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I did see this interview on MSNBC. I am satisfied that Putin is probably blackmailing Trump with photos and recordings of Trump in Moscow hotel rooms with young Russian ladies. But, I could be wrong.

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No Richard, it is deep admiration from long before he was President. There were love letters.

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Christopher, there was a clip of the Australian prime minister likening 45’s adoration of Putin to that of a 12-year-old meeting the captain of the high school football team. That captures the wish to be like that person when you “grow up” !

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was this the previous Australian prime minister?

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Before Trump became POTUS, he had trips to Russia. I've read about the "golden showers" that Trump participated in, among other things.

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Yes Richard, we all have.

But that is not the explanation, it's much deeper, more sinister.

It is hero-worship, he wants to emulate him. That is his role model - the ultimate mob boss.

The pee pee tape is a red herring.

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You could be correct on this, Christopher. There's this article in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/03/jacob-heilbrunn-america-last-trump-putin/677609/?utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240301&utm_term=The+Atlantic+Daily

Still, I think that someday we'll discover that there are tapes and photos.

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There probably are, Richard, but the Russians figured out that they could easily manipulate Trump without needing blackmail. It’s been said by a several knowledgeable people that while Trump was in the White House it was observed that often the last person of the day to make suggestions to Trump usually got what they were after.

He is also susceptible to flattery. Kim Kardashian & Kanye West got someone who was in prison pardoned by visiting him. Trump himself was pleased by their attention and said that’s how to do it.

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Thanks for introducing this article, I’m sure it is an interesting book. I’m not sure I could really stomach reading it, it might be more terrifying than old-school Stephen King. Wait…who needs King when we have these living nightmares walking among us? Does Manafort still have an ankle monitor?

And I learned a new word, too.

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100% correct

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Such deep affinities, the most successful robber, the Grandmaster of Crime, and the would-be Don at the head of the Cupola.

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and Ray Cohn

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There are social media musings that TFG also idolized Hitler. Very gossipy rumors that he keeps Mein Kampf on his nightstand and raised by a German Nazi nanny. But I’ve never seen nor heard of a verifiable source for the gossip.

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I've always suspected (no, no evidence) that Trump has a pile of money in Russia. Wasn't there a hotel he was building in Russia?? When did he EVER do a business deal that wasn't shady??

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Hmmm. A pile of Trump money in Russia? Could be that Putin has not only blackmailed him but has also bribed him since Putin may now be the richest man in the world. Money well spent.

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Richard, I’ve always thought putin the putrid had photos/videos of little t he could use as blackmail.

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I think that someday they will appear, perhaps after Putin's death.

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If golden showers were the only thing Putain has on the Orange monster from Merde Largo, it’s nowhere enough as the monster has no shame.

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Ugh!

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I believe Cheetolinni loves Putin because he admires his brutality. Putin kills his adversaries. If Cheetolinni wins in November, he will portray himself as a strongman like his idol. Who knows what he will do to his so-called enemies. SCOTUS and other judge’s are giving him a pass and are doing everything possible to allow him to escape accountability for his transgressions against our country. Putin is never held accountable either. Heaven help us if he is successful.

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Brilliant ‘wordsmithing’! Brava!

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Well, IF the Supreme Court decides (heaven help us!) that in fact the President does have absolute immunity from prosecution, it might be appropriate for Biden to place a contract on Trump, Johnson, McConnell and the six GOP Supreme Court justices. I mean if the President is immune, that immunity cuts both ways. And it is limited to the president so Trump already missed his chance to do this, but Biden is the current President and could eliminate all of the GOP opposition in a single stroke of the pen.

I am NOT suggesting that this is RIGHT, only that if it is in fact the way our Supreme Court now sees our government, what's good for the Republican goose should also be good for the Democratic gander.

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Richard, I think that it may be more basic than that—money. Putin holds the reins of those who supply loans when no one else will loan 45 any money. We’re going to see who comes to 45’s financial aid now that he’s unable to “negotiate” his appeal bonds. BTW, his offer of 1/4 of his bond reflects how he treats those who sign contracts with him.

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TFFG is now on the hook for more than 1/2 billion dollars. He is up against the wall. Why, oh why, do his MAGA true believers still follow him? This letter helping to explain that was published in today's edition of the Palm Beach Post:

MAGA likes Trump’s views

Re 'Defeating Biden seems the MAGA end-all' (Feb28):

I had an immediate flash-back to an issue that I pondered several years ago. I wondered, 'Who in the world would vote for Donald Trump? What were they thinking?' I got lucky. It turns out that two professors at the University of Kansas, David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, wondered the same thing. They researched the issue and published their findings in February 2018, in a study entitled 'The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?' published in Critical Sociology . Their findings? They voted for Trump because they share his views on race, women’s rights, immigrants and gay rights. The economy had nothing to do with their support.

