Trump has been extorting U.S. ally Ukraine—and we've known it for months

Mark Sumner

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Volodymyr Zelensky ran for president of Ukraine on a platform of cleaning up corruption and turning the nation toward the west. Then the first thing his biggest western ally did … was call him up and demand that he fabricate evidence against a political opponent. And Donald Trump made it very clear that, unless Zelensky found someone to spoon the make-believe dirt about Joe Biden, he would leave the nation hanging, lacking in everything it needed to defend itself against an ongoing Russian invasion. 

Horrible as the truth about the whistleblower report may seem, there’s something even more horrible—we already knew this. It’s not as if Trump and bagman Rudy Giuliani have been subtle. Giuiliani went right on the front page of The New York Times, which was happy to give him the space, to explain how he and Trump had leaned on a former prosecutor to concoct a story Giuliani knew to be untrue. And how did Giuliani describe what he was doing?

Giuliani: We’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do. … There’s nothing illegal about it. Somebody could say it’s improper. And this isn’t foreign policy—I’m asking them to do an investigation that they’re doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. And I’m going to give them reasons why they shouldn’t stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government.

Giuliani’s first attempt to create a scandal by “meddling in an investigation” to help Trump fell apart when the prosecutor who first agreed to read Rudy’s pre-written script got cold feet and admitted the whole thing was a lie. That didn’t stop Giuliani, or Trump. Giuliani went back to Ukraine, but was disappointed to find that people in the new government didn’t want to talk to him. Didn’t want to talk to him so much, that he was forced to go to Madrid to threaten a Ukrainian official there.

From the moment it started, it was clear that the scandal in this story wasn’t Biden’s. It all belonged to Trump and Giuliani. And it’s been clear for some time that Trump was determined to have Ukraine’s help in the 2020 election … even if it took using the power of the White House to show Ukraine what corruption really looks like.

Trump’s connection to Ukraine has been turning up again and again since well before he was elected. Not only was the importance of protecting Ukraine downgraded in the Republican Party platform at the request of Trump’s campaign, it was in Ukraine that Trump’s campaign chair Paul Manafort did his best work—where best means selling out an American ally to, and helping to install a pro-Russian government, while walking away with millions under the table.

But since this spring, the idea of convincing Ukraine to give Trump something he could use to smear Biden has become an obsession. And while Giuliani has been the public face of that effort, he’s never hidden the fact that Trump was working directly with him to convince Ukrainian officials to play ball.

Some coverage over the last year … 

May 2, 2019 — Trump and Giuliani are pushing a scandal in Ukraine
May 7, 2019 — The “scandal” Trump was counting on to bring down Biden is falling apart
May 10, 2019 — Giuliani “meddling in investigation” … ”to help my client.”
May 11, 2019 — Trump recalls ambassador to Ukraine to help Giuliani
May 14, 2019 — Ukranian prosecutor admits Biden story was manufactured
May 17, 2019 — Everything Giuliani has been selling about Biden in Ukraine is a lie
Aug 22, 2019 — Giuliani is back to creating a fake scandal in Ukraine
Aug 29, 2019 — Trump withholding military aid makes Ukraine vulnerable to Russia
Sep 7, 2019 — Trump attempting to extort Ukraine into providing Biden scandal
Sep 10, 2019 — Three House committees announce investigation of Trump’s actions in Ukraine
Sep 13, 2019 — Trump agrees to release military aid after apparent blackmail effort fails 

And today we don’t just have word that the actions regarding Ukraine are at the center of the still unreleased whistleblower report — we have this unmatched performance from Rudy Giuliani to put a cherry on the scandal cake.

Why You Should Join Global Climate Strike Friday

Greta Thunberg, center, joins activists outside the United Nations during a protest against climate change on September 6, in New York. (photo: Bryan R Smith/Getty)

By Bill McKibben, Guardian UK

19 September 19

There are countless reasons to strike. Here are just a few...

A year ago, inspired by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg, young people around the world began ‘climate-striking’ – walking out of school for a few hours to demand action against the global warming that darkens their future. In May, when 1.4 million kids around the world walked out of school, they asked for adults to join them next time. That next time is 20 September (in a few countries 27 September), and it is shaping up to be the biggest day of climate action in the planet’s history: every one from big trade unions to a thousand workers at the Amazon headquarters, and from college kids to senior citizens, are setting the day aside to rally in their cities and towns for faster action from our governments and industries. You can find out what’s happening in your community at globalclimatestrike.net.

