General Discussion
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When Donald Trump was running for President, his first choice for VP was going to be Chris Christie, former Governor of New Jersey.
But Trump's new Campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort, thought his best bet for winning was Mike Pence, the Governor of Indiana. No one could win the Republican nomination without the support of the Religious Right, and Mike Pence had that.
But, who chose Paul Manafort?
He was working in Russia and Ukraine and had volunteered to work for the Trump Campaign for free. He had worked to put the Putin puppet, Yanukovich, in charge as the President of Ukraine in 2010.
The question is: Did Trump choose Manafort or did Putin choose Manafort? Or was it a unanimous decision?
In July of 2016, the Republicans had their Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. At the Convention, someone softened the language about assisting Ukraine with weapons. It was then, and still is, a mystery as to who engineered the change to the platform? Manafort said he "absolutely" had nothing to do with it and did not know about it until the Convention was over.
After Manafort was accused of giving inside campaign polls to Konstantin Kiliminik, a Russian spy, and close confidant of Vladimir Putin, he was dismissed from the campaign by Donald Trump.
After all that has transpired, how could Putin not have been encouraged by the words of Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, and Tucker Carlson before his recent criminal invasion of Ukraine? After all, Trump was still popular with his Republican supporters in the US.
Putin probably thought of Pompeo as Trump's successor? And Tucker Carlson was reportedly the most-watched television talk-show host in America. He had to have been emboldened by their comments.
There are still a lot of dots to be connected but the picture is beginning to come into clearer focus.
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Evil betrayers
kentuck
(110,950 posts)They tried to appease him with a promise of an aluminum production plant in Kentucky and donated hundreds of millions of dollars to his PAC to try and keep him as Majority Leader.
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)RocRizzo55
(980 posts)Hang traitors like these bass turds?
FoxNewsSucks
(10,378 posts)gab13by13
(20,871 posts)I imagine that Manafort auditioned for the job.
Kilimnik and Manafort and Trump and Putin got the GQP to change the convention language regarding Ukraine.
Absolutely Putin was encouraged by American traitors to invade Ukraine. Tucker Carlson was praising Putin and downplaying Ukraine. Trump was doing the same, the Putin Party (GQP) was doing the same. Of course all of that helped convince Putin that he could invade Ukraine with little response from the US.
What really irks me is that people believe that the Putin Party (GQP) suddenly cares about Ukraine and suddenly dislikes Putin. The Putin Party is still led by Donald Trump, he won the CPAC straw poll and the only reason that the Putin Party has flipped is because their internal polling told them that backing Putin was not popular. The Putin Party is still an anti-democracy party. We have one choice in the next election, democracy or autocracy.
2naSalit
(86,071 posts)That anyone even listens to their bullshit at any time.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)Putin is poison to their re-election chances.
gab13by13
(20,871 posts)this year; how many if asked, will say that he/she condemns Trump for not condemning Putin? Not one of them will be able to say that.
I have zero faith that our MSM will ask them that question.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)They cannot touch it.
XacerbatedDem
(511 posts)Look at how the Repugs flip-flopped over Jan 6, like fish out of water.
I for one would like to tell the Repug party exactly what they can do with their "internal poling"!!!
kentuck
(110,950 posts)...Trump was impeached for attempting to extort the new Ukraine President. It was obviously a part of his political campaign, from the very beginning. This latest invasion by Putin is a culmination of their work together.
gab13by13
(20,871 posts)Putin doesn't plan on stopping with Ukraine. Trump wants the United States to be just like Russia and so does the Putin Party, they just can't say it.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)He did not know that Biden was going to be the Democratic nominee to run against him. He only knew that Biden knew the politics of what was going on. He was a threat to their plans.
MerryHolidays
(7,715 posts)I remember in 2019 and 2020, Trump was trying to say he could easily beat Joe, but that he was scared about Bernie Sanders. While I love Bernie Sanders, I don't think there was a single poll showing he could beat Trump. By contrast, from the day Joe announced he was running, every single poll until the election showed him beating Trump. To me, that's the real reason Trump tried to blackmail Zalenskyy in July 2019 with the infamous phone call that lead to Impeachment I.
Trump was trying to pull a "1972 Nixon": just like Nixon's folks destroyed all Democratic nominees in 1972 until they had the one they wanted and knew they could beat: George McGovern. (and, b/t/w, Nixon's 1972 campaign was Roger Stone's start in US national politics, IRC. Luckily, it didn't work in 2020.
panader0
(25,816 posts)The Rosneft commission deal was in the works.
https://www.bustle.com/articles/199487-7-photos-of-rex-tillerson-and-vladimir-putin-show-their-close-and-concerning-friendship
Tadpole Raisin
(972 posts)Was and he can be manipulated, at least for a time. Manafort buttered him up and went unpaid.
Of course he owed money to a Russian so he was also in it for himself.
Beachnutt
(7,189 posts)fit in ?
gab13by13
(20,871 posts)and who can forget the 7 members of the Putin Party going to Russia on the 4th of July with not 1 Democrat invited.
Maybe the 7 went over to complain that the NRA wasn't transferring rubles to them fast enough?
sanatanadharma
(3,639 posts)Start here and read the linked source.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016315691
The Russian plan, a plan to dominate the new century (ala PNAC), included cultivating greedy individuals without commitments to democracy.
Russia began buying the Republican party.
The plan called for creating instability based upon the existing fractures in American society, principally racism.
The election of President Obama opened for the Russians a huge opportunity to buy controlling interest in an 'anti-democratic' political movement.
Ojala, we are seeing the worldwide collapse of Russia's nationalistic-jingoistic-antidemocratic propaganda paradise.
Strelnikov_
(7,772 posts)Manafort was there to steer the idiot in the direction the oligarchs wanted.
Melania was there to keep an eye on the idiot as he was laundering their money.
Trump, the useful idiot.
Texin
(2,585 posts)And Michael Flynn certainly knew him. I think both of them told tRump he was the best choice, and both tRump and Stone, along with others of their cronies have been in bed with Putin for nearly two decades (or more). And it was Manafort (and to a lesser degree, Kushner who hated Christie for having prosecuted his father) who told tRump needed to pick Pence.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)Putin attacked because he thought it would fracture NATO, or at least they wouldn't do anything, like they didn't do much before. Same for the EU. Plus thought Ukraine would roll over. Plus thought his military was as good as his Defense minister and generals / admirals told him.
Well, reality sure is different.