Monday Reading

Our standard request:  please go to the links to read the full articles.

Robert Kuttner has a good read about the noose closing around Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump (and why all he can realistically do at this point is what he's doing:  tweeting misdirection and lies):

In this case, Trump and his family relied on massive bailouts of his failing business enterprises from Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin. When he became a presidential candidate, the Russians treated him as an asset ― a useful idiot, as Stalinists used to put it. And when the campaign finalists turned out to be Trump versus the hard-line Clinton, the Russians sought to destroy her and elect Trump. Trump, meanwhile, became the most pro-Russia president in U.S. history, refusing to breathe a word of criticism of Putin, behaving like the head of a client state. This much of the story is hidden in plain view.

The details ― of Russian financing of Trump’s businesses, and of more campaign contacts ― are likely to be spelled out in further indictments, almost surely including members of Trump’s family, and in Mueller’s final report, which will look very much like a bill of impeachment. (our emphasis)

What do the Russians have on Rump that makes him their stooge?  Follow the money.

On Friday, Facebook vice president of ads Rob Goldman made this extraordinary, and extraordinarily ignorant, claim:

Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election.  I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.

— Rob Goldman (@robjective) February 17, 2018

This "don't blame us for Trump, please!" self- serving nonsense was, of course, picked up by the Master of Self- Serving Nonsense:

“I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.”
Rob Goldman
Vice President of Facebook Ads https://t.co/A5ft7cGJkE

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018

Both Rump and the Facebook suits have a common interest, as Anne Applebaum notes:

Facebook executives and Pro-Trump Republicans now have a shared interest: both groups are desperate to prove that Russian computational propaganda did not impact the election https://t.co/3TCKfqWUMz

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) February 18, 2018

On CNN, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper addressed Goldman's breezy denial of the obvious (via Vox):

In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash on Saturday, the general hit back at Goldman’s assertion. “Well, it’s false, as far as I’m concerned, because there’s no question what the Russians were trying to do,” Clapper said, noting that all evidence points to that being the case, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. “Clearly, the Russians were trying to affect the election.” (our emphasis)

We'll take Clapper's assessment over dudebro's. All the platforms, including Facebook, that were tools of the Russian effort need to step up and acknowledge their role and stop deflection, denial and delay in responding to the continuing attacks on our democracy. Facebook's Goldman, in his particular position, seems to be a weak link at best and an obstructor at worst.

As far as looking ahead, The Atlantic's David Frum (we know, we know) wonders how far Rump would go to foil Democrats in 2018 and beyond, given his blatant lack of interest in securing our election systems and his silent partner in Moscow:

Trump’s own tweets reveal that among the things he most fears is the prospect of Representative Adam Schiff gaining the gavel of the House Intelligence Committee from the clownish present chairman, Devin Nunes. How far would Trump go to stop a dreaded political opponent, inside the law and outside? How far has Donald Trump gone in the past? 

Trump continues to insist that he and his campaign team did not collude with Russia in the 2016 election. We know that they were ready and eager to collude—that’s on the public record. (“If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”) The public does not yet know whether the collusion actually occurred, and if so, in what form and to what extent. But in front of our very eyes we can observe that they are leaving the door open to Russian intervention on their behalf in the next election. You might call it collusion in advance—a dereliction of duty as grave as any since President Buchanan looked the other way as Southern state governments pillaged federal arsenals on the eve of the Civil War.  (our emphasis)

Holding onto power is all Rump and his fellow thugs, crooks and malefactors (i.e., the Republican Party and their plutocrat sponsors) are interested in, to hell with the United States.  None so far have shown that they have a patriotic bone in their bodies and don't seem likely to grow any.

Finally, we also recommend taking a look at the link round- up at Infidel 753 for the most comprehensive collection of news, thought pieces, oddities and fun stuff.