I recently came across the news that Russia cultivated Trump as an asset for 40 years, and that the ultimate source was an ex-KGB spy. Some recent tweets highlighted it (that link has over 9,000 retweets). It panders to what I have tended to already believe, so I do have to seriously question if it really is true. Is latching on to it simply my own bias in play?
Google it and you find reputable news sources running the story. For example
- The Guardian (Jan 2021): ‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy
So yes, this is old news from about a year ago. Recent events mean that it once again becomes interesting. It all comes via a book written by Craig Unger who used KGB spy Yuri Shvets as his source. There are also interviews of them both talking about it.
Here is an extract from the Guardian article …
… in 1987, Trump and Ivana visited Moscow and St Petersburg for the first time. Shvets said he was fed KGB talking points and flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea that he should go into politics.
The ex-major recalled: “For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery.
“This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB active measures at the time.”
Soon after he returned to the US, Trump began exploring a run for the Republican nomination for president
Is this really true, was he indeed Russia’s useful fool?
To be clear, the claim is not that he consciously worked for the Russians, but rather that they manipulated him by leveraging his deep desire for flattery and pandered to his ego by telling him how truly wonderful he was, and so gently nudged him into their sphere of influence.
I give it a 7 on the scale of 1-10, so that’s a “very possibly true” rating. If correct, then it explains a great deal, namely his love of Putin, and his attempts to dismantle NATO.
The implication of it all is that the entire Republican party, along with an entire religious demographic, the evangelicals, have been simply pawns in the political long-games being played by the Russians – useful fools.
Another small insight is that when the Russians sanctioned in retaliation for what is now happening to them, they sanctioned right across the political spectrum in Canada, but only Sanctioned leading Democrats in the US. No GOP politicians, their useful fools, were sanctioned.
Again, is that really true?
Fact check: Yes, it really is.
Moving on, below you will find my usual selection of some truly bizarre claims that have popped up during the last 7 days. Each is laced with my snarky commentary. With my usual hat tip to my main source, Right Wing Watch, let’s dive in.
Enjoy.
COVID-19
- Her rival, incumbent Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, so she is going for the nutter demographic in the hope of taking his place. Republican voters have a choice between batshit crazy or not-batshit crazy. The result will be a judgement upon them.
- The only problem I see with the concept of a trial is that you need a few specific things to acomplish that, namely a crime, victims, evidence, etc… Lacking all that tends to be a bit of a challenge, unless of course you live in Russia.
Jan 6
Leigh Dundas, one of the main organizers of the trucker’s convoy that is currently pointlessly circling DC, claims that she was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 only because she was walking someone back to their car and they needed to sit down.
- In the context of this revised narrative, I’d be curious to know how she explains the footage she posted that day of her outside the Capitol screaming, “Traitors!” at those inside.
The Putin Fan Club
Lance Wallnau defends Russian President Vladimir Putin while declaring that “this entire Democratic Party is a judgment of God on America” and asserting that President Joe Biden is “an evil ruler.”
- If you think Putin, the corrupt dictator who has launched a war of agression and is slaughtering vast numbers of innocent people, is the good guy, and Biden, the guy who attends Church every week, is the evil guy, then your moral compass is seriously banjaxed.
- Can anybody remind me where it says in the bible that bombing innocent civilans is just fine, but having public health policies designed to keep them alive is wicked.
- It is of course Lance, a guy who has made an entire career out of being wrong, so why should he stop now.
- If Lance is condeming you, then you can be sure that you are doing something right.
- Bizarre observation: His claim that having Democrates elected is “a judgment of God“, means that he is claiming that God rigs elections and that actual votes don’t matter.
Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: OAN Host Goes Viral for Suggesting Biden Is Bombing Ukrainians In ‘False Flag’ Operation.
- This prompts obvious questions such as – where exactly does he think the Ukranian farmers are stealing Russian tanks from, is Biden also dropping those off?
- If this was actually true then the Russians would be all over it.
- Are there people out there stupid enough to actually believe anything OAN says? … no don’t answer that, we already know.
