Re: 2016 Election
 

Sometimes your personal observations and experiences seem to be 'made up as you go along', more of personal belief rather than fact.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Well maybe I better brush up on my writing skills if that is your impression. I find I can learn from the experiences and observations of others, whether I agree with their opinions or not, and unless I have very good reason to question what their own experiences were, I give them the benefit of the doubt.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Trump biographer: Stop overestimating him — he’s a cross between a junkie and a hungry chicken

Seems a fairly honest appraisal. Out of interest how is he going to cope when he tries to put something through but it's blocked by Senate? Is he going to Twitter and bitch about them and say they are all corrupt?

Re: 2016 Election
 

It seems that despite what the CIA have reason to believe the Trump people are more or less denying that Putin and his hackers were involved in attempting to influence the outcome of the election. This situation is becoming more and more Strangelovian every day.

Re: 2016 Election
 

For some reason I completely missed this in mid-November. Trump stated he wouldn't take the presidential salary, but would take a nominal $1 per annum. This seems odd, and ominous, if he isn't on the payroll, it's a sign he isn't bound by the rules of the job.

How common is Trump's $1 salary? - BBC News

Apparently, JFK donated his salary to charity, so that seems to be a modern parallel.

Re: 2016 Election
 

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It will be quite interesting watching Trump try to deal with the Senate. My prediction is he will have as many problems as Obama had trying to get the Senate to cooperate. His negotiating skills will definitely be put to the test !

Re: 2016 Election
 

There's something off about these CIA leaks claiming Russian involvement in electing Trump. Both the WaPo and NYT stories are anonymous sources presented without evidence. Seems like someone is trying to influence public opinion before the actual investigation is complete.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Since it's the Republicans that control both houses and most have kissed Trump's ring, he won't have too many problems.

I am going to pray that Lindsey Graham and John McCain keep Putin from completing the process of installing himself into the Oval Office.

First thing on the agenda for the new administration? Remove the sanctions that were imposed on Russia as 'punishment' for annexing Crimea. The particularly interesting sanction being ... wait for it .... drilling in the Arctic via Exxon Mobil!!! What a coinky-dink. Both the new SOS and the Russian president want to drill in the Arctic.

We'll see what Congress does. I have little hope.

Re: 2016 Election
 

From what I've heard, the initial investigation was complete months ago. The Democrats tried to do the right thing, like they always do, and were pressured to not release the information because Obama would have been accused of using his presidency to influence the election. In the meantime, Comey did and end run around the administration and used his position in FBI to influence the election. Which is nice.

Re: 2016 Election
 

So why is this leaking now? Is it a hail Mary to the electoral college?

Re: 2016 Election
 

Who knows? The Dems have been playing catch up for the past 6 months. I guess the 'news' is that Obama has ordered a review on the whole Russian influence thing and wants it finished before the end of his administration.

But, honestly, anybody who didn't know this already just doesn't want to know. We watched in real time while they bragged about what they would be doing to Clinton. Never once done to Trump?

Pointless in many ways, Obama was too weak on this and now it's too late.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Also, I think it's now a legacy issue for Obama. If he doesn't get this investigation done and publish the results publicly, it will be buried completely in the Trump era.

Re: 2016 Election
 

Leaks from CIA sources are alway anonymous..or they would be out of a job. Where there is sufficient smoke..there is more likely than not..fire It was an anonymous source that exposed Watergate..for example. As was already mentioned...this has been an open secret for months. We just want the full report.

Re: 2016 Election
 

As Leslie says below, the timing of this report's release was a result of Republican (McConnell) pressure to not have the President appear to insert himself into the election campaign.

The anonymous sources in the WaPo and NYT articles are senators who were briefed on the report. Because this was a 'secret' briefing, details of how they arrived at their conclusions, and the methodology for gathering the information would have been disclosed. These details can't be discussed until such time as they are declassified. There have been calls for additional details of this report to be made public.

If the news stories had stated 'Senator Smith said that the report "They discussed how hackers, using a Zebra-Zulu worm, were able to funnel DNC emails to a server in the Cayman Islands, controlled by a Russian parliamentary official, who then used a Farmville algorithm to transfer the emails piecemeal to a Wikileaks server on August 3rd" - Senator Smith would be facing federal prison time

Re: 2016 Election
 

The focus on Russia in the early part of the Trump administration will be interesting to see play out. Traditional Republicans have been staunch in their opposition to Russian interests for decades, with it being one of the platforms for election of the Republican Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. administrations.

I think it will be difficult for Republican politicians do to do an immediate 180 on Russian policy for a new administration where there is apparent conflicts of interest (Remember that DTJr said that the Trump Organization gets a lot of money from Russian interests a couple of years back - coupled with the fact that Trump will not release tax returns to show where he may interests). Combine that with the fact that Trump isn't really part of the Republican establishment, isn't extremely popular, and they may do even less to support him that would nominally be expected.

Finally, should the Trump administration decide to recognize the annexation of Crimea, and lifting of American sanctions, the international political backlash could be massive. Many of the other Western nations also have economic sanctions against Russian individuals and corporations, and lifting of those sanctions by American politicians with obvious conflicts of interest to Russia, will be a betrayal.

Trump is seemingly walking down the road to a trade confrontation with Mexico and China. Upsetting other trade partners in combination will only compound the problem. I think a number of Republican politicians understand this, however, the Trump administration will not.