Abraham Lincoln famously said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” That sentiment was recently echoed by prominent Russian film director Karen Shakhnazarov on the Russian political opinion show 60 Minutes: “Global empires like the United States are destroyed from within…The U.S. is deteriorating. They won’t find other fighters like McCain. There won’t be any others like him. This process is irreversible.”
The Russians are elated to witness the demise of John McCain because they don’t see his successor anywhere in the Republican party. They’re happy as a pig in mud, and they’re not even hiding it. Daily Beast:
With glee, Russian political figures rejoiced over the passing of the late, great Sen. John McCain. Oleg Morozov, a member of the International Affairs Committee of the upper house of the Russian parliament, wrote, “The enemy died.” Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of RT [the Russian state’s international television network] admitted: “I am a lousy Christian… I can’t love my enemies. I can’t even have compassion for them. I can only will myself not to gloat.”
McCain’s passage marks not only the end of a certain breed of Republican, but more specifically the silencing of the most powerful anti-Putin, anti-Trump voice in Congress. Before McCain was even cold, the Russkies were busily trumpeting their plans for the future of American politics, starting with winning in November.
Dmitry Abzalov, director of the Center for Strategic Communications in the Russian capital, suggested a strategy to aid Trump by touting his economic successes and creating joint business opportunities. As long as the American economy is strong, he opined, Trump won’t need to impose the sanctions against Russia to affect the outcome of the midterms. Abzalov recommended that the Russians temporarily abstain from any actions that might prompt the U.S. to impose additional sanctions. He cautioned: “We can seriously benefit from these deals, there’s potential profit at stake. We shouldn’t let Trump down right now, our main goal right now is to help him with correct arguments. He will follow through with an internal agenda and economy.”
Pro-Kremlin experts and propagandists have no doubt that the Republicans will fall in line with Trump’s agenda, unless they’re “suicidal” in terms of their political prospects. Konstantin Zatulin, first deputy chairman of the committee for relations with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Russian nationals abroad or the Duma, or lower house, is a leading figure in Putin’s United Russia party.
In discussing the outcome of the Helsinki summit, Zatulin asserted: National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “just sat there. Did you hear them voicing any accusations against Russia?… Naturally, Trump’s team—if they aren’t suicidal—will find arguments in support of the president. Those who don’t, won’t be on his team—or maybe they won’t be in Congress.”
Trump isn’t the only Putin puppet. Republican Senators Ron Johnson, Richard Shelby, John Kennedy, Steve Daines, and John Hoeven are dancing the kalinka to Putin’s tune. All of these Senators, with the exception of Johnson, spent the 4th of July in Moscow, along with John Bolton. The Kremlin broke the news of that trip before the White House, which seemed remarkable at the time, but evidently that’s standard operating procedure, or will be soon. Senator Johnson, as stated, was not on that trip, but he’s a Russian sellout, declaring, “We’ve blown it [election interference] way out of proportion. “ Johnson believes that in fact, we’ve been interfering in Russia’s elections. This is the chair of Homeland Security and Government Affairs, folks, don’t you feel reassured? Then there’s Putin’s favorite Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, about whom Kevin McCarthy said in 2016 “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump.” And Paul Ryan said, “We keep it in the family, right?” Putin has no lack of mouthpieces in the GOP, he’s got a chorus line.
And the Russians have no doubt whatsoever but that they can prevail in the midterms. They love the MAGAts. “With Americans, it’s all very clear,” said Russian state TV host Evgeny Popov. “In Iowa or someplace in Montana, they’re more concerned with the price of corn or beef than Crimea.” Right, give ‘em their bread and circus, or their corndogs and Fox News. They don’t care what’s going on in Crimea, they never heard of it. They don’t even care what’s going on in their own state capital, assuming that they even know where that is.
The dumbing down of America has created a cultural rift in this country. Donald Trump is not the cause of it, he is the result. The Russians have known this for quite some time and they carefully groomed Trump because they knew he was the perfect figurehead candidate.
And Putin’s agenda is not only to support Trump. He knows Trump’s shelf life is limited, in the best case scenario. He’s looking to control others with something called an “info-component.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov recently admitted that Russia is punching above its weight and is unable to respond to the U.S. sanctions symmetrically. He pointed out that Russia’s response to the U.S. sanctions will include blacklisting more Americans and utilizing its powerful “info-component.” Ryabkov added that any retaliatory measures, including Russia’s asymmetrical response to sanctions, are a sole prerogative of the Russian President.
60 Minutes host Skabeeva asked: “Just to scare the Americans, what are some of those measures?” Ryabkov slyly responded that publicly discussing such matters would be counterproductive, as it would only forewarn the Americans, allowing them to prepare for what’s coming. He added: “Our methods will work, they’ll be effective—I’m certain of that.”
One can only speculate as to the nature of the “info-component,” who it applies to, or what the “effective methods” might be. Blackmail’s always good, just as a guess. Bear in mind, this is not a dialogue taking place in smoke filled rooms over a glass of vodka, this is being broadcast on Russian television and then sent all over the world.
Vladimir Putin is continuing Joseph Stalin’s post WWII plans to conquer America. The military playing field is leveled, now our institutions are under attack and are being eroded from within. When you hear Trump’s latest madness, blaspheming Canada and the like, consider that you’re really hearing the voice of Putin, and there is method in it.
Abraham Lincoln was a visionary.
