Yesterday, Donald Trump finally admitted that he didn’t make any recordings of his conversations with James Comey. This was an issue because Trump tried to threaten Comey by implicating that there might be such recordings.
So there are two questions. First, why did Trump wait until yesterday? When Congress asked whether such recordings exist, why didn’t he just admit it then? A big hint is that he admitted that there are no recordings in a tweet at 1pm Eastern time, which is not when Trump normally tweets, but it was timed to be at virtually the same exact time as when the Senate revealed their new health care bill.
And it worked. For example, the front page of the NY Times was all about the health care repeal bill, but Trump’s tweet was covered in a single paragraph on page 19. Likewise on all the major news sites and newspapers.
I guess this is what Trump does when he is called on something embarrassing. Trump’s attempt to threaten Comey backfired, because Comey testified that he sure wishes that such recordings exist.
Second, can we believe Trump? I think it is just as likely that Trump does have recordings, but they make Trump look even worse. We may never know, but either way it would have been an embarrassment for Trump.
5 Comments
So per WaPo Obama was a pussy when it came to dealing with Russia https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/obama-putin-election-hacking/?hpid=hp_rhp-banner-high_russiaobama-banner-7a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.088a4e8b81c2
Being deliberate and cautious seems reasonable but perhaps he should have done more when the country’s democracy was being threatened.
who was worse? The president who could have done more or the president who denies the whole thing happened?
I’m not convinced that Obama could or should have done more. Yes, the Russian hacking is extremely serious, but what could Obama have done that would not have made the situation far worse by decreasing confidence in our election? Trump was already claiming that the election was “fixed” (with help from Fox News and others).
What do you think Obama could have done? And how do you think that would have gone over with the Republicans and Trump?
In the end, maybe it doesn’t matter. There’s a chance that our democracy has already been destroyed, and I fear that it is as much our own fault as the Russians’ fault.
“In the end, maybe it doesn’t matter. There’s a chance that our democracy has already been destroyed, and I fear that it is as much our own fault as the Russians’ fault.”
your comment just really hit me. as a parent it is what terrifies me. what have we left for our children?
It seems clear from the article that the obama admin tried to tackle it methodically. They tried to get confirmation from other agencies,tried to inform state officials and get congressional backing. They seemed to get held up on all 3. So it wasnt all obama. But the admin could have made the details public a lot sooner and also attempted to ensure that “media” firms like facebook took measures to prevent the spread of “false” news like pizzagate. It seems clear Obama was too cautious about what the politics may look like.They could have also made public some of the sources such as ip address as this article points out http://www.businessinsider.com/ex-nsa-hacker-blasts-obamas-response-to-russian-election-hacking-2017-6
Finally Obama should have enforced much stronger sanctions with the backing of other NATO countries.
Perhaps he assumed that the voters would be smarter. I remember he once said that he had faith that the voters wouldnt elect an idiot into office. But ultimately i agree with part of what you wrote. It is much our, the voters, fault. The voters fell hook line and sinker and are now trying to steadfastly defend each and every trump move however stupid it may seem. They lose credibility when they do that but for some strange reason they seem adamant he;s the ONE. This die hard support of Trump and former presidents puzzles me. I get why people admire Obama. Great family guy, ultra smart, outgoing but he was the president and he was responsible for the safety of me and my family and whether its fair or not i feel that he failed at least during his 2nd term. Trump is failing in ways that are magnitudes higher. Why defend him if he’s not doing you or your family any good? What’s more important? pride or being practical?
One disadvantage with lying about absolutely everything as Trump does is that somebody *could* lie about a private conversion with Trump and they would be believed over Trump every time.
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