Politics Thread

[Juice]

The one thing that's going to do the Trump presidency in is stupid scandals/crimes/incidents/stories (whatever you want to call them) like this one. Any political capital or momentum they could or would have is going to be wasted defending themselves against completely avoidable situations by not having a few f*ck ups in the administration. The good things him and the rest of the party do are going to be completely ignored with shit like this.

[paulxu]

I thought they were "spying" on the Russian ambassador when he was caught talking to a private US citizen (who with his background should have been smart enough to know we might be taping the Russian ambassador).

Also, was it the CIA or the FBI? I thought Comey held off going to the administration originally because they were investigating deeper.

[GoMuskies]

My understanding is that they're not allowed to listen to the private US citizen's portion of the conversation. But that's mostly from staying at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[XUFan09]

It's illegal!!!!! Whoever(s) did this committed a felony. Are you arguing that it's ok for government intelligence people to use classified information obtained via govt. eavesdropping to undermine political opponents?

Yes, but it also information that the public should really know, if this guy was possibly going to continue serving in a high-ranking position in the U.S. government. And again, was there anything said that indicated it was a political opponent? Or are you just assuming that? I could easily see a Republican doing this.

[GoMuskies]

Why would someone being a Republican mean they weren't a political opponent? You don't recall the Never Trump movement?

[XUFan09]

Why would someone being a Republican mean they weren't a political opponent? You don't recall the Never Trump movement?

Good point, but I was more thinking about the 90% of Republicans who give Trump a positive approval rating right now. It's very likely for a Republican to have a favorable opinion of Trump that doesn't extend to a questionable White House official.

[Lloyd Braun]

Well that escalated quickly... would love to see anyone possibly defend this.

[LA Muskie]

Is anyone concerned that the CIA leaked these clandestine calls, involving a U.S. citizen, to the media, which is completely illegal?

In short, these were American spies, spying on an Americans and leaking what they found to the media, for the purpose of undermining this American because they don't agree with him politically. Is anyone bothered by that?

Yes. I'm concerned. I'm very concerned. I'm concerned that there is so little faith within his own administration, in the intelligence community, or in the military, that Trump can effectively and legally govern that they feel they need to create external pressure.

I'm concerned that our incoming NSA was so careless that he didn't even consider that the agencies he was about to lead were monitoring the calls of the Russian diplomat with whom he was conspiring to violate US law (at an absolute minimum), acts which could theoretically be viewed as acts of treason and which almost certainly compromised his ability to serve by leaving him vulnerable to kompromat.

And yes, I'm concerned that the Trump administration was -- and is -- more concerned about that controversy than the risk to national security.

I'm concerned that all of these are the things from which coups are born. And I'm concerned that -- terrifying as that may be -- that very may well be a positive development.

Basically, I'm concerned that we're fucked.


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[GoMuskies]

Coups? C'mon man, get a grip.

[Caf]

Is anyone concerned that the CIA leaked these clandestine calls, involving a U.S. citizen, to the media, which is completely illegal?

In short, these were American spies, spying on an Americans and leaking what they found to the media, for the purpose of undermining this American because they don't agree with him politically. Is anyone bothered by that?

I haven't really considered that yet. I'm still taking in the whole 'our President's campaign was in contact with Russian intelligence' thing. My first instinct is to acknowledge that these kind of leaks aren't normal. The intelligence agencies have a proud history of being as non-partisan as reasonably possible. I think the gravity of these revelations has a lot more to do with these leaks than politics.