Manufactured Horseshit: Paul Manafort Returns to the Scene of the Crime
Vaughn Hillyard caught Paul Manafort in a victory lap on the floor of the RNC the other day.
Hillyard: Mr. Manafort, how is it to be back?
Manafort It’s great to be back.
And so it is that eight years after getting advance warning of the DNC release from his long time buddy Roger Stone, almost eight years after Stone emailed Manafort telling him he had a way to win the race, and just short of eight years after Manafort met with Konstantin Kilimnik in a cigar bar and discussed the outlines of a quid pro quo: campaign information for debt relief in exchange for a commitment to carve up Ukraine (Manafort insists he rejected the plan to carve up Ukraine, though the plan nevertheless remained active until at least 2018).
Aside from Hillyard and Robert Costa’s tweets marking Manafort’s arrival, his presence made barely a blip in the news coverage.
Why should it?
Among all the other criminals and insurrectionists, Manafort no longer sticks out.
And with JD Vance’s selection as VP, Manafort’s support for a pro-Russian Ukraine also looks banal, rather than alarming.
But there is likely a backstory few want to pursue.
Back in May, when Paul Manafort’s return was first reported and then denied, 24sight described how (as he had done in 2016), Paulie had been and kept working the back channel.
Manafort has quietly been passing strategic advice back to Trump through co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita and longtime Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, the Republican sources said. Manafort has been analyzing polling results and advised on the organization of state Republican parties and selecting delegates to the Republican nominating convention — one of his specialties — according to two Republicans familiar with the dealings.
But LaCivita and other Trump campaign officials vehemently denied Manafort’s involvement.
LaCivita called questions about huddling with Manafort for Trump’s benefit “manufactured horseshit,” in a text message to 24sight News. Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes endorsed LaCivita’s reply, adding some context to the pushback.
“There was clearly a moment of consideration about using Manafort specifically for the convention,” Hughes said Wednesday. “But Manafort very publicly withdrew himself.”
Asked if Manafort had discussions with Fabrizio about helping steer the campaign, Hughes said he was unaware of everything that people talk about outside the campaign.
Three Republicans familiar with the dealings said that LaCivita met with Manafort in suburban Washington last fall. LaCivita denied details of the meeting to 24sight News, but declined to answer additional questions.
LaCivita was denying Manafort’s centrality as vigorously as he is now attempting to deny the (Orbán-aligned) Project 2025, as vigorously as Steve Bannon denied Manafort’s ongoing role in 2016, in spite of receiving plans on how to secure the victory, plans which led Bannon to worry about the appearance of Russian involvement in the victory.
But all these pieces go together.
That is, Trump is running not just as someone who explicitly wants to be a Dictator from Day One, someone who supports all the same policies as a Project that targets divorce and birth control along with the very idea of civil service.
He is running with Russian help on a plan to give Russia what it wants, starting, but not ending, with Ukraine on a silver platter.
Trump, and the guy Trump pardoned for lying about what happened with Russia in 2016, are simply picking up where things left off.
Thank you.
Marcy wrote:
“He is running with Russian help on a plan to give Russia what it wants, starting, but not ending, with Ukraine on a silver platter.”
As a Finkelstein disciple, Manafort’s continued involvement in the Trump campaign and Orban’s six month rotating EU presidency have heightened Ukrainian’s alarm.
Orban is not authorized to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the 27-country EU, which did not stop him from visiting Russia and Beijing for what he deemed as “peace missions”.
“In a resolution, the European Parliament condemned Orban’s Russia visit as “a blatant violation of the EU’s Treaties and common foreign policy”.
The EU assembly “considers that this violation should be met with repercussions for Hungary”, the resolution said.”
Kate Abnett and Boldizsar Gyori
Reuters
“EU Parliament criticises Hungary’s Orban for meeting Putin”
July 17, 2024
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-parliament-criticises-hungarys-orban-meeting-putin-2024-07-17/
2 further data points on the British response to the Russian threats and influence
1The Blenheim Palace conference
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-starmer-uses-european-forum-press-eu-reset-ukraine-support-2024-07-17/#:
2 The appointment of Fiona Hill to the strategic defence review team
“ After a weekend in which Donald Trump’s prospects of securing the White House increased dramatically, Labour’s appointment of Fiona Hill as one of three advisers to oversee its strategic defence review appears particularly timely.”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/19/labour-defence-adviser-fiona-hill
Thank you.