Richard Sutherland, Lakeland

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Not just "share his views" but revel in the permission to be angry and hateful towards those groups.

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It's deeper than anger at cultural issues. And we need to recognize the economic context.

1. MAGA followers distain those who have led both parties. They feel looked down upon. They resent the huge increase in inequality.

2. The "traditional" Republican Party has nothing to show the people for their rule except deeper public debt. When Trump said "the system is rigged" it echoed since it felt true. And largely remains true. Starting with Reagan, "cutting taxes" became their religion. They used the "voodoo economics" of "supply-side" thinking to promise great benefits (see the new book "Power to Destroy" by Michael Graetz that lays out the history of this debt-generating change). On top of that the Republicans added harsh criticism of Democrat politicians and signed onto many aspects of the cultural war. All in a (fairly successful) effort to get elected. And the Democrats, seeking election, eventually became reluctant partners in allowing the public to forget that spending requires roughly corresponding tax revenue. That never made any sense but, in a world ready to buy our bonds (for a while), reality has been delayed.

3. We have a constitution (unstable and ineffective presidential "checks and balances" type instead of a responsive parliamentary type) and election system that drives us towards two parties dominated by extremes. Instead of the kind of multi-party system that can find room for and promote compromise (hence action). So, we have seen the conversion of the Republican party into the Trump party. See, for example, David Dayen's January essay "America is not a Democracy":

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-01-29-america-is-not-democracy/

4. Finally, media changes and campaign finance have distorted the flow of truth to the public. Nearly everybody misses the point that the rich and successful have been financing our elections with a relatively tiny amount of money. $10 billion in 2022 and probably double that in 2024. Please think for a moment how small that amount of money is in a $26 trillion dollar economy. A federal campaign finance voucher program of roughly the same size (costing the average taxpayer the cost of a single cup of coffee a year in taxes) would at least clear the air of lies and allow candidates to focus on truth.

https://open.substack.com/pub/michaelfoxworth/p/achilles-heel-of-control-by-big-campaign?r=33ahhb&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

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I agree with MOST of what you say here. I will take slight issue with your financial statement. $20 billion dollars (the suggested cost of the 2024 election) is probably pretty close to correct. You say that would cost each taxpayer roughly a cup of coffee per year. You MUST be drinking incredibly great coffee :-). With 300,000,000 people in the country, that's $66/person. WOW, that is the most expensive coffee I have ever heard of LOL! And probably slightly more because not ALL of our 300,000,000 people are taxpayers.

I will say though that I completely agree that state or federally financed elections should be required and private organizations should be absolutely BARRED from spending money on electoral politics. We need to eliminate PACs completely and require that everyone who donates to any political contests be identified with the amount contributed.

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And note that there would be no need to ban PACs or restrict donor actions in any way. Not that such restrictions would get past the Supreme court. Just keep matching what the rich and corporations spend and watch politicians start bragging how much money they are getting from "average voters".

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Median (loosely, "average") taxpayers (~70K income or less) are in low marginal tax rates. Most of the taxes used to pay that $20 billion (as any program) would come from higher income families. Indeed, the wealthy would need to give up a few more cups of coffee.

Divide a $2 trillion federal budget by 125 million households we get an "average" of $16K taxes paid. Median/average households pay nothing like that. Adding $20 billion and you get a trivial increase in taxes for Median/average households.

But the main point is that the "successful" (my code word, I confess) already contribute campaign money. It is the median/average/low-income people whose votes are rendered irrelevant/mute by our campaign finance system.

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You are so correct, Mary! He caused 4 casinos to go bankrupt in Atlantic City with the help of greedy loan officers in American banks!

He rebounded with $$$$ money from Deutsche Bank whose capital came from newly minted Russian oligarchs! Lest we forget, after the Soviet Union dissolved, the American Congress loosened banking regulations so that the Russian oligarchs could launder their looted funds here!

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I watched an interesting British documentary; opening national systems to offshore money was an effort by both Britain and then US to reduce capital outflows. The Russians were only one piece in this. Must watch again to better understand. Here it is.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8

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Could just be idol worship, but with chump’s track record, I agree with you. Although, the MAGAt crowd would love some chump porn…

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“But what about…” Hunter’s laptop?! Frankly, I admire the man Hunter Biden is becoming.

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If you are still on that platform that has gone into the toilet that Professor Richardson is still a part of, here is an amazing link regarding some questioning of Hunter Bident:

https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1763647872472416494?cxt=HBwW3IO8uaqZ3vkwAAAA&cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjcw%3D%3D&refsrc=email

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I’ve never had a Xitter (because the pronunciation makes me laugh) account, but was able to read the Q&A. Thank you for sharing!! 😂👍🏻

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I know from personal family experience that family members who have had "problems" can become what they were meant to be with love and support. Thankfully, he had the love and support and is coming into his own. And kicking arse in the House.