But it will only be a success on the scale we need if lots of people who aren’t the regular suspects join in. Many people, of course, can’t do without a day’s pay, or work for bosses who who would fire them if they missed work. So it really matters that those of us with the freedom to rally do so. Since I published the first book for a general audience on climate change 30 years ago this month, I’ve had lots of time to think about the various ways to move people to action. Let me offer a few:

Strike because the people who did the least to cause this crisis suffer first and worst – the people losing their farms to desert and watching their islands sink beneath the waves aren’t the ones who burned the coal and gas and oil.

Strike because coral reefs are so gloriously beautiful and complex – and so vulnerable.

Strike because sun and wind are now the cheapest way to generate power around the world – if we could match the political power of the fossil fuel industry we could make fast progress.

Strike because we’ve already lost half the animals on the planet since 1970 – the earth is a lonelier place.

Strike because our governments move with such painful slowness, treating climate change as, at worst, one problem on a long list.

Strike because this could be the great opportunity – and maybe the last opportunity – to transform our society towards justice and towards joy. Green New Deals have been proposed around the world; they are a way forward.

Strike because forests now seem like fires waiting to happen.

Strike because young people have asked us to. In a well-ordered society, when kids make a reasonable request their elders should say yes – in this case with real pride and hope that the next generations are standing up for what matters.

Strike because every generation faces some great crisis, and this is ours.

Strike because half the children in New Delhi have irreversible lung damage simply from breathing the air.

Strike because Exxon and the rest knew all about global warming in the 1980s, and then lied so they could keep cashing in.

Strike because what we do this decade will matter for hundreds of thousands a year.

Strike because the temperature has hit 129F (54C) in big cities in recent summers. The human body can survive that, but only for a few hours.

Strike because do we want to be the first generations to leave the planet in worse shape?

Strike because batteries are ever cheaper – we can now store sunshine at night, and wind for a calm day.

Strike because the UN estimates unchecked climate change could create a billion refugees this century.

Strike because the big banks continue to lend hundreds of billions to the fossil fuel industry – people are literally trying to get rich off the destruction of the planet.Strike because what animal fouls its own nest?

Strike because indigenous people around the world are trying to protect their rightful land from the coal and oil companies – and in the process protect all of us.

Strike because every time they cut down a patch of rainforest to grow some more cows, the climate math gets harder.

Strike because science is real, because physics exists, because chemistry matters.

Strike so you can look your grandkid – or anyone else’s – in the eye.

Strike because the world we were given is still so sweet.

Trump skips 'invasion' rhetoric to make fake pitch to Latinos during New Mexico rally

Gabe Ortiz

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday September 17, 2019 · 9:36 AM MDT

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Let’s just be clear from the start: Donald Trump is not going to win the Latino vote. He didn’t in 2016, and he won’t in 2020. Sure, he’ll get some—Latinos are not a monolith, and there are civilian versions of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio scattered everywhere—but overall this mierda remains deeply unpopular, “with four out of five registered voters disapproving of the president's performance,” per recent Univision polling. 

That being said, Trump made an embarrassing campaign stop in New Mexico to try to win their vote anyway, noting the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, claiming he’s “working night and day” for “extraordinary Mexican Americans,” and touting their low unemployment rate. There’s plenty of debate to be had about how much he has to do with that in the first place, but ever notice that really the only time Republicans talk about “the Hispanics” in a non-offensive way these days is when noting this talking point?

Otherwise, it’s “predator,” “alien,” “killer,” criminal,” animal,” and “invasion,” according to an analysis of Trump’s rallies since 2017. The latter has been used by the president of the United States 19 times, and is the same wording used by the white supremacist terrorist who targeted the Latino community in El Paso, Texas.

But in New Mexico, Trump saved those choice words for another rally on another night, at one point singling out Steve Cortes, a loyalist from his Hispanic Advisory Council, saying, to audience laughter, “He happens to be Hispanic, but I’ve never quite figured it out because he looks more like a WASP than I do.” 

