power.
“Even that’s unlikely to satisfy many, for whom American exceptionalism is seen as absolute and unquestionable. Fear that Trump is going to stop short of being an eager partner in a new Cold War with Russia is likely to keep such questions coming at him, and any answer short of unconditional condemnation is likely to provoke a reaction like this.”
very astoute prediction, Jason
the lying, denying media.
Yes, look at Obama. He was a huge killer, slaughtering tens of thousands in 6 different countries. And let’s not forget Bush Jr killing or being responsible for a million Iraqis deaths.
Jason, do you think it’s possible for someone to condemn Putin for his and his government’s many well-documented transgressions against international law and human rights without seeing her/himself as “being an eager partner in a new Cold War with Russia”? As an anarchist deeply opposed to rulers’ imperialism and murderous control of their populations wherever observed, I sure do.