David Corn: Here's how Trump's Russia hoax led to death and destruction in Ukraine

[Nevilledog]

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Mother Jones
@MotherJones
"Donald Trump’s indirect collaboration with Putin was the original sin of his presidency. Ukraine and the entire world are now suffering its horrific aftermath," writes @DavidCornDC in his latest:

motherjones.com
Here’s how Trump’s Russia hoax led to death and destruction in Ukraine
What began in 2016 could only have emboldened Putin.
12:35 PM · Feb 24, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/heres-how-trumps-russia-hoax-led-to-death-and-destruction-in-ukraine/


For years, Donald Trump has incessantly railed against what he called “the Russia hoax” and denied Vladimir Putin’s attack on the United States. Yet the real Russia con was that very dismissal. And this fraud, perpetuated by Trump, his conservative minions, top Republicans, Fox, and other right-wing media, has led to Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

There are at least two ways that happened, and both originate with the Trump cult in 2016 (and onward) refusing to acknowledge Moscow’s assault on American democracy. Though numerous investigations concluded that Russia mounted a hack-and-dump operation and a covert social media campaign to sow political discord in the United States, cripple the campaign of Hillary Clinton, and help Trump win the presidency, Trump and his allies claimed at the time (and since) that no such thing had ever occurred—or they belittled its impact.

The reason was obvious: They placed political interests—electing Trump—over the national interest. Any acknowledgment of Putin’s clandestine efforts to assist Trump—and the Trump campaign had been privately informed in June 2016 that the Kremlin intended to secretly help it—could have hurt Trump during the campaign. So Trump howled there was no Russia attack, which transformed any discussion of the ongoing Russian attack into a partisan fight, thus preventing Republicans from joining the Obama administration effort to counter Putin. This provided cover for Putin, making it easier for him to get away with his assault on the United States.

Imagine how this looked to Putin. He had helped bring about a regime change in the most powerful nation of the world, installing in office an utterly inexperienced fellow who had been heaping praise on the corrupt Russian autocrat for years. What a victory! On election night 2016, an employee of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, which had been a key part of the Kremlin operation, sent a message reporting that cyber operatives there “uncorked a tiny bottle of champagne” when they found out Trump had won and “uttered almost in unison: ‘We made America great.’” At a celebration in Moscow, Dmitry Drobnitsky, a writer for pro-Kremlin outlets, exclaimed, “This is the real reset of the Western world.”

*snip*

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin'

to read when I'm not doing 10 things at once

[world wide wally]

2. It's still hard to believe that a sniveling, whiney fat ass creep like Trump could

be so destructive to the USA

[Irish_Dem]

3. The crime of the century by an evil genius.

Invading the US was like taking candy from a baby.

The GOP let Putin in the front door.

[2naSalit]

4. K&R