Trump: Illusion, Mist and Bought?

[Dreamtimer]

I personally don't think we really do/did know what Hillary was about. I think a lot of the stuff on her is bogus, contrived and/or blown out of proportion. She's the perfect target to make an example of while hiding where the real crime/corruption is.

That nexus is being unveiled and, imo, republicans, including Trump, have been selling us out. But not all of the foxes in the henhouse actually want to kill the chickens.

And then Simpson dropped a bomb: Steele went to Rome, gets debriefed by the FBI, and learns in the debriefing that the FBI, in September 2016, has a "voluntary" source inside the Trump campaign. (Tr. 175-176). READ THAT AGAIN.

The FBI has been following the Russia trail since before the election. There was someone inside the campaign who was very concerned and talking with the FBI. The republicans have been obstructing as a group. They're traitors, imo. The transcript of the Simpson session with Congress shows it clear as day. Feinstein released it because she has eyes and a conscience. More power to her.

Trump is not protected as president from crimes committed before he was elected. That's why they want to drag things out and pull attention away from the meat of the matter. All of us around the globe will suffer if America becomes a full-fledged autocratic oligarchy. No one will escape.

[Dreamtimer]

More tidbits.

In those notes is a reference to a Cypriot holding company to engage in inward investment into Russia, the note "active sponsors of the RNC," Dick Cheney's press secretary, and finally, adoptions. (Tr. 261-264)

But Cypriot holding companies, and "active sponsors of the RNC?" WTAF. There is something so deep and so corrupt here in the @GOP I'm nearly speechless. (Tr. 261-264)

And lastly, just in case you thought this wasn't as serious as it gets, one of Fusion GPS's sources has already been murdered by the Russians. (Tr. 279)

And then there is this explosive bit: Steele and Simpson weren't sure that @Comey EVEN KNEW ABOUT THE ALLEGATIONS. Which would explain a lot. An awful lot. (Tr. 220-221)

The transcript is revealing:

Every question asked by Republicans in the meeting—every single question—focused on trying to find information they could use to demean and defame the witness.

Not that Democrats didn’t spend a good portion of their time tying to illuminate the motives behind Fusion’s actions. They did. Democrats also walked carefully through the information that made Christopher Steele feel that he had to go to the FBI. But they also spent time on the topic that was supposed to be the point of the hearing.

By the end of the transcript, a few things were clear: Even before they hired Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS was well aware of Trump’s numerous connections to crime bosses in Russia and in former Soviet states. Steele was hired, not to generate information, but to fill in the gaps around relationships that were already obvious from the public record and Trump’s own statements.

Most of all, the transcript revealed just why Senator Chuck Grassley was so determined to keep it hidden. Because the clear words on the page made it obvious that the criminal charges leveled at Steele by Grassley and Senator Lindsey Graham went beyond political showboating and into the realm of egregious obstruction.


Obstruction of justice has been the name of the game since Nixon.

[Aragorn]

Abby Martin has just released a new interview on Trump's idea of justice. I've posted it here.

[Dreamtimer]

The House transcript of the Simpson interview has now come out. It apparently reads like a spy novel. It's much more coherent due to the very different interview style by the House (as opposed to the Senate). This description is just perfect for this thread.

The transcript shows how Fusion’s research led to one firm conclusion: Donald Trump, successful businessman, is an illusion.

Trump is the front man for a dark money empire—...money laundering on an epic scale.

The House transcript gives every appearance of a functioning committee, with an actual interest in uncovering information.

MR. SIMPSON: To my knowledge, Chris does not pay sources for information.

MR. SIMPSON: Well, we had -- you know, we saw what Eric Trump said about Russian money being available for his golf -- for the golf course projects, making remarks about having unlimited sums available. And, you know, because Mr. Trump's companies are generally not publicly traded and don't do a lot of public disclosure, we can only look -- have a limited look into the financing of those
projects. But because the Irish courses and the Scottish courses are under U.K., you know, Anglo corporate law, they have -- they file financial statements. So we were able to get the financial statements.

What those records showed was some source that pumped in hundreds of millions of dollars. It wasn’t Trump. It wasn’t a bank. Simpson had suspicions that it was coming from just where Eric Trump said it did, but the sources were sufficiently obscure that he couldn’t be certain.

Again and again the conversation turned back to the same thing: In Russia, the mafia and the government are interchangeable. Vladimir Putin leads the criminal organization not only inside Russia, but around the world. And when these guys settled on Trump as a means to launder money through real estate, it’s not just some individual oligarch ditching ill-gained rubles. It’s the Russian government buying influence in the United States.