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Jeri, the thought of Trump in porn is oh so nauseating.

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With no doubt, a low I can do without.

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😝

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That would be a political low point, even Fox wouldn't show. Of course, Fox never showed his worst nonsense. That's why the magats never saw the real deal. Rupert rules all of us, in one way or another.

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Yes. I also think Putin/Trump has kompromat on many Republicans. Lindsey Graham comes to mind. Note that we can't talk about Trump any longer without including the shadow leader of the Republican Party. Vlad the Bad.

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Bill, you note: "Note that we can't talk about Trump any longer without including the shadow leader of the Republican Party. Vlad the Bad."

You are correct. I get the feeling that this country has become one humongous insane asylum. There are 60 million or so crazies running about this country.

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Insane or compromised. Too many very hawkish Republicans are now in full support of Putin. Look at Lindsey Graham - former defense hawk, former "never Trumper". Something smells funny. The FBI informant revealed to be a Russian plant should inspire us to dig. We should be terrified and motivated.

Russians play a long game of infiltration and kompromat. The GOP may now be in the "Grip Of Putin" via various files and sundry embarrassments. Russia didn't abandon its techniques of intelligence gathering and blackmail when they gave up "Communism". After all, look at where Putin was hatched. GOP may now be an extension of the FSB (formerly FSK and KGB).

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The scuttlebut is that Senator Graham is gay (I will NOT use the nickname that many people use to demean that). Whether he is or isn't does not matter. Why it matters is that for so long, it was a (contrived, to my mind) situation that was based on the degree of "compromise" that could be extracted from someone to keep that "secret". Alan Turing, anyone?

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What a sad commentary that Graham would possibly worry that his career would be threatened by his sexual orientation. But I guess where he lives, too many don't support such diversity. Ooops, I said a "bad" word. /s

I speculate that you are right. But the actual gayness might be less of a problem than what his actions might have been. Who knows. I don't care. He just creeps me out with his Trump ring kissing.

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But interestingly, there appear to be more Republicans who might be compromised by personal exposure than Democrats. So-called "religious right" GOP leaders (as was true with religious leaders themselves like Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell) seem to be quite fond of hypocrisy. Look at the recently departed leader of the GOP in Florida Christian Ziegler and his spouse. Personally, I could care less that either of them were fond of threesomes. If it floats your boat, why not? What gripes me is the hypocrisy of advocating so-called "conservative" sexual norms while actually acting on much more liberal notions themselves, and still holding everyone ELSE to the original standards.

So if Graham is gay or not, that is fine with me. But if he permits himself to be held at "gunpoint" because he can't be public about his personal sexuality (whatever it is) well THAT is a real crime.

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Agree completely. Well said!

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Agreed

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4 pm Troll Scroll ... clear to here.

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Anybody who saw the pics from Helsinki had no doubt. It was indeed, creepy. Like puppet and puppet master. Bet that is exactly when they planned the invasion. Snag. Chump lost, damn, but there are ways to get chump back. Just be patient…

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THAT, is an interesting thought. Trump was pure obsequiousness in Putin's presence and then Trump confiscated the interpreter's notes after the 2 hour meeting with Putin. I can't help but think that Trump is a traitor to this country, through and through. His malignant narcissism reduces him to nothing but deteriorating flesh, a complete cipher.

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Yes he is a traitor. MSM needs to stop calling one on tffg's indictments the 'documents case'. He is indicted for 'espionage' which includes stealing confidential documents from the government that is he is undoubtedly sharing with our enemies.

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Malignant narcissism is a dangerous condition. Both chump and Putin are patient...

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I agree, of course, that malignant narcissism is a dangerous condition, particularly where there are those who wield some power over others. Some may say that, as a human, it deprives the infected (afflicted) with the capacity to feel empathy. I have literally seen animals in the wild show more care for fellow creatures than Trump does for anything, including humans.

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Actually the lack of empathy is a trait that both narcissists and sociopaths share.

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Beat me to it...

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So true, wild animals show much more "humanity." a clue, people

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If t is not a traitor, the word means nothing. He is the biggest TRAITOR I know about!

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Well, it was not creepy to me. What was creepy to me was that Trump's flatulent fawning was NOT creepy but right on schedule. I sense an almost homo-erotic element to Trump's creepiness.

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almost as bad as chump porn

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Is it just awe; …. or is it that Trump owes a great deal of money to Putin, who has essentially financed Trump personally & politically?

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And Turnbull was no gem.

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