Current Trump Press Conference: I hope Russia finds Hillary's emails

[dirks]

Whatever convention bounce he got is gone and it wasn't even that big to begin with. Trump is his own worst enemy.

Wrong. LA Times - Trump +7, CNN Trump + 3

It was a funny press conference that will not have any negative effect on Trump. He was just being sarcastic. Do Dems have ANY sense of humor?

[Wells]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

trump really is going all in to prove his allegiance to Vladimir Putin. He must HATE that his joke of a convention resulted in a bump and is really trying to sabotage his campaign.

[dirks]

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You guys forgot that the west was behind the coup in Ukraine that overthrew a democratically elected president. Putins hand was forced and he took a chunk of Ukraine back. Now you have vagabond fascist gangs running all over western ukraine. Frankly Ukraine was better off when it was under Russias thumb

Would we like it if Russia decided to fund regime change in Canada? And helped orchestrate a bloody coup in Ottawa? That's essentially what we did in Kiev.

[Gass3268]

[DrScholl]

Whatever convention bounce he got is gone and it wasn't even that big to begin with. Trump is his own worst enemy.

Wrong. LA Times - Trump +7, CNN Trump + 3

It was a funny press conference that will not have any negative effect on Trump. He was just being sarcastic. Do Dems have ANY sense of humor?

Those polls were taken before the press conference. This wasn't a joke, not even remotely. But of course everything he does is a joke. When he made fun of a disable reporter, it was a joke. When called Mexicans rapists and murderers, it was a joke. He's a sick man, yet you people cannot see it because you are so blinded.

[Dr. Arch]

Whatever convention bounce he got is gone and it wasn't even that big to begin with. Trump is his own worst enemy.

Wrong. LA Times - Trump +7, CNN Trump + 3

It was a funny press conference that will not have any negative effect on Trump. He was just being sarcastic. Do Dems have ANY sense of humor?

Those polls were taken before the press conference. This wasn't a joke, not even remotely. But of course everything he does is a joke. When he made fun of a disable reporter, it was a joke. When called Mexicans rapists and murderers, it was a joke. He's a sick man, yet you people cannot see it because you are so blinded.

Literally this. The presidency is not a comedy position, especially when related to sensitive policy proposals receiving national coverage. If you don't understand or respect that, you don't care about our nation one bit.

[Green Line]

You guys are seriously spinning this way too hard, and I do not like Trump at all.  He wasn't committing "treason" lol you morons.

[Dutch Conservative]

Whatever convention bounce he got is gone and it wasn't even that big to begin with. Trump is his own worst enemy.

Wrong. LA Times - Trump +7, CNN Trump + 3

It was a funny press conference that will not have any negative effect on Trump. He was just being sarcastic. Do Dems have ANY sense of humor?

Those polls were taken before the press conference. This wasn't a joke, not even remotely. But of course everything he does is a joke. When he made fun of a disable reporter, it was a joke. When called Mexicans rapists and murderers, it was a joke. He's a sick man, yet you people cannot see it because you are so blinded.

Literally this. The presidency is not a comedy position, especially when related to sensitive policy proposals receiving national coverage. If you don't understand or respect that, you don't care about our nation one bit.

In the 80's Reagan and Gorbachev often could have a laugh with eachother. I really believe that those personal qualities of both helped bring peace to the world. There is really nothing wrong with humor. I'm sorry the crook hasn't got ANY.

[Gass3268]

You guys are seriously spinning this way too hard, and I do not like Trump at all.  He wasn't committing "treason" lol you morons.

How about encouraging espionage?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

/headdesk

Talk of treason over tweets is so face-palmingly stupid it defies description. The whole "Trump is a Putin stooge" thing is playing right into his hands.

Does Trump have financial and other connections to Russia that look kind of shady? I don't know for certain, but I find it very easy to believe that he does. Using that as one nail in a Trump coffin leading up to the GE would be good strategy.

But responding to damaging emails with terrible optics that were leaked at a very damaging time for the Clinton campaign with screams of "traitor!" and pretending that Putin is a cheezy Roger Moore Bond villain is terrible strategy.

