On the Manipulation of Nations

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MSJ

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« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2017, 09:46:59 pm »
An interesting opinion piece about Trump/Russia affair:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2017/05/11/hidden-clues-in-the-trump-comey-drama-its-worse-than-you-think/#4c4c7be3dfda

Oh MG. I hate Trump as much as the next guy...but you're not buying that this is the first time there has been a manipulating of nations, are ya? I mean, i KNOW you're not that naive. I just find it hilarious that people seem to think Trump is breaking new ground here.
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mrganondorf

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« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2017, 11:26:53 pm »
An interesting opinion piece about Trump/Russia affair:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2017/05/11/hidden-clues-in-the-trump-comey-drama-its-worse-than-you-think/#4c4c7be3dfda

Haha! Nonono! I was just interested in the bit about Putin's playbook :)

Oh MG. I hate Trump as much as the next guy...but you're not buying that this is the first time there has been a manipulating of nations, are ya? I mean, i KNOW you're not that naive. I just find it hilarious that people seem to think Trump is breaking new ground here.

MSJ

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« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2017, 01:14:56 am »
An interesting opinion piece about Trump/Russia affair:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2017/05/11/hidden-clues-in-the-trump-comey-drama-its-worse-than-you-think/#4c4c7be3dfda

Haha! Nonono! I was just interested in the bit about Putin's playbook :)

Oh MG. I hate Trump as much as the next guy...but you're not buying that this is the first time there has been a manipulating of nations, are ya? I mean, i KNOW you're not that naive. I just find it hilarious that people seem to think Trump is breaking new ground here.

Gotcha. I confess, i didn't read the article even. But, you have piqued my interest with that tidbit.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,

MSJ

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« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2017, 10:00:50 pm »
An interesting opinion piece about Trump/Russia affair:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2017/05/11/hidden-clues-in-the-trump-comey-drama-its-worse-than-you-think/#4c4c7be3dfda

Haha! Nonono! I was just interested in the bit about Putin's playbook :)

Oh MG. I hate Trump as much as the next guy...but you're not buying that this is the first time there has been a manipulating of nations, are ya? I mean, i KNOW you're not that naive. I just find it hilarious that people seem to think Trump is breaking new ground here.

Gotcha. I confess, i didn't read the article even. But, you have piqued my interest with that tidbit.

I wasn't even a thought then, but from what I've seen and such, Trump is a lot like Nixon with doing whatever strikes his fancy. Some things he is doing are scary to think about the implications. Eh, I'll just worry about today...then tomorrow.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,

TaoHorror

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« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2017, 01:43:20 pm »
Well ... this all could well be architected as the writer proposes ... but I'm prone to think at least some of this is the result of natural behaviors of authoritarians ( not much of a difference, but bear with me a sec ). In addition to "being" the strong man, he's exuding striking incompetence. Maybe he is playing the Putin playbook, but that just doesn't fly in our political structure and culture with the robust ( some would say rabid ) media we have that not only doesn't scares easily, but is quick ( too quick at times ) to pounce. He appears completely unaware of our institutions. While the US government apperati ( my made up plural of apparatus, but sounds cool so I'm using it ) can be maddening and even corrupt at times, but it is a democracy, one with impressive visibility hosted by actors many of whom are moral and take their positions seriously ( i.e. integrity - counter to Trump's dystopian view, many in government sport it ). His thinking on the dynamic of loyalty has been a complete failure - which suggests he made no attempt to figure anything out, about how to form networks and relationships in US government. Anyone worth their salt could have quickly helped him with this. Instead he surrounded himself with loyal allies with no understanding as well. He thought the threat to fire someone would bring them under his wing. It simply doesn't work that way here. Typically takes a strong spine to tackle Federal Government processes and positions - persons who don't "lay down" easily. From all appearances, he believed he could come into high office with his brand of being a brass tacks negotiator and tough leader - something that is playing out as childish, incompetent, embarrassing and ultimately could have him escorted out of office via Impeachment even if he's done nothing wrong to begin with. Obstructing an investigation into nothing is still obstruction ( not saying he's guilty of treason or not, haven't seen the evidence - but even assuming he's innocent, throwing his weight around has criminalized his administration ).

In short, at least some of what the writer proposes are convenient connections which can be explained away as the nature of the beast as opposed to conscious design - take your poison, either Trump incompetently thought the tried and true tested mechanisms for totalitarian control would work here without at least some tweaking if not wholesale something completely different or he incompetently thought his strongman behavior, his "brass balls", the "skills" he learned from bullying bankers and screwing over business partners would be just the trick to get what he wants as President. I lean to the ladder. His attempts at leveraging the office for profit - stupidity, childish and close to illegal. His attempts to coerce office holders in other positions, even ones he appointed - incompetent and close to illegal. Thinking 43 million supporters demanding strongman rule to "fix" things would give him authoritarian leverage over government - shallow, self-destructive. Obfuscating his ignorance with "tough talk" - embarrassing, immature. His "popularity" winning the day - shallow, foolish, childish.
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