Cringe. To think that people like Cortes actually put up with being humiliated in front of an arena like this, all for power or relevancy or safety or who the fuck knows. Happy Hispanic Heritage Month, Steve. But wait, Trump wasn’t done with you just yet. “I’ll tell you what, there is nobody that loves this country more or Hispanic more than Steve Cortes … who do you like more, the country or the Hispanics?” Trump interrogated from the stage, because of course “the Hispanics” are incapable of treasuring both their heritage and their home.

Cortes, visible to Trump but not the cameras, must’ve motioned something to appease him. “He says the country,” Trump told the audience. “I don’t know. I may have to go for the Hispanics, to be honest with you. We’ve got a lot of Hispanics.

We love our Hispanics. Get out and vote.” Ah, ”Get out and vote.” Cut out those last two words, and there’s never been a more honest statement from Donald Trump about how he truly feels about “the Hispanics.” 

Donald Trump is a deeply stupid man who routinely gets his ass kicked on the world stage

Laurence Lewis for Daily Kos

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Sunday September 15, 2019 · 9:40 AM MDT

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Donald Trump is a deeply stupid man, and that stupidity is just one of the many ways he is undermining American national security. The latest example was reported this week:

President Donald Trump has left the impression with foreign officials, members of his administration, and others involved in Iranian negotiations that he is actively considering a French plan to extend a $15 billion credit line to the Iranians if Tehran comes back into compliance with the Obama-era nuclear deal.

Trump has in recent weeks shown openness to entertaining President Emmanuel Macron’s plan, according to four sources with knowledge of Trump’s conversations with the French leader. Two of those sources said that State Department officials, including Secretary Mike Pompeo, are also open to weighing the French proposal, in which the Paris government would effectively ease the economic sanctions regime that the Trump administration has applied on Tehran for more than a year.

The deal put forward by France would compensate Iran for oil sales disrupted by American sanctions. A large portion of Iran’s economy relies on cash from oil sales. Most of that money is frozen in bank accounts across the globe. The $15 billion credit line would be guaranteed by Iranian oil. In exchange for the cash, Iran would have to come back into compliance with the nuclear accord it signed with the world’s major powers in 2015. Tehran would also have to agree not to threaten the security of the Persian Gulf or to impede maritime navigation in the area.

Lastly, Tehran would have to commit to regional Middle East talks in the future.

Let's be clear: At the end of May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran was still in compliance with the deal. Iran has been in compliance all along. It was Trump who first threatened to break the deal. The European Union urged Congress to preserve it. And then even though Iran was in compliance with the deal, and it was he who was threatening to break it, Trump also threatened to sanction European businesses that do business with Iran. And then Trump did break the deal. This was a crisis entirely of Trump's own making.

Iran's leaders are not nice, but they are smart. They saw what the Bush-Cheney administration did to Iraq. Saddam Hussein was not Iran’s friend. But he did give up his weapons of mass destruction, and Bush-Cheney took advantage of that. And like all aspirants to nuclear weapons, Iranian leaders understood that they were in a better position to bargain if they had nuclear weapons than if they left themselves open to being invaded and devastated for no reason, the way Iraq was.

So Iran ramped up the development of its nuclear weapons program, and then President Obama and the European Union made a deal with them to end that program. They abided by that deal, and then Trump broke it.

Republican presidents are dangerous to national and world security, but none more than Trump. By breaking the deal with Iran, Trump gave Iran the incentive to resume its arms program, which they have done. Which makes the world less safe. Because that's what Trump's ineptitude does: make the world less safe.

Trump's lickspittle Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was outraged that Iran was again ramping up its nuclear weapons program, nevermind why. And with tensions again rising, Trump did what he always does on the world stage: He got his ass kicked. Now he's considering giving Iran $15 billion dollars in credit to get back in compliance with the deal with which it had always been in compliance—until Trump gave them the incentive not to be. That's Trump's artistry in making deals: getting his ass kicked.

North Korea also learned the lesson from the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq, and now has a rapidly developing nuclear weapons program. North Korea's despotic leader Kim Jong Un also wanted to use his weapons program as a bargaining chip to cut a deal with the economically developed world. He is smart where Trump is stupid, and realized that by flattering Trump, by pretending to like and respect him, he could have his way with Trump. And it worked.

Kim and his father and his grandfather always wanted to be taken seriously on the world stage. It would strengthen them at home. It would legitimize their tyrannous regime. And one big prize they'd always dreamed of attaining was a meeting with an American president. It would make them look big. Every American president, Republican and Democrat, refused to give them that gift. But Kim played Trump for the deeply stupid man that he is and got that meeting.

