No Collusion! Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[_MeDotOrg]

I have sailed across the Rubicon several times with Donald Trump. Each time I thought he had sailed to the end of his Presidency. You have to see this for yourself.

Stephanopoulos: Should [Donald Trump Jr.] have gone to the FBI when he got that email?

Trump: OK. Let’s put yourself in a position. You’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey, I have information on your opponent. Do you call the FBI? I don’t think-

Stephanopoulos: If it’s coming from Russia, you do.

Trump: I’ll tell you what, I’ve seen a lot of things over my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. You don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you do-

Stephanopoulos: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.

Trump: Well, that’s different, a stolen briefing book. This isn’t a stolen- This is somebody that said, “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break. Life doesn’t work that way.

Stephanopoulos: The FBI director says that’s what should happen.

Trump: The FBI director is wrong.

Stephanopoulos: Your campaign this time around, if foreigners, if Russia, if China, if someone else offers you information on opponents, should they accept it or should they call the FBI?

Trump: I think maybe you do both. I think you might want to listen. I don’t- There’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country — Norway — “We have information on your opponent.” Oh. I think I’d want to hear it.

Stephanopoulos: You want that kind of interference in our elections?

Trump: It’s not interference. They have information. I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI, if I thought there was something wrong. But when somebody comes up with oppo research, right, they come up with oppo research. “Oh, let’s call the FBI.” The FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressmen, they all do it. They always have, and that’s the way it is. It’s called oppo research.

So to all foreign governments: The President of the United States is officially inviting you to influence our elections. Don't like Politician X's stand your country's demand for arms? Just do oppo research and feed it other candidates. It's more cost effective. That's what this country is about. Trade. Commerce. The buying and selling of information is merely a part of that rubric. We're merely opening up the flow of information into our political marketplace. Welcome to the era of Trump, where the President who literally hugs the flag tells foreign governments he welcomes their interference in our elections.

But having a foreign government share information with a patriotic U.S. politician should in no way be confused with having the White House comply with a subpoena from the House of Representatives. Now that would be wrong.

If someone wants to postulate a universe where this makes sense, I'm all ears...

[_moksha]

If someone wants to postulate a universe where this makes sense, I'm all ears...

With infinite possibilities, there must be some universe that was struck with a gigantic Bizarro ray making such behavior acceptable. In our own universe, the ray was only large enough to strike the majority of the Republican party. Ideas of truth, justice, and the American way became meaningless and garbled for those affected by the Bizarro rays.

Bad enough the Republicans in our universe were struck by this ray, it would be truly pathetic if everyone were to experience that fate.

[_Some Schmo]

Yeah, there's no irony whatsoever in Trump's "America First" nationalist party that he's open to hostile countries' help to “F” with our elections.

"No collusion! No Collusion! Well, except for what I just admitted on camera."

So, how do Republicans react? Like morons or traitors. Take your pick. I'll go with traitors, because we all know how apoplectic they'd be if Obama said this.

They have to be traitors. Hypocrisy is fundamental to the GOP platform.

[_EAllusion]

1) The Mueller report found extensive evidence of "collusion" in ordinary sense of the term people mean. It didn't find enough evidence to charge a criminal conspiracy.

2) The Mueller report found that Trump tried to engage in a criminal conspiracy and only failed to do so because the point person that was tapped to carry it out was incompetent and was lying about his progress in making it happen.

I don't think either of these facts have penetrated with the public they way it should have. Right-wing disinformation is so extensive that something as damning as this doesn't quite land.

The hitman I hired to kill my wife was only pretending to be a hitman. So I'm innocent. Vindicated!

[_Dr Exiled]

How about just make the information public along with the source, telling the FBI at the same time? This way the other campaign can respond and someone like Comey can't affect the election either by investigating, then not, then at the last minute reopening an investigation. What was behind Comey's October surprise anyway?