Racism
Vincent James claims that …“books and movies about slavery, racism, and the Holocaust … are not about ‘teaching history.’ They serve the purpose of making white people feel guilty, and aim to discourage them from policies which would prevent the destruction of our nation.”
- Racist says he feels guilty when he is reminded that he is a racist. Apparently he does not like those feelings of guilt.
- Hey Vincent, here is an idea, how about not being a racist shit
Vincent James, yep again, also gripes that …“white people are being denied employment, white students are being turned away from college, white children are being taught to hate themselves in schools, and white people are becoming second class citizens in every institution. All of this is happening while America approaches becoming minority white and white people are being constantly attacked in by the media and Hollywood.”
- If you swap the word “white” for the word “racist” then the light begins to dawn that Vincent is giving you his personal testemony.
Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin admits that she “did know who I was talking to” when she addressed the white nationalist AFPAC conference, and she stands by it: “I’m not going to back off from the opportunity to talk to other conservatives … about America First policies.”
- Translation: “I’m not going to back off from the opportunity to talk to racists … about my racism“
Witches
Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: GOP candidate: Witches at my preschool tried luring me into Satanism.
- As a GOP candidate she struggles to remain revevant hence pops up on a regular basis with weird evidence-free claims to get a bit of attention. This is simply the latest.
- So yes, it all gets her attention, but for all the wrong reasons.
- She claims that her childhood preschool was a coven that was run by witches because apparently “Satan has a plan for your life”. I guess if your imaginary friend is real then it is not a huge leap into believing that your imaginary enemy is also real. The one thing I am deeply confident saying is this – none of what she claims actually happened.
- She previously claimed that her ten year old son is a prophet of God and told her via him to run for office.
- Meanwhile her campaign website is just a series of right-wing conspiracy theories.
- Scary observation: Right now she is the only declared candidate in the race for Secretary of State of CA. Hopefully others will jump in because we really really can do better than this.
Homophobia
Joe Jervis: Tornado Hits Florida Home Of “Don’t Say Gay” Author.
- Do you think that perhaps God is trying to tell him something?
Milo Yiannopoulos reportedly hopes “to establish a Florida-based clinic to help gay men leave the homosexual lifestyle.” In the meantime, he’s calling for gay men to be executed.
- FYI … Milo is gay (which is fine), but is in complete denial about that these days. He is also, I think, still officially married to another guy and still, I think, lives with him
- Milo was also fired from Breitbart after it was revealed that he had supported the concept of relationshipts with 13 year old boys.
Truly Bizarre
Pastor Mark Burns vows that if he is elected to Congress, he will resurrect the House Un-American Activities Committee for the purpose of charging citizens, members of the media, and elected officials with treason.
- Well why not. That was so much fun last time around. A happy jolly time was had by all.
- Item one on the agenda – The House Un-American Activities Committee is itself Un-American, and so those that initiated it need to be charged with Treason.
- Item two on the agenda – Pastor Mark Burns, a guy whose on-line biography was totally fraudlent.
David Lane gripes that … “while Christians founded and built America, secularists nonetheless lord over the current intellectual, educational, economic and vocational levers of power and influence, allying themselves with Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Media and Big Government as they manipulate, distort and inject secularism’s toxicity into the culture’s headwaters.”
- Lying for Jesus appears to be par for the course these days. Either he does know that the US was founded as a secular state and is lying, or he is very very stupid. Personally I lean towards the latter.
- Translation of the term “secularism’s toxicity”: His specific religious claims are rejected and so he is tossing his toys out of his buggy in frustration.
- Least you wonder, yes, he is indeed a big fan of David Barton, the guy who rewrites US history by simply making stuff up.
Nick Fuentes pouts about the inclusion of women and people of color in popular movies: “Star Wars is for boys!”
- Nobody, and I mean literally none of the characters in Star Wars are from earth. The “In a Galaxy Far Far away” is an ever so subtle clue that they are all aliens.
- In other words, Nick only likes white male aliens.
