Analysis: Why you can't just ignore this statement from Donald Trump

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

There's long been a tendency to roll your eyes whenever Donald Trump breaks a rule of politics. After all, he spent four years doing it as president -- and democracy is (mostly) still standing. And he's not in office anymore, so what he says on any given subject is less important than it was two years ago.

-snip-

All of which brings me to something Trump said in an interview with the conservative TV show JustTheNews published Tuesday.

"I would think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would know the answer to that," Trump said, while pushing an unproven claim about Hunter Biden's business dealings in Russia. "I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer."

-snip-


Now, imagine for just a minute, if any other politician did anything remotely like this: Asking on more than one occasion for an adversary to help find damaging information about a political opponent. (And let's not forget this important context: We know Russia actively meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump and hurt Clinton.)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/analysis-why-you-can-t-just-ignore-this-statement-from-donald-trump/ar-AAVFHFS

[Omnipresent]

1. If Putin did have something on Hunter...

Wouldn’t he have released it already, to embarrass the President?

[Skittles]

2. YES, but...

to be fair, Trump is not asking for actual dirt, which he knows does not exist.... he wants his buddy Putin to make up something so the conservative media can have its usual meltdown performance for the cult

[dchill]

8. By "conservative media" you mean the media, right?

Because that's who's gonna melt down. The 24/7 "news" cycle.

[mountain grammy]

13. Exactly!

[eppur_se_muova]

3. You'd think a guy could get impeached for something like that. nt

[jaxexpat]

11. In a post presidency situation, formerly impeachable offenses are now executive privilege.

It's all part of a trend to convince everybody that outrageous actions by powerful people, the sorts of things we thought were rendered unacceptable by laws passed long ago, are, instead, perfectly reasonable and lawful. They're just so complex that average minds can't seem to comprehend how they require long, long, long and careful, careful, careful deliberation to even scratch the surface of understanding.

[czarjak]

4. Ever The A-P-P-R-E-N-T-I-C-E?

[Blue Owl]

5. Easy there, Mr. Garland... don't move too fast...

[Yoyoyo77]

6. Cillizza gets this?

Get ready for 10 feat of snow. Cillizza has been one the most "inside ballgame" non-serious political commentators around. I used to cringe in advance when I would see it was time for regular "who's winning the DC politics game" column when he was working for the Washington Post. Folks if he's talking this seriously then we're in real deep trouble!!!

[L. Coyote]

7. #FailedCoupGuy really needed a huge bombshell DISTRACTION from his crimes,

so he does something outlandish but not illegal and the herd turns its attention away from the crimes.

[hadEnuf]

9. Does anyone still think Trump is not a Russian asset?

[Ohioboy]

10. Trump's asking Putin to go ahead and make shit up if he wants

How awful, a former president inviting a terrible leader like Putin to go ahead and interfere with our country. Sickening.

[Pepsidog]

12. My blood is boiling.

[PatSeg]

14. He is so clueless

He's been living in that absurd bubble of his for so long, he can't see how off-the-wall that comment is, especially at this particular time. He just can't seem to gift gears from his fantasy White House world to reality. He is still fighting fake demons and elevating a tyrant.