It is nice to finally hear some people sum up where we stand as a nation, someone state some hard truths. It is nice to hear that the “R’s” we stick in front of some politicians names may as well now stand for “Russia.” That with the evidence at hand, any Republican who continues to obstruct Robert Mueller or support Trump’s lies now sits just as firmly in collusion with Vladimir Putin as Donald Trump has for nearly a decade. It is nice to hear it said on the most important morning shoe on TV, the one watched by all of “them.” Joe Scarborough evidently did a little thinking on his time off and came back to work, ready to work.
“They are not just covering for Donald Trump anymore, they are not Trump’s chumps anymore, they are Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots, Mueller’s indicted more Russians than Americans. This is a Russian story that these Republican dupes in the House of Representatives, they’re are covering for Putin. They should get their contributions converted to rubles now!”
Joe might not be as current as the typical Zoom reader, because there is a lot of evidence out there that plenty of Republican contributions started off as rubles and became cash by way of the NRA, and that could quite possibly be part of the reason we see so many Republicans still obstructing, or retiring. They know that Russian money has infected all Republican political sponsorship going back some time.
Joe also noted that there is no longer room for quibbling about private Russian influence. We must now address this as an attack by the Russian state, what in any other context under any other president would be considered an act of war:
“The remarkable thing about this indictment is, there’s no way these Russians were freelancing,” he said. “They are military intelligence operatives under orders from Vladimir Putin. Instead of inviting him to this country, he should be indicted in this country.”
No, Joe, he should be sanctioned to the brink of poverty, backed by the threat of real war. The reason we have indicted the Russians that we have is that the indictment serves as the most direct and legally “tight” way to establish the predicate crime, a conspiracy to defraud the United States of a free and fair election. Mueller must establish that crime because he has evidence that Trump knowingly joined that conspiracy and furthered it, probably through a quid pro quo, and possible bribery.
It is time for Joe Scarborough to realize just how deeply Putin has penetrated the U.S. government and to stop pretending that these Republican House members have pure free will to come out and oppose Trump or support the investigation.
First, have no doubt that Putin’s intelligence units understand the constitution and know the value in having total “loyalty” among the members of the House, that branch of government that must be the first to move against a president in any removal proceeding or investigation. Just as Russian intelligence has kompromat over Trump (and, no, it is not a “pee tape,” it is akin to a rape tape according to author Greg Olear, who assures us that much greater depravity is on tape than otherwise harmless consensual acts), why would they not have “cover” over Devin Nunes, Paul Ryan, McConnell, et al? Republican congressional elections have been outperforming polls for some time now. We have just scratched the surface regarding the money that has poured into the Republican coffers from Russian via the NRA. Additionally, our campaign finance laws are so loose that it is likely that – if the Russians were going to use their own military to interfere with a presidential election – they damn sure will have compromised many Republican congressmen along the way in order to protect their investment. Of course, none of that has been proven, yet it explains the inaction and obstruction as much as anything and I posit that it is far more likely than not that Russia has active agents within the U.S. House, these same people Joe is calling out.
Regardless, it is nice to hear some candor and fresh truth shouted from the morning tube. Joe delivered this morning, calling the House members “Putin’s poodles.” I’d use the more technical and accurate term, Putin’s “assets.”