That’s encouraging.
Appointing Fiona Hill to the strategic defense review team will not please Trump. But it is a brilliant move for the Brits.
More about Finkelstein and Manafort:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/05/11/fridays-with-nicole-sander/#comment-1051333 []
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/05/12/happy-forced-mothers-day/#comment-1051472 []
I may have more, but can’t look now.
Finkelstein had connections to a whole host of Trump ratfuckers including Roger Stone, Tony Fabrizio, Larry Weitzner (lead admaker for the 2016 and 2020 campaigns) Alex Castellanos, John & Jim McLaughlin, Rick Reed (Swift boat ad guy), Richard Grenell, Jon Lerner (deputy to Nikki Haley at UN). His signature strategy, besides muddying up an opponent and suppressing votes for him/her, was to not have an official campaign role and be paid indirectly, through pass-thru orgs, so that he could work without press scrutiny, maintained plausible deniability if stuff went down, AND to keep his $ out of FEC paperwork. All the while, he was doing exactly what Manafort and Stone are doing — advising regularly from the shadows. Finkelstein also helped pioneer what Manafort made $ on since the late 80s — bringing US scorched earth tactics and data to overseas autocrats in waiting. Finkelstein was a legit genius whereas Manafort is a third tier knockoff.
Harpie.. more connections. The layers are disgusting – & unsurprisingly -> All roads lead towards Russian $$.
on going – it never stopped – From Tori Otten September 5, 2023/4:49 p.m. ET
~https://newrepublic.com/post/175387/wsj-poll-showing-trump-biden-evenly-matched-trump-helped-pay
In a separate piece, the Journal acknowledged that Fabrizio “works for a super PAC supporting Trump’s candidacy.”
What the Journal does not mention anywhere is that Fabrizio also worked as the chief pollster on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. And since the start of 2023, Trump’s super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., has paid Fabrizio’s company more than $567,000, according to FEC filings.
Fabrizio also has extensive ties to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Criminals serving criminals. The most important news story, that the republican are nothing more than a criminal organization laudering money, will not be reported ever especially while Joe Biden is old. The complete farcical stupidity, of the media avoiding on reporting what most clearly see is that TFG is completely unfit to be anything but a money grifter. Which quite frankly he excels at with all the marks and rubes he has to fleece. The billionaire class and our lack of laws regulating money in politics has completely ruin our political system. The system produced the ass wipe in 2016 and carries his water through to today to where America if he is elected will be on the precipice of ruin.
Cannot argue with a thing you’ve said…but some media will likely say they have reported on the criminality and grifting but no one wants to report the same story every freaking day…
But Joe Biden is old.
Media I’m still subscribed to report that LaCivita is responsible for the professionalism and “success” of this RNC. That was prior to Trump’s asymptotic wipeout speech. But clearly whatever Christo-mentum remains, LaCivita wants credit.
Which email is this referring to?
“almost eight years after Stone emailed Manafort telling him he had a way to win the race”
“On Aug. 3, Stone sent an email to Manafort about the prospect of more damaging documents released about the Clinton campaign. “I have an idea … to save Trump’s ass,” Stone wrote to Manafort, his former ’80s-era lobbying partner whom he helped land a job atop the Trump campaign.”
“Less than two weeks later, Stone reached out to Bannon. “I do know how to win this but it ain’t pretty,” he wrote Bannon, who had just been announced that day as the campaign’s newly hired CEO.””
Darren Samuelsohn and Josh Gerstein
Politico
11/12/2019 07:33 PM EST
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/12/roger-stone-trial-donald-trump-wikileaks-070368
Sorry, I misquoted.
On July 29, 2016, Stone emailed Manafort to tell him “good shit happening.”
