nakkh Loc: San Mateo, Ca

He and his coterie of i***ts, nihilists, and opportunists were the perfect prey for Putin’s spell.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/how-russia-played-trump-for-a-fool/amp

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

Babes in the woods thinking they can tame the wolf.

from the link.

When I asked Bagley what would have happened had the proverbial tables been turned, he laughed. Everyone knew the answer. Any American suspected by the Soviets of being a mole would have been shot or exiled or locked in a Siberian hole. Just to be safe. The Russians would not have been bothered by things like justice or the t***h. They would never have trusted, and this would have made them worse human beings and better spies. This was characterological. It was central to the Russian condition. It was not a result of Sovietism but an enabler of it. It was born of a peasant-like distrust, violence, rot, a bloody, sweaty, mud- and manure-splattered wariness. The Americans were not made this way. They could study the ways of other people, but they could not be them. The best Americans, the ones who grasped the cognitive-cultural oceans separating America and Russia, entered into combat with Moscow with a great chariness. They understood that, when it came to subterfuge, they were at a disadvantage. They tried to inoculate themselves.

All this seems to have been lost on Trump, his retinue of loyalists and hangers-on, and the odd assortment of tertiary characters, like Russian recruitment target Carter Page, who peopled Trump’s campaign. These are not the best Americans. They are nihilists à la Steve Bannon, “i***ts” like Page, neophytes like Trump Jr., or opportunists like Manafort. They have acquired, over many months of politicking and quasi-governing, the language of the patriot without understanding what they are saying. Not only that. Their pretend patriotism, their ignorance of American history, its poetries and injustices, its constant existential confrontation with itself, leaves them especially susceptible to the allure of the authoritarian. There is a logic and clarity to the authoritarian, with his shiny toys and Potemkin bullet trains and airport terminals. The authoritarian knows how to put on a good show, and these people love to be dazzled. They are vulnerable to Putin because they admire him while not understanding where he comes from nor who he is. They have no idea whom they are doing combat with. They do not even know that they are engaged in battle, and that the battle is already won.

viscountdriver Loc: East Kent UK

One politician said, Trump gas made Russia great

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

We don't need to be in Syria.

Szalajj Loc: Salem, NH

That's not the point.

trump is being played like a puppet but Putin and his minions. This goes back as far as 2013 and the Miss Universe Paget hosted in Moscow, if not even further.

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

Ok I'm not trying to be a jerk. Through our actions over the past 8yrs has left Putin looking like a hero. A world mediator peace maker.
What else is left for him to gain. It is throuhg our actions that the world views us as a thug nation. So please enlighten.

letmedance Loc: Walnut, Ca.

Left Wingnuts cannot enlighten as they are s***es to the TALKING HEADS on the TV.

Quinn 4

I am reading a book on the history of the Romanovs, who ruled Russia from 1613 to 1918. You want known how Putin is running Russia from the mistake of the past history of Russia and can make Trump his boot clearer after day of working in cow barn. Read Russian History for the answers.

soba1 Loc: Somewhere In So Ca

dljen Loc: Central PA

Putin got his "useful i***t" and is playing him like a well oiled musical instrument...and Trump and his crew are too stupid to see. I think even the Congress is getting s**k of his antics.