[_huckelberry]

His comments are a political defense of his situation which his supporters will accept wholeheartedly. It is so important to stop Hillary and socialism that accepting information from Russia is only natural. I think this defense is so natural that the only question would be when was the best time to play the card. Now was probably a good choice. Give it time to soak into the party.

[_MeDotOrg]

How about just make the information public along with the source, telling the FBI at the same time? This way the other campaign can respond and someone like Comey can't affect the election either by investigating, then not, then at the last minute reopening an investigation. What was behind Comey's October surprise anyway?

So 2 days before the 2020 election, Candidate X releases information given to him by a foreign government, and gives all information to the FBI. It if takes the FBI more than 24 hours to vett the information, it could swing the election, whether the information is true or false.

Federal law prohibits campaigns from receiving money or anything of value from a foreign government or agents representing a foreign government. You do not want a candidate to be beholding to a foreign nation for information that helped get them elected, whether or not the FBI knows about it or not.

It's weird: Trump wants to build a wall on our border to keep out foreigners. He said (without proof) that between 3 and 5 million people voted illegally in the last election. But he has no problem with foreign governments influencing our elections. When money and influence start, xenophobia stops.

Remember where the administration started with this issue? The original Trump line was that there was no collusion, and there were no contacts with Russia. Now they are saying 'no collusion', but collusion would not be a crime even if it happened. Incrementally, inch by inch, they move further away from no collusion to the idea that collusion itself is not a crime.

Trump says he likes Lincoln, the only President he considers more 'Presidential' than himself.

From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.

President Trump is asking the intelligence armies of Europe and Asia to take a drink from our political waters. It is a betrayal of our country.

[_Dr Exiled]

How about just make the information public along with the source, telling the FBI at the same time? This way the other campaign can respond and someone like Comey can't affect the election either by investigating, then not, then at the last minute reopening an investigation. What was behind Comey's October surprise anyway?

So 2 days before the 2020 election, Candidate X releases information given to him by a foreign government, and gives all information to the FBI. It if takes the FBI more than 24 hours to vett the information, it could swing the election, whether the information is true or false.

Federal law prohibits campaigns from receiving money or anything of value from a foreign government or agents representing a foreign government. You do not want a candidate to be beholding to a foreign nation for information that helped get them elected, whether or not the FBI knows about it or not.

It's weird: Trump wants to build a wall on our border to keep out foreigners. He said (without proof) that between 3 and 5 million people voted illegally in the last election. But he has no problem with foreign governments influencing our elections. When money and influence start, xenophobia stops.

Remember where the administration started with this issue? The original Trump line was that there was no collusion, and there were no contacts with Russia. Now they are saying 'no collusion', but collusion would not be a crime even if it happened. Incrementally, inch by inch, they move further away from no collusion to the idea that collusion itself is not a crime.

Trump says he likes Lincoln, the only President he considers more 'Presidential' than himself.

From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.

President Trump is asking the intelligence armies of Europe and Asia to take a drink from our political waters. It is a betrayal of our country.

The answer is to have more sunshine, not less. If the Russians had Trump's tax returns. Let's see them. If the Norwegians can give us information on who bombed the tankers in the strait of hormuz, let's hear it. If the Chinese can show more information on the Russia collusion story, let's see that too.

[_MeDotOrg]

The answer is to have more sunshine, not less. If the Russians had Trump's tax returns. Let's see them.

Multiple Choice:

The best solution for the release of Donald Trump's taxes would be:

1. Have the Treasury Department supply the taxes, in response to a subpoena from the House Committee given oversight responsibility.
   
2. Depend on a foreign government to steal the documents from our government and release them to the public.

[_Dr Exiled]

The answer is to have more sunshine, not less. If the Russians had Trump's tax returns. Let's see them.

Multiple Choice:

The best solution for the release of Donald Trump's taxes would be:

1. Have the Treasury Department supply the taxes, in response to a subpoena from the House Committee given oversight responsibility.
   
2. Depend on a foreign government to steal the documents from our government and release them to the public.

Or perhaps a treasury department insider can leak the returns to the media or maybe wikileaks?