Trump was not trying to dig up dirt on Biden.

[kentuck]

He wanted to create dirt out of thin air.

All he really needed was for the president of Ukraine to make a public statement (it had to be in public) that he had opened an investigation into Joe Biden.

That is all he would need to build the case against Joe Biden. (Much like he did against Hillary Clinton in 2016)

It is an example of "yellow journalism". Trump is like William Randolph Hearst just before the Spanish-American War.
===============



It is arguably the most celebrated anecdote in the history of American journalism. Sometime in early 1897, as the story goes, artist-correspondent Frederic Remington found himself in Cuba working for the New York Journal. The famous painter of bucking broncos and other Wild West scenes was on assignment for the newspaper’s owner, William Randolph Hearst, in anticipation of hostilities with Spain.

“There is no trouble here,” the bored Remington informed Hearst by telegram. “There will be no war. I wish to return.”

Hearst fired back, “Please remain. You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war.”

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2019/03-04/yellow-journalism-role-spanish-american-war/

[Miles Archer]

1. "My investigators just got back from Hawaii, you won't BELIEVE what they found down there."

Obama birth certificate, "dirt" on Biden...same asshole, different day. He realized a percentage of the population was stupid enough to believe whatever he said, emphatically and frequently enough.

[erronis]

2. Not much different from McCarthy. And his henchman Cohn who became a Trump advisor

The sleaze covers all of them.

A good system of background checks and associations with known crooks, hoodlums, money-launderers, real-estate moguls, sequential bankruptcies and non-payments would probably rid the presidency of 30-40% of all occupants (current is 100%), and congress of another 20-30%.

Does being a natural crook make one think about becoming a politician?

Or does wanting to be a politician make you a target for the lobbyists of power and sex?

I think the first mainly, the second much less.

[Maru Kitteh]

3. Just as he makes up so much garbage out of thin air.

Asshole better conjure up himself a wormhole to another galaxy because I think the Russians will turn on him soon.

[Beringia]

4. And he can count on much of the media to do just as he wants them to

Maybe there is a ray of sunshine to know it is trump who is trying to pull another coup, and not all on the Russians

[renate]

5. I was just thinking this!

It’s not just that he was willing to abuse his power to get Ukraine to lie about an investigation... it’s that he was willing to tell a bald-faced lie, period. Obama and the birth certificate all over again! Just a flat out dirty, contemptible lie—this time with the forced word of a foreign government. And paid for with our tax dollars.

[BigmanPigman]

7. Ironic, isn't it?!?

He needs to stay in office so that he doesn't go to jail but his newest crime will probably not help him to get reelected but instead might help him end up in jail after all. He should have let sleeping dogs lie since Barr's lies about Mueller were almost working for him. What a fucking moron!

[amuse bouche]

6. "He wanted to create dirt out of thin air." I believe the word is ....fabricate

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. And that's all trump needed was the fake innuendo.

It hurt Biden with Dems to some degree and the low info right fell for it. JHC if you have a low info base you can tell them anything.

[gordianot]

9. What may be more disgusting than the facts is the coming avalanche of deflections and excuses.

Oh how the dogs will bark and howl!

[Garrett78]

10. After the transcript release, David Corn wrote a piece arguing that Trump...

...must actually believe the CrowdStrike conspiracy theory and that there was dirt to be found on Biden. Corn, who I respect, argued that Trump must believe those things because Trump was mentioning these things in a private phone call. I said at the time that I don't think that's necessarily the case; that Trump was probably just wanting the Ukrainian government to make a public statement about investigations.

I started a thread about this earlier today: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212610650. And what I want to know is what is going to be done about this. As your anecdote indicates, this is certainly not a new strategy. But it's disturbing how it can be both so simple and so effective, especially in an era when tens of millions of people believe some of the most batshit crazy stuff imaginable. It's time for the media and Democrats to be very blunt about this epidemic. Make it embarrassing to believe nonsense and place an emphasis on civics and media literacy in schools, so that we don't lose more impressionable people down the rabbit hole.

[SlogginThroughIt]

11. The reason he tried

The reason he tried to do this is because that is what Putin has made him do.

[Hekate]

12. KnR

[Raine1967]

13. Hearst was never President. I think this makes it all worse.

Excellent points, Kentuck.

[Efilroft Sul]

14. Fabricate, not investigate.

Say it with me.

[H2O Man]

15. Recommended.

Trump heard from Putin that Ukraine was corrupt, and that it's new leader was a joke. Hence, he was convinced he could capitalize on the corruption plus weak leader.

[Aussie105]

16. If you squint hard enough

and you are a desperate Dictator, other people will appear more evil than you.

If the (supposedly) corrupt and (supposedly) weak Ukrainian leader had said 'Sure, we will look into it for you', that's all Trump would need.
He'd twist that around to suit his own desperate need to be Top Dog, to be vindicated, and his followers would cheer and rally around him to protect him.

Lies, fabrications, half truths, misrepresentations, twisted facts, explanations without logic, Deep State plots - Donnie and the GOP can generate them by the (garbage) truck load, and some of it will stick. Unfortunately.