On August 3, 2016, Stone emailed Manafort about a plan to “save Trump’s ass.”
And here’s the email to Bannon weeks later, after he took over from Manafort.
Thanks and thanks to Clare.
That’s the email I was thinking of. What is the consensus for what Stone referred to that “ain’t pretty”?
I did a deep dive research to look into whether he was referring to coordinating the Weiner sexting scandal and laptop. I didn’t end up drawing a conclusion either way.
Here’s Bannon’s trial testimony.
After being pressed to adhere to his grand jury testimony, he concedes it might have to do with WikiLeaks. Though I thought you could argue it had to do with the fake Clinton son thing.
Last night when Trump said that “Russia is afraid of me,” I would have loved to be a fly on the wall to see Putie’s reaction to THAT!
To suggest that Putin in afraid of an effete namby pamby, who gossips like a middle school girl, lies about his weight, and ended every sentence last night with a breathless trail-off, is beyond laughable,
I suspect Putin smiled at this. “Yes, go ahead and pretend all you want, to fool whatever voters need fooling. To borrow from the NFLs Al Davis, ‘Just win, baby.’ Because we’ll always have Helsinki.”
Gotta catch up on the party MO. That was Trump projection. HE’S afraid of Putin.
What little I listened to of Trmp’s speech was interesting. He bragged that Putin and Xi and Un were a) afraid of him and b) really, really, REALLY liked him. The cognitive dissonance should have raised goosebumps but went over without a ripple. I’m guessing this is part of his bad imitation of the SNL’s old “subliminal man” routine: confusion as an Ericksonian hypnosis tactic.
The Russians sure are terrified of “their Trump”…
Is Manafort still trying to monetize his relationship to Trump to pay back Deripaska?
The entanglement between Putin and the Republicans seem thick enough now that Manafort is just one more conduit.
The first useful question for me is ‘who is Manafort working for this time?’. Manafort is likely broke and damaged goods but he’s also unprincipled and apparently good at what he does. Time to follow the money, I think because he’s working for someone like the Russians. As a known (and IIRC convicted) FSB asset the DoJ would be able to dig more thoroughly.
The fact Manafort and many other MAGA darlings were able to get access to this convention despite the thorough screening by the campaign makes it clear that Convict-1 has no intention of toning it down. The list of snubs (Pence, Romney, etc.) also support this conclusion.
Funny, I don’t think of it as snubs. I assumed the old guard weren’t there because they wanted no association of themselves with Trump & Co.
I actually thought Nicky Haley was perfectly fine not being on the speakers list for the convention. She only was added after the media started making a big deal about her lack of presence.
I agree the missing old guard weren’t snubs. IMO they were deliberately omitted because the current RNC, under Lara Trump’s leadership, will not tolerate any threat to Trump’s authority as the GOP nominee.
Nor will the Trump-owned RNC provide a platform of any sort to self-identified GOP who Trump would not endorse were they to run for office now. This isn’t a political party we’ve been watching; it’s an organized crime syndicate conducting an ongoing shakedown for power and money.
That Nikki Haley was permitted to speak says she caved under the shakedown — what did she give up besides her integrity and dignity, what little she had to begin with.
Navarro gave his speech – the if they got me, you’re next bit – which I saw linked to elsewhere and watched for a few minutes. Has Flynn been spotted or interviewed on the convention floor, or scheduled to speak? When Manafort is mentioned, Flynn comes to mind. He seems to have gone underground or in hiding. Managing the Saudi portfolio or such, quietly, where Kushner wants to work the money but otherwise keep clear.
I have seen it speculated that Vance will be the midwest workhorse, heavily into swing state campaign activity. He’s new to the Trump personnel. Not yet needed a pardon. Amy Goodman posted on YouTube an interview with Robert Kuttner about Vance, good until the end when Kuttner piles onto the Dump Biden ticket. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IGuVQM6SNo
I mention that for some interspersed video cuts of Trump beaming over Vance as one might over catching a trophy fish. It does not look good for Vance, but he’s young and career oriented.
