Former CIA chief Hayden sounds off on Russia investigation and Trump's potential complicity

[DonViejo]

‘Maybe the Russians Are Still Messing With Our Heads’

Former CIA chief Michael Hayden sounds off on the Russia investigation and President Trump’s potential complicity.

By EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE February 27, 2018

Michael Hayden doesn’t know if Donald Trump colluded with the Russian attack on the 2016 election—but he’s sure the president helped the Kremlin, and is continuing to do so every day.

Hayden, a retired general who led the NSA and the CIA under President George W. Bush, is sure, too, of what he calls a “convergence” of interests between Trump and Russia. And he thinks it risks destroying America.

“There is an eerie and uncomfortable echo between some of the things the president tweets, the different points of emphasis on Fox News, the thematic stories in the alt-right media, and Russian bots,” Hayden told me in an interview for the latest episode of POLITICO’s Off Message podcast. “I don’t have to create collusion here: Each for their own purposes are well-served by creating deeper divisions within American society. The president, to play to his base; Fox News, for ratings; the alt-right, because they have a conspiratorial view of everything; and the Russians, to mess with our heads.”

Everyone—the president included—needs to face the fact that two years ago, the Russians decided that the most effective way to divide the U.S. was to back Trump’s presidential campaign, Hayden says.

more + recording of interview:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/27/trump-russia-collusion-putin-mueller-michael-hayden-217091

[CentralMass]

1. K&R

[louis c]

2. K&R

[Fred Sanders]

3. Messing with our heads at DU, I would also say.

"Each for their own purposes are well-served by creating deeper divisions within American society. The president, to play to his base; Fox News, for ratings; the alt-right, because they have a conspiratorial view of everything; and the Russians, to mess with our heads.”

Sowing discord, as Mueller said, and creating deeper divisions, is also a goal along with election meddling.

Be ALERT for it.

[elmac]

4. he went right on national TV and ask for russian help during the election

[BobTheSubgenius]

5. "... the Russians decided that the most effective way to divide the U.S."

Here's are a couple of other facets of that conclusion:

There is no way to know if there aren't other tacks taken by the Russians, and this is the one that worked spectacularly. There could be other avenues explored by them that could yet manifest, or already be in play.

Other state actors could be at work, either in collusion with Russia or on their own.

Hopefully (and almost certainly, IMO), gatekeepers are watching carefully, and may already be at work in the shadows where these bad actors live. However, great care must be taken in jumping to either conclusion...and it's a razor's edge between missing another ploy until it's already well under way, and seeing plots behind every door.

This period in history easily has the potential to eclipse McCarthyism. In some ways, it has already.

[NewJeffCT]

7. I have very little doubt

that Trump himself was heavily involved in conspiring with Russia. He's been noted as a big time micromanager over the years and there is no reason to think he would have changed at 70 years old.

[smirkymonkey]

6. Kick!

[BSdetect]

8. drumph is their most useful idiot.