(07-08-2017, 04:20 PM)FBT Wrote:

(07-07-2017, 07:41 PM)rollerjag Wrote: Are we to believe that if Obama had acted more forcibly, the right would not have lost their minds complaining about his motives?

Trump's reluctance to accept the truth about Russian interference is equally troubling. At least he brought it up with Putin today.

Some would have, but not all, and that should be completely irrelevant.  It's called doing the right thing.  If a nation state is legitimately trying to tamper with an election, that warrants a response far more forceful than a limp wristed finger wag and some weak sanctions.  He did nothing because he thought Hillary could deal with it once she won.  Someone threw a wrench in their fantasy plan.

Trump recognizes that there's a possibility that there was probably more than just Russia tampering with the election.  He also understands that for all the outrage the democrats are faking now, the reality is that tampering happens in every election, and the United States is just as guilty as any other nation.  Look at the last Israeli elections as an example.  Obama actually sent his political operatives to help the campaign against Netanyahu.  As far as I'm concerned, the fact that Trump brought it up multiple times with Putin yesterday shows pretty clearly that he was only reluctant to say anything to the media about what he believed transpired.  

Had he lost the election, nobody would be crying about Russian interference, especially knowing how Clinton pretty much laid out spread eagle for anyone willing to pump enough money into he campaign coffers and her family slush fund regardless of who they were or what they represented.  This is only an issue because, despite all of the foreign investments made in her being the next president, she ended up wandering the woods of Chapaqua looking for unsuspecting hikers in need of a photo bomb.

I agree with the underlined parts.  

I think if the media wants to keep talking about Russian interference in the election, they should also spell out exactly how that interference occurred.   If it was the Russians feeding damaging information about Clinton to the Trump campaign, then we should ask ourselves, what would Clinton have done if the shoe was on the other foot?   Probably the same thing Trump did.  

On the other hand, if it was the Russians  meeting with key players on the Trump campaign and colluding on a plan that would help Trump win the election, that's pretty close to being out of bounds in my opinion.   What would have been the right thing to do?  If the Russians informed the Trump campaign that they had damaging information about Hillary Clinton, again this is just my opinion and some people may disagree, but the right thing to do would be to tell them to send it to the media and not to the Trump campaign. 

Now we are getting reports that the top officials in the Trump campaign met with a Russian lawyer who is closely tied to the Kremlin.   The smoke is getting thicker.  Even though Donald Trump Jr has now admitted the meeting took place, if all you read is Fox News, you don't hear much about it. 

Beyond hacking and releasing true but damaging information, if the Russians spread false news items as some have alleged and the Trump campaign knew about it and helped them do it, that would be pretty close to treason.  We don't know the answer to that yet.   All we really know is the Russians interfered in our election.   Even Trump says so.    

One thing I am sure of- in the next Presidential election, both sides will be trying to hack the other side's emails and everything else, looking for damaging information, and both sides, if they are smart, will tell their operatives that from now on, any sensitive information that they don't want published should be verbal only.  If I were running a campaign, I would tell everyone, if you get your email hacked and anything comes out that shouldn't, you will be fired.   The way the Mafia handles this stuff is they take a walk.   They don't talk about anything important unless they are talking about it while walking down the sidewalk with their hand over their mouth so no one can read their lips.   All the super secret campaign stuff needs to go low-tech, so it can't be hacked or wiretapped.  

The only answer to all this stuff is to adapt to it, because it isn't going to go away.  Hacking is going to be part of the game from how on, and everyone had better start doing it, or they will be at a severe disadvantage.

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