Politics
Out of context: Reply #31136
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- allthethings1
THREAD. One thing not to overlook in understanding the significance of the texts is that in addition to soliciting section assistance and abusing his power, Trump was attempting to employ covert propaganda against the American public:
2. As I note in the clip above, one thing the texts make clear is that the administration wasn't just interested in Ukraine investigating Biden -- they were specifically interested in the *messaging* about the investigation. If what you care about is "corruption," you would
3. be satisfied with an assurance that Ukraine was going to investigate. Instead, the Trump admin doesn't care so much about the investigation itself, but making sure that the fact that it is being investigated is *being broadcast* to the audience they care about: American voters
4. IMPORTANTLY, they are very invested in the message being crafted in a *specific way* -- tailored to Trump's benefit by maximizing the "seeds of doubt" on both Biden and the 2016 election. It's being drafted by Trump's personal lawyer!
5. In addition, the message was going to be delivered as an official statement from Ukraine, with NO INDICATION that the United States either precipitated or participated in its creation in any way. This, folks, is called black propaganda.
6. Black propaganda attempts to conceal the true source of information, so that the target cannot accurately assess the credibility of the message or the motives of the source behind it. Trump wanted to cloak his own role and motives behind a statement of a foreign country
7. The goal here is to manipulate the American public into to thinking that Ukraine had *independently* reached the same conclusions about the Russia investigation, and/or uncovered criminal leads about Biden. Trump could then use this to bolster his own views
8. Not for nothing, but a good chunk of the cases I investigated in the FBI were "perception management" (propaganda) cases. We actively try to STOP foreign countries from doing this to us, because we believe that part of an open society and marketplace of ideas is
9. ensuring that people know the true source of information in order to assess credibility and critically evaluate the content (FARA originated in 1938 as a way to combat Nazi propaganda, be requiring state-sponsored content to be identified as such)
10. Basically, you have the Trump admin attempting to conduct an illegal covert psyop on the American public, using officials from the State Department and his own attorney to do it. It's literally a version of what Russia did in 2016. /END
- Asha is a good followBonSeff
- "The President made it clear there would be no quid pro quo's of any kind" https://pbs.twimg.co…robotron3k
- maybe they will dig a little deeper... https://pbs.twimg.co…robotron3k
- One thing your loser Democrap leaders forgot, the new Whistlerblower rule of 2nd and 3rd hand gossip to "investigat" is gonna return as blowback for the Dems...robotron3k
- Who cares? Trump has the Evangelical support, that's all that matters because Jesus and the 2 Corinthians.BonSeff
- Plus he is white like Jesus and knows how to move money around, and private jet jelllies.BonSeff
- yakadaka samama samasallama blicka gonkaraka. I just spoke in tongues for his blessings and Ivanka's patentsBonSeff
- I hope the My Pillow guy runs as Trump's VP in 2020!BonSeff
- Lol, black propaganda. You know as apposed to just regular old propaganda.IRNlun6
- They just can't seem to make up their minds. Trumps either a complete fumbling moron or an evil genius. Nice little insert of "just what the Russians did."IRNlun6
- This guy also completely glosses over the fact there was an investigation in the company Biden's son worked for before Trump was ever elected.IRNlun6
- "Cloak his own role..." and yet, Trump declassified and released transcripts of his call.IRNlun6
- Fuck hate Trump all you want, I hope the left starts getting pissed at constantly being mislead by anonymous whistleblowers and unnamed sources.IRNlun6
- Also, if the Ukraine *independently* implicated Biden and his son on corruption, does anyone think the American public wouldn't find out?IRNlun6
- I'm not a fan of Biden at all and hope he's not the nominee. But if he's really so obviously guilty of corruption, the right approach would be for theyuekit
- Department of Justice to file charges against him. Not for Trump to pressure a foreign country, which is massively corrupt and barely has a functioning judicialyuekit
- system, to announce they are "investigating" him. And yet almost three years into Trump's presidency, there does not appear to be any real investigationyuekit
- by Trump's DOJ. The attorney general said that Trump didn't even contact him after speaking with the Ukrainian president, instead he sent Giuliani who isn'tyuekit
- even part of the government over there. So that tells you a lot about how credible this all is. Of course it does seem to be true that Biden's son cashed in onyuekit
- the family name to land some lucrative consulting gigs. So he's guilty of cronyism and nepotism but if you're against that, what to say about Trumpyuekit
- literally appointing his 30 something real estate developer son to oversee the entire Middle East peace process? Ivanka Trump running around pretending to be ayuekit
