So if anyone is wondering what it's going to take for the GOP to stand up to this president, the answer is nothing. If a story, now corroborated by multiple sources, that Trump knew that Russia was paying a bounty for the killing of US soldiers doesn't rile them up, nothing will. Nothing! At the very least, the press should be hammering this story nonstop. But like the Republicans that so predictably are doing very little, the press will likely do the same, next to nothing. Treason is when one goes against his/her country during a time of war. I believe this qualifies. The checks and balances that our founders worked so hard to insure are failing miserably. Trump alone is not destroying our country. It's been a group effort. Clearly it is all of our responsibility to protect our democracy but it's failing at so many levels, especially the press. Imagine that a US president is okay with one of our greatest adversary paying thugs to kill American Troops. How is it that there are not hundreds of media outlets calling for his immediate resignation? Sad!
One reason it has gotten less attention than it deserved is that it's the latest in and on a long list. Go back to 2016 when Mitch McConnell refused to join in a bipartisan denunciation of Russia. It was clear from the moment that became known that the republican party, not just its standard-bearer, was under Russian control. Add in money from Lev Parnas to Kevin McCarthy, and that it is clear to anyone that a certain senator from South Carolina is being extorted. This is additional evidence, but the gun has been smoking for years.
The real question is why the media--especially the elite and beltway media, and especially The New York Times--have failed to understand the existential threat to them. The First Amendment will not survive a second term. And what makes it worse is how complicit they have been, from cable news having no journalistic ability or integrity in serving as a transmitter rather than an analyst (Ted Koppel made the great point that pointing cameras at a rally and showing it isn't journalism), to The Times's libeling of Hillary Clinton (and I honestly think she would have a case).
I was appalled that the first couple of days after the Times broke this story it wasn’t getting a lot of media attention. Both the Post and Times had articles about it but not even “above the fold”. CNN didn’t feature it either. People commenting on the article at the Post were complaining about this saying they only heard about it when “Trump the traitor” started trending on Twitter.
MSNBC was the only media outlet that I saw treating this like the huge story it is. But I was shocked to listen to David Ignatius on Morning Joe do his darndest to promote the idea that Trump might not have been briefed and to blame it on his staff being afraid to anger Trump. Ignatius didn’t bother to address the fact that the Times said that they had two Independent sources who said he had been briefed. One said it was in his daily briefing and the other that he was given the information verbally. It was very strange not to mention misleading. No one pushed back against Ignatius although Joe later excoriated the Trump administration for thinking we were stupid enough to believe Trump hadn’t been briefed.
At least Karen Tumulty has things in perspective. Her article in today’s Post raises the critical issue of flag burning, demanding to know if Biden agrees with Trump that it should be illegal. The comments are brutal, excoriating her for trying to make this an issue when we are facing a dire economic and public health crisis and Putin is targeting our soldiers. Too bad her editors don’t exercise the same good judgment. I realize that this is an opinion piece but surely they could have rejected it, telling her they don’t publish such idiotic drivel.
Finally got to reading this piece from yesterday and have to say you absolutely made my day with the Shooter Jennings song!! Ahh, I had forgotten about it and how amazing it is! Love him so much. Been listening to George Jones a lot over this quarantine time -- along with Reba, Willie, David Allan Coe, and a bunch of other old-school country (and newer-old-school country like Dixie Chicks) -- and it has really...helped, somehow. I guess it just brings me back to being a kid/in high school and feeling so much hope for the country (I volunteered for Clinton's campaign before I could even vote, since I was only 17). I don't know, exactly. Anyway, your song choices always give me life, please don't ever stop including those 💙 (and I firmly believe you and I are musical soul mates!).
This is just an opinion of an uniformed person, so ignore it. I think this story didn't get much play was because it was old news. Russia has been after Afghanistan for half a century. It's the perfect place to build an oil pipeline. So, Russia went to war and lost because guerilla warfare is so difficult to overcome - and America was providing support behind the scenes. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Of course they are offering a "bounty" on Americans, it's payback. I can not believe that this comes a surprise to anyone who hasn't been trapped on a desert island for decades. So, that is why this "story" isn't getting more coverage. That, and everyone is so sick of hearing about Trump, they just don't care anymore. If you want people to pay attention, don't put the word "Trump" in the headline. Duh.
I suspect you may want to edit this sentence: "Incredibly, not a single major newspaper that has called for Trump to resign in the wake of the Russia bounty story,..."
It makes more sense if you remove the "that" from it. "Incredibly, not a single major newspaper has called for Trump to resign in the wake of the Russia bounty story,..."