First, even if it were 100% true, it's obvious to anyone with half a brain that its an attempt to distract attention away from the leaked DNC emails. Second, the evidence to support the ludicrous charges just isn't there, which makes the already-suspicious Trump-supporting or Trump-leaning voters think better of Trump and worse of Clinton. Also, it justifies similar behavior on the part of the Trumpers. (Do you want Trump & Co picking out "traitors"? I certainly don't.) And finally, it's an open invitation for Trump & Co to haul out the Clinton Foundation's dirty laundry front and center, and use it to simultaneously refute (not really, but that's how it'll play) the charges against Trump, AND paint Clinton as a corrupt tool of foreign powers.

This is actually the best post so far on the matter.

[Ebsy]

Treason over tweets is a good line until you realize this is over statements made to the press, not tweets. Is Trump not accountable for his own words?

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Treason over tweets is a good line until you realize this is over statements made to the press, not tweets. Is Trump not accountable for his own words?

Treason is such an outdated concept.

[cowboys5xsbs]

Man what year is it I thought the Red Scare was over with?  Secondly I love how people just pass teh blame onto Russia when it is clearly Hillary and the DNC that ed up.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Treason over tweets is a good line until you realize this is over statements made to the press, not tweets. Is Trump not accountable for his own words?

But Trump treats the press like they are his Twitter followers, which is why they hate him.

[Cassius]

One can be patriotic whilst at the same time attempting to undermine one faction within your country with foreign assistance - that's what the Spanish Armada was all about!

[Averroës Nix]

I can't help laughing at the Clintonites who seem to think that the Putin bit is an effective anti-Trump tactic. And maybe some of you are actually biased enough to believe that it is demonstrably true despite the oft-ignored reality that evidence for a connection, or even of more than negligible manipulation, remains weak.

Then I remember that these are the only folks standing between us and a Trump administration, and I feel very, very scared. It is amazing how detached these people are from the concerns of voters outside of their extended social circles of well-off, highly educated coastal professionals. Even if much of the movement that we've seen over the past week is a convention bump, the polls have steadily trended toward Trump since his mid-June nadir. There needs to be a better answer to this than half-baked conspiracies that reek of desperation.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I can't help laughing at the Clintonites who seem to think that the Putin bit is an effective anti-Trump tactic. And maybe some of you are actually biased enough to believe that it is demonstrably true despite the oft-ignored reality that evidence for a connection, or even of more than negligible manipulation, remains weak.

Then I remember that these are the only folks standing between us and a Trump administration, and I feel very, very scared. It is amazing how detached these people are from the concerns of voters outside of their extended social circles of well-off, highly educated coastal professionals. Even if much of the movement that we've seen over the past week is a convention bump, the polls have steadily trended toward Trump since his mid-June nadir. There needs to be a better answer to this than half-baked conspiracies that reek of desperation.

I'm a Clintonite now?

Also Russia trying to place its puppet at the head of the US is not a major issue?

[windjammer]

I can't help laughing at the Clintonites who seem to think that the Putin bit is an effective anti-Trump tactic. And maybe some of you are actually biased enough to believe that it is demonstrably true despite the oft-ignored reality that evidence for a connection, or even of more than negligible manipulation, remains weak.

Then I remember that these are the only folks standing between us and a Trump administration, and I feel very, very scared. It is amazing how detached these people are from the concerns of voters outside of their extended social circles of well-off, highly educated coastal professionals. Even if much of the movement that we've seen over the past week is a convention bump, the polls have steadily trended toward Trump since his mid-June nadir. There needs to be a better answer to this than half-baked conspiracies that reek of desperation.

You seem to underestimate how much foreign policy is important, it definitely is.

[Fusionmunster]

I can't help laughing at the Clintonites who seem to think that the Putin bit is an effective anti-Trump tactic. And maybe some of you are actually biased enough to believe that it is demonstrably true despite the oft-ignored reality that evidence for a connection, or even of more than negligible manipulation, remains weak.

Then I remember that these are the only folks standing between us and a Trump administration, and I feel very, very scared. It is amazing how detached these people are from the concerns of voters outside of their extended social circles of well-off, highly educated coastal professionals. Even if much of the movement that we've seen over the past week is a convention bump, the polls have steadily trended toward Trump since his mid-June nadir. There needs to be a better answer to this than half-baked conspiracies that reek of desperation.

