The Way Trump and the GOP Deal with Russian Attacks is 'Textbook Treason' (David Rothkopf)

[swag]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-way-trump-and-the-gop-deal-with-russian-attacks-is-textbook-treason?ref=author

Excerpt:

This is an extraordinary moment. It is without equal not only in American history but in modern history. A hostile foreign power intervened in our election to help elect a man president who has since actively served their interests and has defended them at every turn.

Trump may deny collusion. But given that this the attack continues, denying it is collusion, distracting from it is collusion, obstructing the investigation of it is collusion — because all these things enable it to go on.

That the president is abetted in his aid for the Russians — again, in the midst of this ongoing attack — by the leadership of the Republican Party makes the situation all the more extraordinary and dangerous. As they seek to undermine the investigation, they serve Russia as directly as if they were officers of the GRU. Some now reportedly seek to impeach Rosenstein on trumped up charges. To attack one of the leaders of our national defense as we are being attacked and to do so to benefit our foreign adversary is textbook treason.

. . .

When only semantics protect our president and our ruling party from the harsh sentences treason demands, we need to recognize the severity of the situation. But more importantly, we need to recognize one of the most important implications of yesterday:
that while we who watch or chat on cable news have lost the plot here, while GOP makes it about personal attacks on FBI officers, while the President makes it about him, while many of us make it about partisan politics, Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein have kept their eye on the ball.

They recognize as does Coats and as do the leaders of our intelligence community and as does every law enforcement and national security expert with whom I have spoken that this is, above all and most urgently, is a national security crisis for the United States.

[Sophia4]

1. Is Trump aiding and giving comfort to Russia, a country that infringed on our

most sacred sovereignty, our election process, or not?

That's the question we have to ask and answer.

Putin either did or did not interfere with our election. Our election process is central to our sovereignty. It defines us as a nation. If Putin or his nation interfered in it, and if Trump or his staff assisted or allowed him to interfere with it, then he is not our friend, he is our enemy. And anyone who aids or gives him comfort in that act has committed an act of treason or at the least aided or committed a conspiracy against the sovereignty of our nation.

US Constitution Article III, section 3.

[malaise]

3. It's not just the Con

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.973580c71ea2



KIEV, Ukraine — A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.
----------------------
Now just imagine that this was Nancy Pelosi speaking.

[OnDoutside]

6. Actually the interesting thing about this is that McCarthy believed there

were only TWO. But look at their complicity since, which suggests an awful lot more thought they stood to gain if they took part in what history will judge as a treasonous act. Maybe that's down to personal greed as much as ideology.

[malaise]

7. I think the Con has the goods on all of them

Some are insiders in the coup and money laundering, but others are terrified that's their scandals will be exposed

[OnDoutside]

9. Via Russian hackers, yes definitely. They've never admitted that the

Republicans were probably hacked too.

[dalton99a]

2. If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck

Call it a duck.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

4. K & R...

45 does an excellent job distracting us with all those stupid tweets. We need to keep this as visible as possible.
At DU, no problem, but outside our family here it’s hard to use the treason word without getting some eye rolling.

[uponit7771]

5. They degrade America's heroes and are quiet against America's enemies

[Scurrilous]

8. K&R