{"id":28703,"date":"2016-07-30T12:20:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T16:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=28703"},"modified":"2016-07-30T13:08:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-30T17:08:56","slug":"the-real-plot-against-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=28703","title":{"rendered":"“The Real Plot Against America”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of course I’ve been avidly reading and posting stories about the Russian hacks.<\/p>\n

Today, Timothy Egan, in the New York Times opinion pages, wrote a brilliant, blistering essay about it. Blistering, with many fiery points. About Putin. About Trump. About Assange. About Bernie leftists.<\/p>\n

It’s everything I think and believe and would say if I could write so tersely, so well, and knew so much.<\/p>\n

Here’s the link.<\/p>\n

(I was going to copy in a few especially riveting excerpts, but I now feel it would be unfair to Egan to excerpt him. He’s just way too good, and this is way too important. So under the link, is the whole damn [and damning] thing. I have taken the liberty of bolding things I especially love.)<\/p>\n

Source: The Real Plot Against America – The New York Times<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In retrospect, it worked out much better than planned. Who\u2019d have thought a pariah nation, run by an authoritarian who makes his political opponents disappear, could so easily hijack a great democracy? It didn\u2019t take much. A talented nerd can bring down a minnow of a nation. But this level of political crime requires more refined mechanics \u2014 you need everyone to play their assigned roles.<\/em><\/p>\n

You start with a stooge, a fugitive holed up in London, releasing stolen emails on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, in the name of \u201ctransparency.\u201d<\/strong> Cyberburglars rely on a partner in crime to pick up stolen goods. And WikiLeaks has always been there for Russia, a nation with no transparency.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The emails show office gossip<\/strong> \u2014 catty, sometimes crude back-and-forth by party operatives, and a bias for one candidate. Ho-hum. To make the plot work, reporters have to take the bait. On cue, they decry the fact that politics is going on inside a major political party<\/strong>. The horror \u2014 Democratic hacks saying nasty things about Senator Bernie Sanders.<\/em><\/p>\n

Next, lefty extremists have to act like lefty extremists \u2014 that is, myopic to the greater good, guided by a Trumpian sense that they alone know how to solve the world\u2019s problems, and everyone else is a sellout.<\/strong> Angered at the contents of the cybertheft, they boo any mention of their party\u2019s nominee. And told by Senator Sanders, the man who brought them there, that booing is too easy, they boo his call to unite to save their country from a monster.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Protesters at the Democratic National Convention.<\/span> Credit<\/span> Sam Hodgson for The New York Times <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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But Russia still has to seal the deal. Some work remains. If enough angered lefties won\u2019t go for the Democratic nominee, a longtime foe of Vladimir Putin, it will be just enough to put a Putin puppet in the White House.<\/strong> And it would also usher in the term that drove the right wing crazy when George H.W. Bush used it \u2014 a New World Order.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s in it for Russia? Well, everything.<\/strong> Territory. Hegemony. Its takeover of the Crimean Peninsula has brought sanctions and condemnation from the West. What stands between Putin and further aggression in, say, the Baltic States, is a NATO pact that has kept Europe safe for nearly 70 years. And if you thought Trump stiffed the poor suckers who signed up for his \u201cuniversity,\u201d wait till you see how he treats some of our oldest allies.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Plus, Putin despises Hillary Clinton. Like Trump, his skin is rice-paper-thin, albeit a paler shade of orange; and, like Trump, he never forgets a slight. He still hasn\u2019t gotten over Clinton\u2019s comment on George W. Bush\u2019s infamous look into Putin\u2019s soul. As a former K.G.B agent, said Clinton, \u201che doesn\u2019t have a soul.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s in it for Trump? Help at winning the ultimate throne of his gilded dreams.<\/strong> And maybe some investment money from Russian oligarchs close to Putin, one of many things Trump may be hiding in his tax returns. The two narcissists share a love of torture, authoritarian rule, and women on runways in bathing suits.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

But then, a wild card, something unplanned. Putin didn\u2019t expect Trump to be so all-in with his collusion. He knows Trump is a fool, world class in only one thing \u2014 ignorance.<\/strong> He doesn\u2019t need spies for that. He knows Trump is a man who will say anything, and deny in the same breath that he ever said it<\/strong>. The Talented Mr. Trump.<\/em><\/p>\n


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Last November, before a national television audience, Trump said of Putin, \u201cI got to know him very well.\u201d And Wednesday, Trump said, \u201cI never met Putin.\u201d That was a standard Trump lie, on one end or the other. But even Putin couldn\u2019t fathom that Trump really will say anything. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

So there was the Republican Party nominee for president inviting an American adversary to wage cyberwar against the country he wants to lead<\/strong>. If that wasn\u2019t Trump\u2019s shoot-somebody-on-Fifth-Avenue moment, nothing will be. What\u2019s more, he was way too obvious about the role of the other pawns in the scheme. \u201cI think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,\u201d he said to Mother Russia<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, he\u2019s getting carried away with his dictator-philia. On Thursday, he said Putin was a better leader than President Obama. D\u2019oh! In public, at least, you\u2019re supposed to root for the home team.<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump misses the old days, back when you could \u201cknock the crap out of\u201d a demonstrator. Yeah, the old days. Back when it was disqualifying for an American politician to flirt with treason.<\/em><\/p>\n

This all seems too preposterous to be planned. Where are the conspiracy nut jobs when you really need them?<\/strong> Even fiction, Philip Roth\u2019s \u201cThe Plot Against America,\u201d about a fascist-lite president during World War II, does not have this level of absurdity.<\/em><\/p>\n

But it unfolds, still, if not according to Russia\u2019s design, then according to Russia\u2019s will. Trump is now a national security risk, actively rooting for a foreign adversary to tamper with an American election. And very soon, he will start receiving classified briefings on that adversary. Ehhhhhcellent!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of course I’ve been avidly reading and posting stories about the Russian hacks. Today, Timothy Egan, in the New York Times opinion pages, wrote a brilliant, blistering essay about it. Blistering, with many fiery points. About Putin. About Trump. About … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1095],"tags":[1079,1086,1096,1097],"class_list":["post-28703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-hillary-clintons-emails","tag-julian-assange","tag-politics","tag-putin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t