- Reminder: Nick is the guy who got owned by another one of his own right-wing supporters for having no real understanding of woman.
Jackson Richman @ Mediaite: Madison Cawthorn Claims Nancy Pelosi Has a Drinking Problem: ‘The Theories of Alcoholism Are Very True, It’s Very Sad.’
- The fact that Pelosi is known to abstain from alcohol reveals Madison’s lie. Being caught in a lie like that truly will make Madison very sad.
Trump-endorsed Georgia Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, Herschel Walker, revealed on Sunday that he is a science-denying religious extremist. Walker wrongly insisted the existence of apes dispels the scientific theory of evolution, and there was no Big Bang Theory.
- Prepare to facepalm – Yes, he really did seriously say … “why are there still apes?“. It is on par with, “If americans came from Europeans, then why are there still Europeans?“, or, “If Prostentants came from Catholics, then why are there still Catholics?“. I’m sure you can think of lots more.
- He thinks the right answer is that a God did it all by magic.
- (Checks calander), yep it really is 2022, something has gone very wrong in our education system.
Michele Bachmann says that “we were literally having our greatest days under Donald Trump,” but now the Biden administration is “pure evil”: “They’re putting every wicked policy in place that they can to take us down and to put us into a place of enslavement.”
- For Bachmann this is actually normal. She pioneered the concept of “batshit crazy delusional” long before that became official GOP policy.
- Back in 2010 she was even then making the claim that the US was becoming a “nation of slaves”, it is not new, but instead is old rhetroic that she rolls out on a regular basis. That was the Obama administration she was referring to back then, hint, a guy who was not exactly white.
Arizona Senate member Wendy Rogers asks a question: “Who has done the most damage to this country? Putin or Soros?”
- Soros is saving a great deal of money by living rent free in her head.
- Meanwhile if you wonder who she is, then wonder no more. She claims to be a “charter member” of the Oath Keepers, a militia group known to promote conspiracy theories and violent, extremist rhetoric, including talk of a new civil war.
- She is also well-known for her deep antisemitic stance.
- Of note is that she has managed to be so extreme that the other Republician Senate member in Arizona formally issued a censure against her on March 1st, 2022 for … “conduct unbecoming of a senator, including publicly issuing and promoting social media and video messages encouraging violence“. Despite threatening to “destroy the careers” of any Republican Senators who voted to censure her, it passed 24-3, with Rogers being one of the 3.
- And that ladies and gentlemen is the GOP candidate in Arizona whom the public within the 6th district in their infinate wisdom decided to elect.
- (sigh!).
Lauren Witzke declares that we should bring back arranged marriages while interviewing far-right streamer Jared Noble (aka “Woozuh”) who believes that “women are currency to be bartered and traded.”
- Just when you think she can’t get even weirder, up she pops to prove that thought quite wrong.
Beloved Russia
Nick Fuentes encourages prayers for the “brave” Russian soldiers who are fighting to “liberate Ukraine from the Great Satan and from the evil empire in the world, which is the United States.”
- We should start a go-fund-me to fly him, one way, to be with his beloved Putin in that “liberated” political utopia. The only challenge there will be finding a flight to get him there, it will have to ve via China.
David Gilbert @ Vice News: Russian State TV Has Found a New Home on Gab.
- They were always there nudging everybody along, RT are simply being a bit more open about it.
The False Profit$
Pastor Shane Vaughn declares that “a Biden presidency will be the most failed one in the nation’s history. I will thwart every move it attempts. FAILURE is written across the 46th president. Failure the likes of which has never been seen in US politics. Everything attempted by this administration will fail. Defeat is coming! Fear not; God’s hammer will see to its eventual demise.”
- Wow, Shane is back via Facebook.
- I’m so sorry Shane, but “most failed” is a medal that has already been granted to Putin’s favorite buddy, your beloved messiah.
Pat Robertson criticizes President Joe Biden for refusing to escalate the crisis in Ukraine and not threatening to nuke Russia.
- 91 year old Pat really really really wants to see the apocalypse that he has been predicting will happen “any day now” for the last 40 years or more.