This is not about the DNC anymore. We have a candidate who has said he would turn his back on NATO, look into recognizing the Crimean Occupation, and has heavily complimented Putin in the past. And now he is urging Russia to commit espionage against his political opponents. This is unprecedented, not some conspiracy theory.

[Averroës Nix]

It has nothing to do with the importance of foreign policy, nor is Trump's statement likely to be taken as a serious invocation of Russian espionage by most voters. If you don't understand that by now, you understand very little about this election and even less about the roots of Trump's appeal, and his resilience as a candidate.

Trump is a buffoon who doesn't care about how his words or actions affect other people. He has an almost childlike understanding of international relations, and probably knows no more about the world than the median adult American. We know this. Why does he need to be a Kremlin agent, even an unwitting one, to behave as he does? The idea barely makes sense.

At best, the claims and suggestions that surrogates for the Clinton campaign (and large segments of the media, not all of which are outright pro-Clinton) are making are exaggerated and heavily conjectural. At worst, they are outright lies. Why so many of you are echoing them, I can't understand.

[President Johnson]

I think he was joking. Just the press doesn't get it. Big Don has just a great sense of humor.

[Storebought]

Get used to this sort of thing.

I've thought for a while that, for all of his noise and stink about Mexico, Trump has done
more than anyone in living memory to introduce unsavory Latin American style discourse into US politics. The threats of physical violence .... inappropriate "jokes" during interminable press conferences ... the fault-shifting and conspiracy theory mongering. Not that Trump has anything as consistent an ideology as "Bolivarianism", but he doesn't need to develop one, really, at least not right now.

[Fusionmunster]

It has nothing to do with the importance of foreign policy, nor is Trump's statement likely to be taken as a serious invocation of Russian espionage by most voters. If you don't understand that by now, you understand very little about this election and even less about the roots of Trump's appeal, and his resilience as a candidate.

Trump is a buffoon who doesn't care about how his words or actions affect other people. He has an almost childlike understanding of international relations, and probably knows no more about the world than the median adult American. We know this. Why does he need to be a Kremlin agent, even an unwitting one, to behave as he does? The idea barely makes sense.

At best, the claims and suggestions that surrogates for the Clinton campaign (and large segments of the media, not all of which are outright pro-Clinton) are making are exaggerated and heavily conjectural. At worst, they are outright lies. Why so many of you are echoing them, I can't understand.

What your missing is that Trump doesn't need to be labeled as a Kremlin agent. Russia is unpopular as is Putin. Trump is clearly showing that he holds pro-Russian views. Trump may have tapped into alot of hidden sentiments in America, but I guarantee you pro-Russian will not be one of them.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Trump is a buffoon who doesn't care about how his words or actions affect other people. He has an almost childlike understanding of international relations, and probably knows no more about the world than the median adult American. We know this. Why does he need to be a Kremlin agent, even an unwitting one, to behave as he does? The idea barely makes sense.

I think this hits the nail on the head.  There's an old proverb: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."  These kind of statements from Trump stem from stupidity, not foreign influence. 

(For the record, the stupidity is enough of a reason for me to not vote for him.)

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I can't help laughing at the Clintonites who seem to think that the Putin bit is an effective anti-Trump tactic. And maybe some of you are actually biased enough to believe that it is demonstrably true despite the oft-ignored reality that evidence for a connection, or even of more than negligible manipulation, remains weak.

Then I remember that these are the only folks standing between us and a Trump administration, and I feel very, very scared. It is amazing how detached these people are from the concerns of voters outside of their extended social circles of well-off, highly educated coastal professionals. Even if much of the movement that we've seen over the past week is a convention bump, the polls have steadily trended toward Trump since his mid-June nadir. There needs to be a better answer to this than half-baked conspiracies that reek of desperation.

You seem to underestimate how much foreign policy is important, it definitely is.

Again, most Americans don't necessarily like Russia but also don't necessarily give a damn about the Crimeans. They hear exactly what that last sentence decried as half baked conspiracy theories, and they think this: who care?

They do care about foreign policy, but they care of foreign policy that effects them. They care about ISIS, border security, TPP, NAFTA, Cuba, and so on.

Brexit? Nah. Crimea? Nope. The Central African Republic? What and where? The average voter isn't the average Atlas policy nerd who cares about the coup in Burgundi.