So if anyone is wondering what it's going to take for the GOP to stand up to this president, the answer is nothing. If a story, now corroborated by multiple sources, that Trump knew that Russia was paying a bounty for the killing of US soldiers doesn't rile them up, nothing will. Nothing! At the very least, the press should be hammering this story nonstop. But like the Republicans that so predictably are doing very little, the press will likely do the same, next to nothing. Treason is when one goes against his/her country during a time of war. I believe this qualifies. The checks and balances that our founders worked so hard to insure are failing miserably. Trump alone is not destroying our country. It's been a group effort. Clearly it is all of our responsibility to protect our democracy but it's failing at so many levels, especially the press. Imagine that a US president is okay with one of our greatest adversary paying thugs to kill American Troops. How is it that there are not hundreds of media outlets calling for his immediate resignation? Sad!
One reason it has gotten less attention than it deserved is that it's the latest in and on a long list. Go back to 2016 when Mitch McConnell refused to join in a bipartisan denunciation of Russia. It was clear from the moment that became known that the republican party, not just its standard-bearer, was under Russian control. Add in money from Lev Parnas to Kevin McCarthy, and that it is clear to anyone that a certain senator from South Carolina is being extorted. This is additional evidence, but the gun has been smoking for years.
The real question is why the media--especially the elite and beltway media, and especially The New York Times--have failed to understand the existential threat to them. The First Amendment will not survive a second term. And what makes it worse is how complicit they have been, from cable news having no journalistic ability or integrity in serving as a transmitter rather than an analyst (Ted Koppel made the great point that pointing cameras at a rally and showing it isn't journalism), to The Times's libeling of Hillary Clinton (and I honestly think she would have a case).
I was appalled that the first couple of days after the Times broke this story it wasn’t getting a lot of media attention. Both the Post and Times had articles about it but not even “above the fold”. CNN didn’t feature it either. People commenting on the article at the Post were complaining about this saying they only heard about it when “Trump the traitor” started trending on Twitter.
MSNBC was the only media outlet that I saw treating this like the huge story it is. But I was shocked to listen to David Ignatius on Morning Joe do his darndest to promote the idea that Trump might not have been briefed and to blame it on his staff being afraid to anger Trump. Ignatius didn’t bother to address the fact that the Times said that they had two Independent sources who said he had been briefed. One said it was in his daily briefing and the other that he was given the information verbally. It was very strange not to mention misleading. No one pushed back against Ignatius although Joe later excoriated the Trump administration for thinking we were stupid enough to believe Trump hadn’t been briefed.
At least Karen Tumulty has things in perspective. Her article in today’s Post raises the critical issue of flag burning, demanding to know if Biden agrees with Trump that it should be illegal. The comments are brutal, excoriating her for trying to make this an issue when we are facing a dire economic and public health crisis and Putin is targeting our soldiers. Too bad her editors don’t exercise the same good judgment. I realize that this is an opinion piece but surely they could have rejected it, telling her they don’t publish such idiotic drivel.
Trump only thinks about Making Trump Better Again. He's not working for the Russians anymore than he's working for Americans. He's working for HIM.
Finally got to reading this piece from yesterday and have to say you absolutely made my day with the Shooter Jennings song!! Ahh, I had forgotten about it and how amazing it is! Love him so much. Been listening to George Jones a lot over this quarantine time -- along with Reba, Willie, David Allan Coe, and a bunch of other old-school country (and newer-old-school country like Dixie Chicks) -- and it has really...helped, somehow. I guess it just brings me back to being a kid/in high school and feeling so much hope for the country (I volunteered for Clinton's campaign before I could even vote, since I was only 17). I don't know, exactly. Anyway, your song choices always give me life, please don't ever stop including those 💙 (and I firmly believe you and I are musical soul mates!).
This is just an opinion of an uniformed person, so ignore it. I think this story didn't get much play was because it was old news. Russia has been after Afghanistan for half a century. It's the perfect place to build an oil pipeline. So, Russia went to war and lost because guerilla warfare is so difficult to overcome - and America was providing support behind the scenes. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Of course they are offering a "bounty" on Americans, it's payback. I can not believe that this comes a surprise to anyone who hasn't been trapped on a desert island for decades. So, that is why this "story" isn't getting more coverage. That, and everyone is so sick of hearing about Trump, they just don't care anymore. If you want people to pay attention, don't put the word "Trump" in the headline. Duh.
I suspect you may want to edit this sentence: "Incredibly, not a single major newspaper that has called for Trump to resign in the wake of the Russia bounty story,..."
It makes more sense if you remove the "that" from it. "Incredibly, not a single major newspaper has called for Trump to resign in the wake of the Russia bounty story,..."