McConnell Ignored CIA Warnings that Russia was trying to help Trump win the Presidency

[Fantine]

Ten electors from five states and the District of Columbia, including one Republican and one former Republican (who had even run for governor of Rhode Island as a Republican) want the briefing--so far.

That isn't the whole electoral college (who hasn't met yet or consulted as a group) but it indicates bipartisan concern. I think they need to get the information so they can make an informed decision.

Electors want briefing on Russian interference before Electoral College vote

 

[Davidnic]

So it's not the college, it is 9 democratic electors and the one faithless elector. All led by Nancy Pelosi's daughter. No politics at play in that at all.

I am perfectly fine with them getting a briefing. But don't present it as "the college is concerned" ten out of 538 are concerned. And there is a definite political leaning to the concerned.

But like I said everyone should get as much information as possible. Like Obama said last night...none of this is new. It was reported on during the election.

 

[Fantine]

You call him faithless. I call him principled.

What's "new" is that it's been confirmed by the CIA.

I know how strongly you feel about rules and you probably feel democrats should just say, "We've lost. It's God's will. Let's unite the country."

But Trump didn't win by the rules, and everything he has done since cries out to the heavens for justice.

It's not as if Cruz, no matter how odious, had won.

 

[Davidnic]

Faithless is the legal term Fantine.

 

[concretecamper]

But Trump didn't win by the rules.

Really? How so

 

[Davidnic]

I actually do not begrudge anyone being angry or active after a loss.

What bothers me is many Democrats seem to be ignoring the large amount of self-inflicted damage that caused this. And they seem to keep looking for ways to blame Trump and others. A large population that voted for Bill Clinton and voted for Barack Obama changed their minds and voted for Donald Trump. That wasn't the fault of the Russians.

And the way the Democrats are handling this by ignoring that is increasing Trump's popularity among independents. It may be mind-boggling but it's disconnected and causing that.

 

[Davidnic]

Again no one, not even Clinton, is saying voting machines were manipulated. What was waged was an information war. In the end people exercised the right to vote and choose unimpeded.

Some may not like the outcome. I did not vote for either of them. But the outcome is legal. People chose. No one forced them. They had the opportunity to say..."These emails and documents are not more important than policies."

Clinton isolated and vilified a segment of the population she needed. And it lost her the election. The continued actions of some are making that worse. The problem with much of what is being said and done by the losing side is that it is preventing self reflection on what happened. Bernie Sanders is doing it by looking at how the party presented itself in a way that made the working poor feel abandoned. But when Pelosi says that she does not thing the party wants a change. When those in power continue to blame outside forces rather than take responsibility for what they did that lost the election...well that does not bode well for the 2018 midterms. So if people want to give Trump a super majority in the senate...continue on. Because his popularity is rising. And it is not because he is so great. It is because the other option is still isolating the middle that they need.

 

[Davidnic]

But of course you investigate this. Putin is former KGB, has reporters killed and can not be trusted. But what you don't do is pretend that this swayed the election more than the things the Clinton Campaign was personally able to control. You do not shift blame to this and the FBI as if without that it was a done deal. That is the group think that helped cause the problem. And it is refusing to look in the mirror. The DNC betrayed its own progressive wing. And until they give them more than a seat at the kids table they will not be relevant on an electoral, district or state level in most of the country. That is not a Putin issue. Putin did not make the DNC stab Bernie in the back. They did not make someone share debate questions ahead of time. They did not do any of the things that divided the party.

 

[Landon Caeli]

I agree with what @Davidnic is saying.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

I haven't seen anyone explain exactly how this was supposed to help Trump in the first place.
No one hacked in and changed votes. The closest I've heard to an explanation is the hack/leak of things concerning the Clinton Foundation and what a corrupt enterprise that is. To which I say: Where's the root problem there? The leak? Or the corruption?
Hillary brought that whole problem on herself.

 

[MikeK]

I haven't seen anyone explain exactly how this was supposed to help Trump in the first place.
No one hacked in and changed votes. The closest I've heard to an explanation is the hack/leak of things concerning the Clinton Foundation and what a corrupt enterprise that is. To which I say: Where's the root problem there? The leak? Or the corruption?
Hillary brought that whole problem on herself.

I don't think we've seen exactly what the CIA is concerned about and what the extent of the alleged Russian actions were yet. That's why I'm hoping for a full investigation with information declassified to the extent possible so that we can get the truest picture possible. We all want that, right?

 

[Fantine]

David, when people see a fire, they yell "Fire!" They yell "Fire!" to alert those who haven't noticed the fire yet. They yell "Fire!" to save people's lives.

Perhaps you haven't recognized yet that Trump, in his refusal to divest his conflicts of interest, is a "fire." But can anyone fail to recognize that every single cabinet member he has nominated is hel* bent on dismantling our system of government, and that many are totally unqualified and incompetent? Obviously, some people are still unconvinced. And so we yell, "Fire!"

At this point a lot of us don't care about yelling "Fire!" anymore. Many of us are just fed up...we think to ourselves, "They deserve to burn! Who cares?"

Except that the fire will consume a lot of innocent people who don't deserve a government of malevolent incompetents...and those innocent people are what keep us going.

 

[Davidnic]

David, when people see a fire, they yell "Fire!" They yell "Fire!" to alert those who haven't noticed the fire yet. They yell "Fire!" to save people's lives.

Perhaps you haven't recognized yet that Trump, in his refusal to divest his conflicts of interest, is a "fire." But can anyone fail to recognize that every single cabinet member he has nominated is hel* bent on dismantling our system of government, and that many are totally unqualified and incompetent? Obviously, some people are still unconvinced. And so we yell, "Fire!"

At this point a lot of us don't care about yelling "Fire!" anymore. Many of us are just fed up...we think to ourselves, "They deserve to burn! Who cares?"

Except that the fire will consume a lot of innocent people who don't deserve a government of malevolent incompetents...and those innocent people are what keep us going.

I've never supported Trump, didn't vote for him, and still don't agree with most of what he stands for or says.

That's been fairly clear to anyone reading these forums for the whole time.

But if the Democrats keep trying to blame everyone except themselves for the loss they're not going to create any kind of strong opposition.

And if opposition to Trump is based on massaged and misrepresented news rather than the readily available facts then that is going to keep turning Independents more toward him.

His popularity and approval rates keep rising. That is not because of some uninformed uneducated mass who are not as good as those who feel differently. So it would benefit is opposition to figure out why his popularity keeps rising. And it's not everyone who supports him is this some kind of monster.

There's a great deal to legitimately oppose about Trumps policies and demeanor.

How opposition is done is going to determine whether it's effective.

There are going to be things the opposition can work with him on and things they can't.

There are going to be opportunities to continue the growth of third parties because it was obvious that the two choices this year were horrible.

 

[Fantine]

If his disapproval ratings have decreased, it's because he hasn't had t h e opportunity to mess around with people's lives yet. The only bright patch is that the Republicans have no one else to blame--and the anger level will explode within months, perhaps weeks.

Although it seems as if only knuckleheads would look at his cabinet and not realize their heads are on th chopping block, either there are lots of knuckleheads or they are stuck in the first stage of grief--denial.