Don't fall for Trump's latest whataboutism - By the Washington Post Editorial Board

[DonViejo]

By Editorial Board
August 11 at 7:00 PM

PRESIDENT TRUMP tweets it repeatedly: Yes, there was collusion with Russia — except the real colluders were Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. The president was back at it again Thursday, quoting a conservative cable host’s assertion that “Hillary Clinton & the Democrats colluded with the Russians to fix the 2016?election.” This inflammatory argument may play well with the president’s supporters and others inclined to believe the worst about Ms. Clinton. But the claim that Ms. Clinton’s 2016 opposition- research activities were on the same moral or legal plane with the Trump team’s direct interactions with Russians represents a preposterous effort to confuse and distract.

Here is what the Trump team did: Senior campaign officials, including then-chairman Paul Manafort, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, met in June 2016 with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin-connected lawyer. They were told the lawyer could give them “very high level and sensitive information” on Ms. Clinton, as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

Here is what the Clinton campaign did: It employed a U.S. law firm that hired a U.S. research outfit that brought in Christopher Steele, a British ex-spy, to gather information on Mr. Trump from his network of sources. That network included Russians.

For all of Mr. Trump’s efforts to muddy the waters, the two cases are decidedly different. There is no evidence of any direct meetings or even tenuous connections between Ms. Clinton’s senior staff and Russian operatives. When the information he was gathering on Mr. Trump seemed alarming, Mr.?Steele informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his concerns. When the Russian government offered dirt on Mr. Trump’s opponent, his campaign didn’t alert authorities about this sketchy behavior. It eagerly took the meeting.

Mr. Trump’s whataboutism obscures the fundamental difference between engaging in opposition research that includes contacting foreign sources and lapping up information peddled by a foreign government. Mr. Steele, a well-regarded ex-spy, was acting as a compensated researcher with a specialty in Russia, not as a Kremlin cutout. He worked his network to deliver information to his client.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dont-fall-for-trumps-latest-whataboutism/2018/08/11/51488518-9b3e-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread DonViejo

[orangecrush]

3. K&R!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Editorial nails it. . . . nt

[KSNY]

5. The editorial left out that the Steele dossier was originally funded by the GOP

The Clinton campaign continued the funding when it became clear that Trump would be their nominee.

[WinstonSmith4740]

6. Thanks!

I was just about to go look for an article on that. I knew I had heard that when it first broke, but it seems to be one of those facts that seems to have disappeared, and reporters just don't seem to think that accuracy is all that important when it comes to pointing out Trump lies.
And welcome to DU!

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Exactly.

They JUST did their own "whataboutism" hit job on behalf of Drumpf by conveniently leaving out that KEY fact, all in their attempt at manufacturing a "strongly worded editorial".

[mr_lebowski]

7. Is there even any evidence that Steele shared the damaging Trump info w/Clinton's people?

IOW I know he was indirectly paid by the Clinton Campaign via Fusion GPS (and no, that conservative paper didn't pay for Steele, he was brought on after Clinton started paying), but has anyone ever even claimed the Clinton's were TOLD of the stuff in the Dossier?

From my understanding Steele decided this info was 'beyond politics', basically, and got it to the FBI rather than handing it over to Clinton's people ... for the very reason that he regarded it as 'too serious' to be used in a Campaign.

Do I have that wrong? Other than Hillary's 'puppet' comments I don't know of any way in which Clinton 'used' what she knew from Steele, if she indeed ever did.

Certainly there was nothing she did akin to Trump saying 'Wikileaks!' over and over on the campaign trail ... 130-ish times, IIRC ... and that was just him personally, let alone the help he got from Faux, and some of his surrogates, in 'spreading the word' on the 'dirt' he'd met with the Russians to get that Wikileaks was releasing.

[erronis]

11. That's my recollection also. That the material was turned over to the FBI by Steele

rather than going via the Democratic campaign.

Of course now the repuglicons think the FBI are all Democrats. Pretty funny leap of "faith".

[griloco]

8. Should be titled, "Don't bother with Trump's latest whataboutism."

The article wouldn't be long.
"It's a TrumpTale."
Though "for TrumpMarks" could be added.

[duforsure]

9. His tells are alarming

He repeatedly uses distraction and misinformation just like putin uses to deflect away from himself over and over again, when everyone is getting wise to his false accusations of what he's really doing, the opposite of the truth. He's been working for putin , and instead of attacking putin after its exposed russia is in the Florida state elections database , then he attacks the NFL black players , that's telling everyone he's putins water boy now. Those in Congress who have taken anything from russia and putin should be shaking in their boots now. trump is using the GRU psychological warfare tactics to con them into believing russia and putin are better than Americans now, and that's pretty obvious who he's loyal too, putin , not us. This latest NFL thing is just to divide people up with for them and putin.

[pazzyanne]

10. History of Steele Dossier:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump%E2%80%93Russia_dossier


'Fusion GPS, a private investigative firm, provided political opposition research against Trump in two distinct phases, with completely separate funders. Fusion GPS was first contracted by a conservative political website, The Washington Free Beacon, and Steele was not involved in that research. When Trump became the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee on May 3, 2016, The Free Beacon stopped their backing. Separately, in April 2016, attorney Marc Elias hired Fusion GPS to investigate Trump on behalf of Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC)."

[erronis]

12. Thanks for that link. Lots of back and forth on its Talk page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Trump%E2%80%93Russia_dossier

Sort of mirrors the obfuscations, deflections, lies, etc. that are part of the repuglicon/russian tactics.

[Martin Eden]

14. Russia intervened to help Trump get elected

The level of gullible idiocy is off the charts for those who believe Hillary colluded with Russia in the election.

[Beartracks]

16. "Intervened" is a much more accurate word than "meddled. " n/t

[Stuart G]

15. Thank You for the post, k and r..

[lagomorph777]

17. I hadn't even made the connection that Trump is apprently referring to Steele with the "collusion"

thing. Jeez what a stretch. But the Deplorables no doubt lap it up.