I didn’t hear anything about Flynn or Roger Stone for that matter. Maybe there was a limit, but I doubt it given the moral standards of this crew.
To Molly’s point, it may have been a mutual decision (no Rove or Shrub, either) but it underscores that even with all the ‘Dems in disarray’ narrative in the MSM it is the GOP with the deepest political fissures.
Unfortunately, Convict-1 did get serious money backing him. I wonder how Elno’s stockholders feel about him risking the company rep by interfering in the election. If I remember correctly, he was a South African citizen who is now Canadian. That means he’s a foreigner.
Just checked, and unfortunately, Musk became a US citizen in 2002
Pretty sure Flynn’s been on a cross-US tour telling organized right wing militias to be ready for violence when Trump gives the word…
Skipping momentarily earlier comments to keep my reaction to the post and only the post –
Marcy writes as not surprised, semi-alarmed, but primarily disgusted. First, that what is happening is real and treachery, second, that convention coverage is the chosen “today’s story.” The speeches all available on YouTube.
We all are happy that the messed up young mind behind the rifle could not shoot straight. Yet there was injury and death. But it seems that was yesterday’s news and will fade away with no good coming from realizations of the events then, since a convention theater is in town.
A three-ring convention. And today’s real news is not theater, and hence is discussed on message boards and noted by some reporting, but if Manafort – Stone types have things easy, we will get more and more of them. Not an answer here. But a reaction to the post, as I see the mood of it.
So, candidate Trump has scheduled another phone call with Zelensky. What favor will he ask of him this time, and what will he threaten, should he return to office?
And why would Zelensky agree to it?
Because Trump controls the Republican Party and he might be president in six months.
This post makes me wonder about something that happened in 2016 in our Intel community – the decision to not investigate or pursue what was going on during the time leading up to the election and acting on what was found out. Based on what came out in the Mueller investigation, it appears that they knew of the Trump campaign interactions with Russian and pro-Russian entities at the time they were happening and did nothing – for fear of being accused of election interference? So, by standing by, they permitted election interference – probably the worst we have ever seen and it resulted in helping Trump get elected. My question is – have they learned from their mistakes? Just standing back and allowing people to court foreign election interference by rationalizing it as political activity is not performing their mission in my opinion. It is abdicating it. And the Justice Department as well. Have they learned that they cannot delay acting on evidence of a crime because they are afraid of being accused of being political? That will happen no matter what they do. Admitting that Russia interfered in our election for Trump years after it took place isn’t good enough.
They saw what happened last time to those who worked on or were even peripherally involved in the trump/Russia investigations. Most were fired and publicly tarred/feathered.
The supreme court has basically said Trump is in a law free bubble, and with him threatening to gut the civil service, there’s got to be a chilling effect on willingness to aggressively investigate him.
Part of the fallout of the 2016 examination of Russian interference was Trmp’s dismantling of the USAmerican government’s counter-intelligence operations by targetting individuals in the FBI, CIA, NSA, and the military intelligence branches. It seemed obvious to me that this was part of the plan all along but I have not seen it commented on much if at all.
One bright spot I saw today, Fiona Hill has been appointed by the Labour Party as an advisor to oversee their strategic defense.
According to the Guardian:https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/19/labour-defence-adviser-fiona-hill
“That Hill was asked to take on the role, working alongside George Robertson, a former Nato secretary general, and Richard Barrons, who was once deputy chief of the UK’s armed forces, is not surprising, though she has not worked for the UK government before. “Can you think of anybody better qualified?” a senior Labour source said.” …”Hill and the other members of the review team will report not just to John Healey, the defence secretary, but also to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves. They are not expected to disappear into a bunker to produce a report in less than a year; it is intended they will have regular progress meetings, presenting opportunities for discussion on immediate events..”
How smart of her to return to the UK. I hope I don’t have to join her.
SteveBev discussed Hill’s appointment earlier in this thread at https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/07/19/manufactured-horseshit-paul-manafort-returns-to-the-scene-of-the-crime/#comment-1061371
Sorry, I missed that
Since 24sight mentioned Trump’s spokesman, Brian Hughes, I’d like to add that Susie Wiles has known Brian Hughes at least since 2010 when they worked together on Rick Scott’s campaign.