- diplomat and getting access to national security information? We're meant to believe that Trump who is still profiting from his businesses all over the world atyuekit
- the same time he's in office and refuses to provide any financial transparency cares about corruption? I'm sure that will happen, just as soon as he tracks downyuekit
- the missing Obama birth certificate :)yuekit
- https://twitter.com/…yuekit
- Giuliani is there to protect Trump the private citizen/businessman. Putting aside guilt or innocence or whatever he's up against, he's has/made a ...IRNlun6
- ... considerable amount of enemies. It's due diligence to protect himself, his family, and business associates.IRNlun6
- This will be something him and his family will have to deal with for the rest of their lives.IRNlun6
- Nepotism, sure there are ethical concerns but the difference is experience and transparency. His family would be successful in business regardless.IRNlun6
- Also a trust issue. He has full confidence in his son-in-laws abilities. He successfully lead the Trump campaign to victory against unbelievable odds.IRNlun6
- We see how many in the intelligence community has aligned against the president. They can't possibly be trusted.IRNlun6
- Trumps family has been very public regarding their affairs. Trump is also undoubtedly profiting as a result of his presidency. A great economy helps all.IRNlun6
- Quid pro quo is the big accusation made against Trump. Which as of yet has no evidence. It is clever though to accuse him of doing this to help his campaign.IRNlun6
- Because if is purposeful or not will absolutely help his campaign. So far, he's gained more support and more campaign funding as a result.IRNlun6
- The Department of Justice is not supposed to disclose their investigations. The Mueller circus and endless leaks to the media was in no way the norm.IRNlun6
- So he’s “investigating corruption” or sending his lawyer to look after his own personal interests, which one is it?yuekit
- Not disclosing tax returns is a very standard business practice to protect oneself, clients, and associates. That does not protect someone from the IRS.IRNlun6
- You can't hide crimes in your tax filings.IRNlun6
- He can only fully disclose one. His personal interests. He is still and American citizen after all.IRNlun6
- Even that is limited disclosure.IRNlun6
- “Not disclosing tax returns is a very standard business practice” haha...what? Every single presidential candidate has released their tax returns.yuekit
- Except for Trump. He’s the first not to do it, while also running a business with conflicts of interest all over the world.yuekit
- This isn’t private business. American citizens are the ones dealing with the consequences of Trump’s decisions. We deserve to know if he is conflicted or not.yuekit
- The practice started under Nixon. It is not a legal requirement and we are not entitled to that information.IRNlun6
- Our finances, unless compelled to do so by court of law, is not anyones business.IRNlun6
- Yes it was a very good practice to have if you care about fighting corruption. For instance the Constitution says the president can’t accept gifts or financialyuekit
- donations from other countries while in office. How would you even begin to determine if this is the case if the President is running a giant business empireyuekit
- with zero transparency?yuekit
- I get that you want to defend Trump, but if you apply any critical thinking at all the idea that he cares about investigating corruption is just ridiculous.yuekit
- You expect people to believe that the guy who set up a shell company to pay off a porn star he banged at a golf tournament cares about corruption? lol.yuekit
- Of course he was singling out Biden because Biden is running against him. He sent his personal attorney rather than contacting the Justice Department because heyuekit
- doesn’t care about getting to the truth, he just wants to create the appearance of guilt and feed conspiracy theories to his gullible supporters.yuekit
- You can’t trust the intelligence community? Says who? The PRESIDENT?! lolmonospaced
- Constitutional Restrictions on Foreign Gifts Don’t Apply to Presidents. Theres a NYTimes article with that title but url is too long.IRNlun6
- And good god no you can't trust intelligence agencies. Just do a search on CIA-assisted coups. You think it was for our benefit?IRNlun6
- CIA is not supposed to be involved in domestic affairs, and yet they are.IRNlun6
- What you're talking about is just one guy's legal opinion. It's not an article but an editorial. NYT published another editorial making the opposite case.yuekit
- The issue has never been ruled on definitively before, because you've never had a president with so many businesses and conflicts of interest like Trump.yuekit
- But needless to say if you're going to pretend to care about Hunter Biden, a private citizen, having a job somewhere, seems slightly ridiculous to say that theyuekit
- actual president can profit from businesses all over the world while making foreign policy deals affecting those businesses, all while not disclosing any of it.yuekit
- Do you really think Trump cares about corruption? Why you think he's so afraid of releasing his tax returns?yuekit