Trump

Babbittry, Politics, Resistance, Trump

Trumpism Down to the Local Level

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/13/2017 • Comments

I wrote last week, in a post entitled ‘What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump,’ about five degrees of culpability for Putinism’s insinuation and degradation of American politics. One could modify that list only slightly, and thereby describe Trump’s present influence in America: (1) those who have served the Trump as operatives and…

Politics, Russia, Trump

Gabriel Schoenfeld on ‘Trump and his whole circus – They have no good choices’

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/12/2017 • 2 Comments

Gabriel Schoenfeld, the author of Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law, was a senior adviser to the 2012 Romney for President campaign. He observes the damage that Trump has done to the GOP: Figures like Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer, cogs in the White House machinery who today seamlessly defend Trump and his…

Russia, Trump

They Took the Meeting

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/10/2017 • Comments

Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) sees the key point of the June 9th 2016 meeting between Trump’s relatives & operatives and a Russian apparatchik: Everyone who plays poker has a tell. In this case, the tell by Donald Trump Jr. was taking the meeting. @OutFrontCNN #TrumpRussia pic.twitter.com/GTw5OOD4fQ — Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) July 11, 2017

Putin, Russia, Trump

Trump Uses the Same Old Russia Excuses

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/06/2017 • Comments

For more on how Trump sows fear, uncertainty, or doubt to evade simple, direct questions, see David Graham’s The Trump Uncertainty Principle @ The Atlantic (“When Trump wants to rebut a charge, he seldom flatly denies it. Instead, he generally prefers to sow doubt, skillfully stressing uncertainties to obfuscate and muddy the issue.”) One hears…

Alt-Right, America, City, Liberty, Putin, Russia, Trump

‘What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump’

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/06/2017 • Comments

Michael Morell, former deputy director of the CIA from 2010 to 2013 and twice acting director, and Samantha Vinograd of the National Security Council staff from 2009 to 2013, speculate from experience on What Putin’s team is probably telling him about Trump: This is a speculative account of a memo that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s national…

Newspapers, Politics, Trump

‘So soft I want to put them in a pillowcase’

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/26/2017 • Comments

Dave Weigel (@daveweigel), on Twitter, describes nicely the kind of questions that Trump gets from Fox & Friends: “The questions from the Fox and Friends exclusive with Trump are so soft I want to put them in a pillowcase.” I’ve added Weigel’s transcription of questions, below. Residents of Whitewater would be familiar with a local…

Russia, Trump

Jeh Johnson Testimony, U.S. House, 6.21.17

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/21/2017 • Comments

Below is a video of former Sec. of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson’s June 21st open-session testimony before the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and his printed statement for the record.

Russia, Trump

James Comey Testimony, U.S. Senate, 6.8.17

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/08/2017 • 5 Comments

Below is a video of James Comey’s June 8th open-session testimony before the U.S. Senate, a link to a transcript of these remarks, and his printed statement for the record (released before the hearing but not delivered in Comey’s oral testimony given today). James Comey testimony transcript on Trump and Russia @ POLITICO. Statement for…

Authoritarianism, Putin, Russia, Trump

Rubin & Kendzior on Trump-Russia

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/01/2017 • Comments

Jennifer Rubin and Sarah Kendzior offer complimentary observations on Trump-Russia, that compound word for the evident association between Trump and Putin’s authoritarian state. Rubin’s remarks are from yesterday, Kendzior’s from May 20th. Rubin asks, of Trump, Would a spy for Russia be acting any differently?: By whatever means, Russia has reaped unexpected and unparalleled benefits from…

Foreign Affairs, Trump

Trump Dances with Saudi Aristocrats

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/21/2017 • 1 Comment

The highest honor of Saudi Arabia’s dictatorial monarchy is no better than an American disgrace; the Saudi regime’s most elegant dance is no worthier than an unfortunate convulsion.

Foreign Affairs, Trump

Trump Receives Saudi Arabia’s Highest Civilian Honor

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/20/2017 • Comments

Embed from Getty Images See, Royal welcome for Trump in Saudi Arabia as troubles mount at home. Others have received this award – it has always been a mistake to accept it: an honor from the Saudi royal family is an American disgrace.

Authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Putin, Russia, Trump

Time, 5.29.2017

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/18/2017 • Comments

See, Inside Russia’s Social Media War on America @ TIME.

Trump

Months of Failure

by JOHN ADAMS • 04/28/2017 • Comments

Here is a look back at the 99-day dumpster fire you just lived through. #LSSC #99DAYS pic.twitter.com/8qLsLtPGZu — The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) April 28, 2017

Books, Culture, Economy, Politics, Trump

Considering The Politics of Resentment, Concluding Thoughts (Part 9 of 9)

by JOHN ADAMS • 04/27/2017 • 2 Comments

This is the ninth in a series of posts considering Katherine Cramer’s Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. I first thought I’d post, chapter by chapter, on Katherine Cramer’s Politics of Resentment after I read her 11.13.16 article in the Washington Post, “How rural resentment helps explain the surprising victory…