And for those who might like to really get into the weeds, he has been involved in some serious scandals in Jacksonville, Florida. In fact, to encourage your optimism, things got so bad that some Republicans came together with Democrats to elect our first woman Mayor, Donna Deegan, a Democrat. I believe people can come together on a national level to defeat Trump, as well.
Here is one of the people who had connections with Brian Hughes:
“Prosecutors ask for delay of convicted former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn sentencing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLZxoYsh77k
And here are some details about some of the corruption:
“Inside Jacksonville’s culture of corruption and ongoing Republican civil war” – 1/11/24, Susan Clark Armstrong
“December 2017, Curry effectively brought the fox into the henhouse when he appointed Brian Hughes as his Chief of Staff.”
…..
“As Deegan’s campaign account was dwindling and the election was neck-and-neck, a surprising coalition led by Republican city council members Randy DeFoor and Matt Carlucci formed to publicly support and raise money for Deegan, the Democratic candidate.”
“Both DeFoor and Carlucci told the Trident they felt Baker and Hughes would remain in power if Davis was elected. Publicly, Carlucci said Jacksonville needed a “change in city government—to a more transparent, collaborative, future-forward culture.”
…..
“Hughes is now working with former President Donald Trump’s campaign in Florida and didn’t respond to voicemails left on his cellphone by the Trident for comment.”
https://floridatrident.org/inside-jacksonvilles-culture-of-corruption-and-ongoing-republican-civil-war/
Thank you, SL. Jacksonville politics have been interesting for years, but severely undercovered except for a few curious cable hosts (Alex Wagner, if memory serves) who still think Florida is something other than a monolith.
We all would do well to heed such channels since they affect the rest of us. Especially in these days of Susie Wiles’ seeming apotheosis, we need eyes on the Florida ball.
Replying to Rugger_9
July 19, 2024 at 1:31 pm
I may have misunderstood your post, but Musk became a U.S. citizen through the naturalization process in 2002.
And he is Canadian from birth – jus sanguinis. His mother is Canadian.
Correct, I had missed that.
While I value the thesis and detail of this reporting (as I so often do!), I think you give these guys too much credit. With the exception of the Jill Stein candidacy, a cursory look at the data from 2008 to 2016 shows that Dems lost themselves the 2016 election.
As people who follow political media and have a pretty good grounding in history (I haven’t kept up, TBH), we still let ourselves get tripped up in things like our changing population and popular vote vs. electoral vote. That is, our changing electorate only matters to the extent that it affects the vote in each state and one can track that change.
Since I started following politics more closely – 2000/2001 – I have only heard that the candidates from both sides have residence-by-residence understandings of who their potential electorate is. And that just the levers to pull and push voters have gotten more refined, for example, via social media.
If somebody wants to push back with “Jim Comey” – I can accept that – but the trend for Clinton was not a good one going in, she didn’t/couldn’t do much to overtly counter it (i.e. that the majority of men weren’t going to vote for her), and her campaign focused on shoring up states where dem support was crumbling rather than states where dem support was alienated. Joe Biden was able to build on who Trump alienated from reps (suburbanites), but despite his numbers, his win, like Trump’s, was an electoral squeaker.
“the majority of men weren’t going to vote for her”
Did you perhaps mean “male electors”? Because Hilary Clinton WON the popular vote by close to 3 million votes…
https://apnews.com/article/2c7a5afc13824161a25d8574e10ff4e7
Only state-by-state results matter, not the popular vote.
I’ll take that as a “yes.”
According to Pew Research, Clinton lost to Trump on the male vote 52% – 41% (males made up 45% of the electorate), and won the females 64% – 39% (females made up 55% of the electorate).
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/
The Pew research doesn’t quite say that
It reports that Clinton/Trump split of popular vote was 48:45
They researched 3,004 validated voters in a survey.
