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

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

/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.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

All this complaining about Trump's trumpery of Russia does is make the US, and particularly this Administration, look very weak: "Oh, my gracious!, a country with 1/3rd our population and 1/5th our wealth is stealing our election! Mother, make them stop." It's pathetic and distracting. Just chalk this up as another one of Trump's inanities and move on.

Uh, the hack on the DNC is not outside the capabilities of many criminal organizations, let alone a country like Russia, who is known for its expertise is technology. Russian hackers (state sponsored or not) contribute massively to the number of hacks around the world.

Point is, even Ukraine could orchestrate such a hack (Ukraine is also a major source of cybercrime, in addition to Russia). It really doesn't take a whole lot of resources or manpower for something like this.

This is also a reason to be somewhat skeptical of claims that the hack *must* have been backed by the Kremlin. There are plenty of groups that possess the resources and skill to pull off what we have seen, even without anything resembling a state sponsor.

The evidence, reviewed and confirmed not just by intelligence community flaks but by multiple respected companies and individuals in the cybersecurity field, shows multiple seperate indicators of Russian intelligence agencies.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/07/russian_hack_of.html

This is real, not just an attempt to smear Trump.