MR. SIMPSON:[S]o what is well known and well established in criminology now is that the Russian mafia is essentially under the dominion of the Russian Government and Russian Intelligence Services. And many of the oligarchs are also mafia figures.

Unlike the Senate transcript, even Republicans asked Simpson questions pertinent to the investigation.

Often it’s what’s in the Fusion end of the information that’s by far the more interesting, because what it shows—over and over and over—is that Donald Trump wasn’t just involved with criminal activity, he was often at the center.

Seeing through the mist, we are.

MR. SIMPSON: It appears the Russians, you know, infiltrated the NRA. And there is more than one explanation for why. But I would say broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations. And they targeted various conservative organizations, religious and otherwise, and they seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the NRA. And so there is a Russian banker-slash-Duma member-slash-Mafia leader named Alexander Torshin who is a life member of the NRA.

Fusion spent time looking into Torshin and to Maria Butina, “A big Trump fan in Russia, and then suddenly showed up here and started hanging around the Trump transition.”

It’s all part of why Fusion hired Steele in the first place. Everywhere they looked with Trump, they ran into Russia. So they needed an expert on Russia to take their search to the next step.

MR. SIMPSON: … a lot of [Trump’s] income comes from trusts and things that his father set up, and that he doesn't actually make that much money, you know, in terms of profits from his own activities. He still funds much of his -- from, you know, assets that were acquired by his father.

That's not a secret, just conveniently forgotten by a lot of people.

Not only has Donald Trump spent his career in the pocket of various crooks, the central myth of the Trump universe, the idea that he ever created anything on his own, is also an enormous lie.

He’s never had enough money to fund the projects that bear his name, and what money he had before he went on the take for one mob or the other, came from daddy.

[Aianawa]

I feel a shock awaits you soon in the future Dreamtimer, Both Clintons will digust you imo as truth emerges.

[Dreamtimer]

The Clinton stuff has been going on for a long time and I've been here the whole time. I've seen it. There's nothing new. What they've done is not out of the norm for that echelon of folks. That's the whole point. There's no reason to focus on them so much. It's a dangerous distraction, they're not in control.

Jailing, hanging, electrocuting the Clintons will do nothing to make America or the world better if we leave the rest of the perps to do their dirty deeds.

That's the setup. The people can get their rocks off watching the Clintons 'get what coming' to 'em' and the rest of us get sold out to the Oligarchs.

I have this thing about seeing the big picture. And I have a lifetime of my family and friends telling me things like, "Wow, you were right. I never would have thought it. I should have listened to you."

Whether they do or not is a whole other story. I don't expect too many to listen to me now either. But I must do what's right. And that is to point to realities that others don't see because they really want something else. Like Hillary on a rope.

[Dreamtimer]

I should probably say this again.

I've never been a fan of the Clintons. I never thought they were all that. I also was never filled with loathing over them either. As far as I can tell I'm one of the few folk who don't have super strong emotions about the Clintons. I never had a lot invested emotionally or otherwise in either their failure or success. The politicians are all ultimately the same to me.

Some will sell us out.

Some truly put country first.

Some put party first.

Some pick and choose when to honor the Constitution.

Many of them seem to believe they're above the law in some way, probably because they create, enforce, change laws.


It's possible to look into Trump's past in his own words. He loves being in front of a camera or microphone. It's possible to see his character and motives using the ultimate primary source, Trump himself.

Exactly how many things do we turn a blind eye to because we want 'smaller government' or 'less regulation'?

Ignoring the Geneva conventions and engaging in torture; extraordinary rendition; all the spying; huge bailouts; deporting bread-winners who've lived here and paid taxes for decades...



The Clintons have become a dead-end road and a distraction.

[Emil El Zapato]

I feel a shock awaits you soon in the future Dreamtimer, Both Clintons will digust you imo as truth emerges.

Not likely really...they aren't Saints unless you compare them against Trump and company...Trump is manifestly a low-life...

[Aianawa]

Mmmm depends on which narrative you choose to follow, including ones own. yes ?

[Emil El Zapato]

Mmmm depends on which narrative you choose to follow, including ones own. yes ?

I'm following his soliloquy....

[Aianawa]

qQ ?

[Aragorn]

qQ ?

Would that perchance constitute a reference to the alleged Q-Anon material, or did you simply slap your keyboard and click "Post Quick Reply"?

[Dreamtimer]

Some say Trump is Q-anon. Some say he is Zeus. I don't believe he's either one.

[Aragorn]

Some say Trump is Q-anon.

I've heard that Q-Anon would actually be a bot, and I personally estimate the chances of that as very high.

[Dreamtimer]

Why is that? What are the tells that it's a bot?