Of the validated voters
45% were men
55% were women
The men split Clinton Trump ———41:52 ( 7 other)
The women split Clinton Trump ——54:39( 8 other)
Other demographic components/results from the sample surveyed were reported
The problem is how the sample was created, and to what extent the sample was either adjusted or assumed to be representative of the demographics of the population who voted.
At best it seems to me the survey is indicative but not conclusive of the demographics of the voting population in 2016
“Dems lost themselves the 2016 election.” As you concede, it is a “cursory look at the data” that permits this deduction.
I remember 2016. I remember the relentless coverage of Hillary’s “emails,” as if her opponent had nothing to hide himself, and nothing he was hiding from incurious reporters eager to get on his good side. I remember the Comey October Surprise, which we now know he felt forced to commit by the NY field office of the FBI, whose rabid loathing of Hillary nearly destroyed the life of my friend, an SSA in a separate FBI office who got sucked in to their mania–which we also now know was stoked in large part by Rudy Giuliani.
Hillary has admitted her own mistakes, which largely boil down to not visiting Michigan and Wisconsin during those final weeks. But she was more sinned against than sinning. The Democrats did not do Trump to themselves, or America. They had help.
And I haven’t even touched on Russia.
We still don’t know exactly what drove HRC and her campaign not to visit Michigan and Wisconsin at the end of the campaign. We can’t be certain that whatever data they relied on wasn’t gamed in some way.
After all, if we couldn’t trust polls then, what made HRC’s campaign internal polling more reliable?
I am writing in response to EW’s piece on Manafort, Stone and Bannon. I also did not touch on Russia, but if I can pull up the data and see the trends, Russia can pull up the data and see the trends. I would never have done it previously because it has always been my understanding that the campaigns have internal data well beyond any poll.
Russia was shown to have the means and motivation to do micro-targeting not residence-by-residence, but through social media. Fake accounts stoking issues that were more persuasive to voters than but-her-emails coverage. Even then Trump’s win was slim and a surprise.
Clinton was actually successful in at least one of what I called the crumbling states – FL – but Trump was more successful. In what I call the alienated states, Jill Stein eroded her numbers and there was dislike, probably for Trump, that showed up in the Libertarian and for sure Evan McMullin vote. It was not the 7-8 points in the data provided by PensionDan/SteveBev.
I don’t read EW as a potential Trump voter, but supposed pro-dem coverage like this where Biden voters are termed ‘Last Bidenistas’ make me wonder if people have the capacity to look at what I’m pointing to here. My focus is not the past.
Whether as framing or snark, I’m having a hard time understanding how you could write this phrase – “I don’t read EW as a potential Trump voter” – without boiling holy water. If that’s representative of what you’re “point to here,” you may be confusing “capacity” with “interest.’
To earlofhuntingdon
EW=EW.net. No snark. I’m farther left than most dems, but moderate in my approach to it. I am only in tech as a volunteer now, but have spent many meetings, and other occasions, offering data, analysis and being ignored.
i’ve long been amazed how the MSM has avoided discussing all things Ruzzia in the context of the convicted Felon; it seems as if they are trying to avoid it like the plague
yep, not a word…but after the attempted shooting of TFG and Biden’s free fall, not much foreign policy or news on Russia, Ukraine, or even Gaza/Palestine/Israel…
[citation needed] on Biden. Don’t believe everything you read.
Why was the Gershkovich trial “expedited”?
Evan Gershkovich Sentenced to 16 Years in Russian Prison on Fabricated Charges
The Wall Street Journal reporter’s trial on espionage charges was widely viewed as a sham outside Russia. But the verdict could set the stage for a prisoner exchange. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/19/world/europe/russia-court-evan-gershkovich-verdict.html Ivan Nechepurenko July 19, 2024 Updated 2:56 p.m. ET
I’ve linked to this before,
but here is Heather Cox Richardson on 6/28/24, making connections:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-28-2024
And this is where she starts talking about MANAFORT.
The end of the essay:
Trump always says that he and he alone can fix or do or prevent something. It’s rarely true.
