Russia, Wikileaks, and Emails.
I've already made my opinion of the whole Hillary Clinton email brouhaha evident in previous posts here and elsewhere, most recently over here in this Twitter thread.
But since Trump and Trumpster fires, as Keith Olbermann said, cannot. Leave it. Alone. Let's talk about this shit, one more time.
Let's talk about how the Clinton campaign had already floated the possibility that the leaked emails, at least some of them anyway, were probably fake. Whether this was done by the Russians who first got their hands on the emails prior to handing them to Wikileaks or by Wikileaks itself, we don't, won't, and can't know, really. But the possibility is there and has always been there.
However, this possibility that at least some of the emails (likely the most damaging ones) were doctored has flown almost entirely under the radar. It seems to me like just about everyone, on both sides of the issue, has more or less just accepted at face value that all of these leaked emails are legit, when there's a very real possibility that they're not to be trusted, considering the source.
The source? Russia, again. This was a calculated operation, ordered by Putin, specifically to cause to happen what did happen, i.e. Trump is now the Dumbass Elect of the United States of America. Why would Trump help the Russians? They probably have dirt on him. Trump says it's all "fake news," but then, of course, Trump is a well known pathological liar, so...
As such, it is my not at all humble opinion that anyone and everyone who has been within smelling distance of Donald Trump and his presidential campaign for at least the past year or more needs to be investigated to within an inch of their lives. Start with Trump himself and work down, or start from the outside to build a case and save Trump for last, I don't care, but it needs to happen. This includes everyone on his campaign staff. This includes everyone on his transition staff. This includes Mike Pence. This includes everyone Trump has picked for his Cabinet. This includes Trump's staunchest supporters in Congress. This includes Trump's potential SCOTUS picks. And this includes, at the very least, James Comey of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (but likely others within that organization), given that it was Comey's asinine letter to Congress just a couple weeks before the election which brought the whole email issue roaring back into the public consciousness (not that Trump or his Trumpster fires had ever truly allowed it to leave the public consciousness), even as Comey admits now that the Russians hacked the Republicans as well, but just didn't leak any of their shit.
And, hell, if anything, this should throw a shadow of doubt over everything that has ever been leaked by Wikileaks, not just the DNC and Clinton emails, but also the stuff that had Sarah Palin calling Assange "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands" and had Donald Trump musing about death penalties. (But if it's something that helps their side, they're all for it. Go figure.)
But but but Hillary... but what about her emails...
Hillary Clinton has been mostly out of the public eye since the election. (Though the few times she's been seen, she appears to be doing okay.) Hillary Clinton is more or less a non-factor at this point. I don't think anyone, now, is truly still expecting a bona fide miracle to happen that will somehow get her into the White House, and for Trumpster fires to continue to harp on Hillary and her emails just shows how desperate they really are.
No, this is about Donald Trump now, pure and simple. Trump, as I said in that Twitter thread above, is the one still in the news, still saying and doing asinine bullshit. Still harping on about the Russian hacks, even though it actually would be in his best interests to shut his stupid fucking mouth, for once, before he really sticks his foot in it. Though, by all means, if Trump wants to continually risk saying something that he truly can't walk back the next day, he should go right on ahead and do so. The more fuel on the fire building under him the better, as far as I'm concerned.
Trump and his Trumpster fires called her "Crooked Hillary" and chanted "lock her up," when it's really Crooked Donnie who should be in prison, rather than in the Oval Office. It's actually kind of amusing that it was this attempt by Trump and his Russian buddies to discredit Hillary that will, in a truly just world, be the thing that is the ruination of Trump. Sadly, though, we don't live in a truly just world.
But since Trump and Trumpster fires, as Keith Olbermann said, cannot. Leave it. Alone. Let's talk about this shit, one more time.
Let's talk about how the Clinton campaign had already floated the possibility that the leaked emails, at least some of them anyway, were probably fake. Whether this was done by the Russians who first got their hands on the emails prior to handing them to Wikileaks or by Wikileaks itself, we don't, won't, and can't know, really. But the possibility is there and has always been there.
However, this possibility that at least some of the emails (likely the most damaging ones) were doctored has flown almost entirely under the radar. It seems to me like just about everyone, on both sides of the issue, has more or less just accepted at face value that all of these leaked emails are legit, when there's a very real possibility that they're not to be trusted, considering the source.
The source? Russia, again. This was a calculated operation, ordered by Putin, specifically to cause to happen what did happen, i.e. Trump is now the Dumbass Elect of the United States of America. Why would Trump help the Russians? They probably have dirt on him. Trump says it's all "fake news," but then, of course, Trump is a well known pathological liar, so...
As such, it is my not at all humble opinion that anyone and everyone who has been within smelling distance of Donald Trump and his presidential campaign for at least the past year or more needs to be investigated to within an inch of their lives. Start with Trump himself and work down, or start from the outside to build a case and save Trump for last, I don't care, but it needs to happen. This includes everyone on his campaign staff. This includes everyone on his transition staff. This includes Mike Pence. This includes everyone Trump has picked for his Cabinet. This includes Trump's staunchest supporters in Congress. This includes Trump's potential SCOTUS picks. And this includes, at the very least, James Comey of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (but likely others within that organization), given that it was Comey's asinine letter to Congress just a couple weeks before the election which brought the whole email issue roaring back into the public consciousness (not that Trump or his Trumpster fires had ever truly allowed it to leave the public consciousness), even as Comey admits now that the Russians hacked the Republicans as well, but just didn't leak any of their shit.
And, hell, if anything, this should throw a shadow of doubt over everything that has ever been leaked by Wikileaks, not just the DNC and Clinton emails, but also the stuff that had Sarah Palin calling Assange "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands" and had Donald Trump musing about death penalties. (But if it's something that helps their side, they're all for it. Go figure.)
But but but Hillary... but what about her emails...
Hillary Clinton has been mostly out of the public eye since the election. (Though the few times she's been seen, she appears to be doing okay.) Hillary Clinton is more or less a non-factor at this point. I don't think anyone, now, is truly still expecting a bona fide miracle to happen that will somehow get her into the White House, and for Trumpster fires to continue to harp on Hillary and her emails just shows how desperate they really are.
No, this is about Donald Trump now, pure and simple. Trump, as I said in that Twitter thread above, is the one still in the news, still saying and doing asinine bullshit. Still harping on about the Russian hacks, even though it actually would be in his best interests to shut his stupid fucking mouth, for once, before he really sticks his foot in it. Though, by all means, if Trump wants to continually risk saying something that he truly can't walk back the next day, he should go right on ahead and do so. The more fuel on the fire building under him the better, as far as I'm concerned.
Trump and his Trumpster fires called her "Crooked Hillary" and chanted "lock her up," when it's really Crooked Donnie who should be in prison, rather than in the Oval Office. It's actually kind of amusing that it was this attempt by Trump and his Russian buddies to discredit Hillary that will, in a truly just world, be the thing that is the ruination of Trump. Sadly, though, we don't live in a truly just world.