WAPO: Trump shared highly classified intel to Russians in Oval Office

[Dill]

(05-16-2017, 06:06 PM)hollodero Wrote: Didn't say he wasn't.

I just feel that the legal side is more of a technicality in the broader picture. It's no comfort to your betrayed sources that Trump was within US law.

As for the new scandals and exciters, I might agree, but I still feel one by one people are backing away one controversy at a time. For me personally, I lost my sypathy for people on the anti anti Trump train now. Maybe I'm more struck by that as a foreigner, who sees the whole arrogance and carelessness in that behaviour as even more frustrating. Unlike Americans, none of us voted for this guy handing out secrets on ever so solid US legal grounds.

Some of us Americans see Trump's arrogance and carelessness.

Are you able to get Fox News at all? If you could watch a few segments of shows like "The Fox News Specialists" you would get a surer sense of the problem, which isn't Trump so much as the support, the alternative worldview, the bubble.

Their starting point is a conspiracy of anti-trumpsters who are trying to take down the president. The "leak" about Trump's intel gaff is just their latest strike.  The "Specialists" spent 20 minutes today assassinating Comey's character. "Comey has 'leaked' that Trump asked him to end the Flynn investivsation. Exactly the kind of guy you don't want running the FBI."  They remind their audience the Israeli Ambassador has reaffirmed that the US and Israel will continue to share intel. Democrats are undermining their own case against Trump by their weekly hysteria. People will soon just ignore them.

Central now to the Trump defense are 1) the emphasis on legality. The president had a "right" to fire Comey and pass info to the Russians. 2) The nothingburger--where is the evidence of collusion? Nothing there. What exactly was leaked? No one can tell us. Nothing there. He said she said. Charges floating around with no evidence. 3) Groundless anti-Trump hate. People just looking for fault and making it up when they can't find it. Trump's unorthodox, no nonsense style grates on them, especially when he is getting things done.

This seems like a focus on evidence and the facts. Very sachlich. The commentators are cool, keeping their heads while all around them are Democrats all upset over rumors because they don't understand the president's powers and how little is really there. Very effective, I think, for that part of the electorate who, like Trump himself, don't realize the implications and consequences of any president's words and actions, and don't really care. They voted for him because they saw no red flags in his undisciplined, impulsive, angry behavior--and still don't. Of COURSE the Israelis will continue to share critical intel with us. They said it was ok, right? They think Trump is cool too. Not WEAK like Obama.

Excluded from this approach are those small details like Trump's choice of the unstable Flynn as NSA, his incredible dismissal of Russian interference in the election; setting up one explanation for Comey's firing with his AG and press corps, then giving the press an altogether different one in a disastrous interview, and following that with a tweet that exposes him to charges of obstruction; secreting the Russian Ambassador and foreign minister into the White House with a disguised Russian journalist, resulting in a TASS propaganda coup, which is quickly old news because Trump's own intel people are alarmed at the info he passed to the Russians. Except for the obstruction, not a hint of illegality in this medley of incredibly bad judgment. Outside of Trumpdom, everyone in the world understands how this angry stumbling makes our government look.

Imagine defending an interception by claiming the quarterback had a right to throw the ball. His fumble on the next play was no big deal because his own team recovered it. And no problem if he shared some of the playbook with a potential opponent who admired him.  The fans are just angry because they wanted a different quarterback. Most will be ok once we start winning again. Imagine defending this quarterback every week by blaming the fans for lack of support.