Trump’s fix for Ukraine would be to give Putin whatever he wants from it. His fix for Gershkovich would be the same: whatever Putin wants in exchange. Trump doesn’t negotiate, he postures. In the end, he either overwhelms through money and bullying – which he brags about – or he caves, pretending it never happened – which he doesn’t brag about.
Here’s Aaron Rupar with a clip of TRUMP’s “his [Putin’s] dream” from the debate:
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1806501254031429917
9:33 PM · Jun 27, 2024
Transcript:
Check out the intensity with which of Biden looks at TRUMP at [0:11].
Wouldn’t you like to know what Biden wrote while he was hearing that ?
I just happened to have the PBS news hour on in the background, and they’re showing a supercut of ‘highlights’ from the GOP convention in Milwaukee…
Hulk Hogan… Kid Rock… Dana White… all humiliating themselves on behalf of a bottomless human cesspool of corruption who cares not a whit about them or anyone else for that matter…
What a repulsive freak show the GOP has gladly turned itself into… and all on behalf of and in complete, groveling fealty to someone like Trump…
And at a time when we have such serious problems coming at us like a runaway truck…
It’s nauseating… infuriating… and frightening all at the same time.
“I apologize for the brevity of this disparagement, but Paul Manafort has never challenged his daughter’s account of his abuse of her mother, his wife, as recounted in this old article. Were someone to give the allegations some much-needed air, he’d be screwed, and so would be Donald J. Rottencrotch for having anything to do with him. Or at least I imagine they’d be screwed. Who knows, what with Hulk Hogan on their team….
An excerpt:That’s a rather dainty way to refer to over a decade of coercive and manipulative sexual behavior, in which Manafort allegedly forced his wife, vulnerable from having sustained brain damage after a near-death horseback riding accident years before, to engage in “gang bangs” with black men while he watched.
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/kompromat-or-revelations-from-the-unpublished-portions-of-andrea-manaforts-hacked-texts/
Trump’a mention and praise of Viktor Orbán during his RNC acceptance speech, tells us that Trump will very much be in Putin’s pocket should Trump return to the White House, and will very much be Putin’s female dog in heat.
Trump and Zelensky Speak by Phone as Ukraine Worries About U.S. Backing
Kyiv ponders what another Trump administration would mean for its war initiatives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/20/us/politics/trump-zelensky-call-ukraine.html
Constant Méheut // Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine // July 20, 2024 // Updated 11:43 a.m. ET
Leopards don’t change their spots. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is very much deluding himself if the thinks that Trump will fairly assist him should Trump regain the White House. Not with Paul Manafort around, and certainly not with Trump’s fondness towards Putin. With Trump back in the WH, Ukraine will very much be absorbed into the Russian Federation, ending Ukrainian culture and heritage, and its independence.
Trump back in the White House will be the end of the world as we know it, and we won’t feel fine.
You haven’t read much diplomatic-speak then. Zelensky has to hedge his bets, in the event Trump becomes president again. But I’m pretty sure he hasn’t the slightest false hope about what a second Trump presidency would mean for him and Ukraine.
Silver Spoons and Silver Platters
We don’t want your Paul Manafort
Racketeering in back rooms
We just want the laws you tarnished
Restored and then resumed
But you bribe your greedy lackeys
With filched money without shame
And pretend that we don’t notice
While you play your cheatin’ games
Silver spoons and silver platters
Donald’s a la carte Ukraine
And your tethered crown tomorrow
hosts a Russian dirge refrain
JD Vance may be too chummy
while Orban stands to gain
Silver spoons and silver platters
Putin’s a la carte Ukraine
You cue up a shady kingdom
And conflate most everything
You are the calf that was golden
No one should be worshipping
We know how you always screwed us
And we know who were the tools
To think you could be humble
is only for the fools
Silver spoons and silver platters
Donald’s a la carte Ukraine
And your tethered crown tomorrow
hosts a Russian dirge refrain
JD Vance may be too chummy
while Orban stands to gain
Silver spoons and silver platters
Putin’s a la carte Ukraine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flLoj5qxURw
“Linda Ronstadt with the Eagles – Silver Threads & Golden Needles, DKRC, 1974”