Posted on 12/19/2015 3:51:45 PM PST by conservativejoy
It's less bromance and more, Please destroy yourselves.
NEW YORK : Vladimir Putin's public support of Donald Trump this week seemed to come out of the blue but it was a long time coming.
Pro-Kremlin Twitter accounts have been touting a Trump presidency for months. As far back as Aug. 7, the Kremlin's troll-in-chief, @rykov (ex-Duma deputy Konstantin Rykov), tweeted a reply to ex-US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who had said how much he enjoyed the Republican debate that evening, but was putting his support behind Hillary Clinton.
Rykov told McFaul, tagging Clinton as well, "vote for @realDonaldTrump Michael" and followed up by saying, in Russian, "I haven't watched the debates yet. Trump isn't a Russophobe. That provokes sympathy." Meaning, basically, "that makes me like him."
That's been the line taken by some observers following Putin's comments on Thursday calling Trump "a really brilliant and talented person" and "the absolute leader in the presidential race." (Trump accepted the compliments on Fox later that day and then in an interview on MSNBC Friday morning, where he brushed aside questions about the murder of Russian journalists and Putin critics and said, "At least [Putin] is a leader" and "Our country does plenty of killing also.")
The thinking goes: Putin wants to see a Trump presidency because the billionaire is someone he knows how to deal with, a straight shooter who would put aside things like human rights and armed invasions and get down to business. And they have similar styles, macho and brusque, with varying undertones of authoritarianism.
But Putin's embrace of Trump is much darker , and echoes the endorsements the Kremlin has made elsewhere. This isn't an autocrat seeing a fellow strongman. It's an adversary who has found a new tool.
In France, the far-right National Front party led by Marine Le Pen said it had accepted a nine million euro loan last year from a Russian bank (Le Pen is another frequent sight on Rykov's Twitter feed). In Greece, officials, ideologues, and billionaires close to Putin developed deep ties with the far-left Syriza party, which swept to power earlier this year (before seeing its popularity tumble). In the UK, the leader of the far-right UKIP, Nigel Farage, is a mainstay on Russian state television.
These parties have few ideological similarities , because it's not ideology that is driving Putin's wooing of insurgent parties across Europe. Putin has no real ideology, which is part of the reason he has turned to conservative outposts like the Russian Orthodox Church to rally support as his rule enters its 17th year. What he does have is a desire to destroy those countries and institutions that, in his thinking, have conspired to keep Russia down. Funding and supporting insurgent parties in Europe is his way of chipping away at the European Union (on top of efforts, so far unsuccessful, to prevent the bloc from renewing sanctions on Russia over Ukraine). Supporting Trump is his effort to turn that approach on the U.S.
Trump's antics have made the U.S. the laughing stock of the world, coupled with the idea that his cocky, xenophobic, uninformed pronouncements have revealed the country's true face. Each week brings a new round of the circus, coupled with endless soul searching about what it all means (this week: either it will lead to Weimar America or the end of the Republican Party). This is the sort of chaos and destruction that Putin thrives on.
Putin supports Donald Trump because of the threat that Trump poses to the U.S.
It’s clear that the U.S. has become a weak shadow of its former self under Obama, but have we declined to the point where the dictator of Russia has the power to choose who our next president will be merely by anointing his favorite candidate with lavish praise?
It’s bad enough that the small number of citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire have inordinate influence over who our presidents will be, but now apparently our future has also become subject to the whims of Vladimir Putin as he assesses who he wants to see in the White House for the next several years.
And of course the best presidential candidate from Putin’s point of view is the one who will best help Russia achieve its goals, not those of the U.S.
'Fraid not, Miriam, but you get an E for effort.
It's Obama and his tingle-legged worshipers who have made the U.S.A the laughing stock of the world.
It is reverse psychology. Putin knows he can manhandle the pussy Obama and the whore Clinton is simply a graft ridden wretch.He can simply pay her off for any political favor.
Trump doesn’t give a crap and Putin knows he can not stand up to Trump as Trump is unpredictable and will not hesitate to use any tactic to get his way.
‘It’s an adversary who has found a new tool.’
This stupid writer is brain dead! Her analysis is as stupid as she is. There is no bigger tool of Putin than Obama and his State Department first under the Clown Criminal Hillary and now under John Efing Kerry.
BuzzScreed is crap!
Seriously, who walks into a negotiation with a rival after stating, "I can work with him?"
I would guess that Putin is deliberately ridiculing Obama this way, basically calling him a pussy. It is humiliating, or would be if liberals were capable of embarrassment. It certainly makes the US look powerless.
Also, Putin probably would prefer a stronger, more decisive person in the WH. Weak and vacillating leaders cause wars by, among other things, inviting aggression.
Europe is a dead duck.
I’m sad we had to see it.
The fight is here now. Your Forum has become a place of gathering.
Yes, the Bi has been here.
God Speed Jim.
The above is exactly why Putin wants Trump as president. There is no way Putin wants Ted Cruz as Cruz would be a stone wall to Putin and no one would pay for that wall or break it down.
You have gone too many hours without sleep. :-)
It’s actually the willingness of the people to be dazzled....just as Obama dazzled the public regardless of his history, Obama also was excused by his supporters....they wanted what they ‘believed’ they saw in him...and Trump voters want they “believe” they see in Trump.....history doesn’t matter.
In Austria shotguns virtually sold out in October this year...and guard dogs....An officer stated the number of Austrians committing crimes has increased by 6% from 156,720 to 166,221,... whereas the number of 'foreigners' committing crimes as increased by 90% from 47,256 to 89,541.
Also interesting is a gun shop owner said there are also a large number of 'policemen' coming in who want private guns for their own homes and families."
Trump is not a true blue Republican insider and they can’t control him. That’s the meat of the problem. And the fact that he’s leading without any help or input from them has really got them worried. And the fact that he’s doing it without spending any money has turned their entire world upside down. This simply is not done. It flies in the face of political “reality.” He’s breaking all the rules. You can’t do that!
And the fact that he’s building such a huge following of liberty-loving Americans who are willing to dump the political establishment REALLY has them shitting little green wigglers.
I don’t think anyone can call it on what Trump will DO if he wins....he’s already said that people have to be “flexible”....which means what to Trump?
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