Kim pretended that he might end his nuclear weapons program, and Republicans and some in the American media even hyperventilated when Kim said he'd like to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, as if Trump had attained something. They were as stupid as Trump, not understanding that denuclearizing the Korean peninsula would mean South Korea no longer was protected by the American nuclear umbrella. This would mean that North Korea's massive conventional military would have overwhelming superiority on the Korean peninsula. Kim went ahead and kept building his nuclear program, and then Trump met with him again.

Trump thought this was a great success, which it was—for Kim. And Trump again got nothing. Kim keeps developing his nuclear weapons program, because Trump got played again. Because Trump is a deeply stupid man who routinely gets his ass kicked on the world stage.

Trump wanted a trade war with China. Because he thought he could bluster and bully and get his way. But like the rest of the world, China is laughing at Trump, when they're not scratching their heads because Trump is so deeply stupid, and his administration so profoundly incompetent that China doesn't even know with whom to negotiate. But Trump got his trade war. Which he is losing. Because he is a deeply stupid man.

Trump's trade war already has cost 300,000 American jobs. And every time he opens his mouth about China, the American stock markets get spooked. And then after threatening to escalate his trade war, Trump backed down, and now desperately wants to find a way out of yet another crisis that is entirely of his own making. Because he has no idea what he’s doing. Because he is a deeply stupid man who routinely gets his ass kicked on the world stage.

This would be funny if it weren't so serious. Trump's trade war could devastate the American economy. A nuclear armed Iran would be bad for everyone. A North Korea that is ramping up its nuclear program is bad for everyone. And that the guy who sits at the big desk in the Oval Office is a deeply stupid man who routinely gets his ass kicked on the world stage also is bad for everyone.

Except for those foreign leaders who routinely kick his ass.

Someday You'll Understand What I'm Telling You

Garrison Keillor. (photo: MPR)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Your Gazette Blog editor recently turned 77.  So did Garrison Keillor.  What he had to say on this dubious occasion is worth sharing.)

By Garrison Keillor, Garrison Keillor's Website

16 September 19

readersupportednews.org

 

y birthday is this week, which I mention by way of saying, “Please. No gifts.” My love and I went through major downsizing in January and we are pretty much done with Things now, even a picture of a wilderness lake taken by you or an inspirational book that could change our lives. My life is good enough. Every day is precious. When you reach 77, you’ll feel the same way. It’s a shame that a con man is in the White House as the Arctic is melting and white nationalists are shooting up our cities, but we’ll be okay, we just need a Trexit vote next year.

I reached my present age thanks to medical advances that didn’t exist for my uncles (than whom I am now somewhat older) nor for Dostoevsky (59) or Thoreau (44). Pharmaceuticals would’ve enabled Dostoevsky to retire from writing agonizing novels and switch over to light comedy in his old age and Thoreau to leave Concord and move to New York and find a girlfriend. He went out on a cold rainy night to look at trees and caught bronchitis, which agitated his TB and he went into a steep decline. As he lay dying, his aunt asked if he’d made his peace with God, and Henry said, “I was not aware that we had ever quarreled.” So he had a good last line, which many people don’t, but think what he and his girlfriend could’ve done with thirty more years. Go into the canoe business, buy a house with a lawn, beget kiddoes, enjoy evenings at home, Isabelle lying with her head in Henry’s lap, reading “Walden,” laughing at the funny parts.

Life is unbearably precious. Two heroes of mine died in car crashes when I was in college, and yet I myself, a couple years later, driving north on Highway 47 in my 1956 Ford, on a straight stretch in Isanti County, gunned it to 100 mph just to see what it felt like. It felt good. Then a pickup truck eased out of a driveway and onto the road. This was before seat belts. In a split second, I swerved to go behind him and it was a good choice — he didn’t back up — otherwise he and I would’ve been forever joined in a headline. I hope he has enjoyed his survival. Whenever I relive those fifteen seconds, all regrets vanish, all complaints evaporate.

I am now older than my older brother, who died ten years ago at 71. He slipped while skating and fell backward and hit his head. I think of him often. He was a scientist and engineer, a problem-solver, a sailor, a family man, and when faced with a personal dilemma, it’s good to ask, “What would Philip have said?” He tends to recommend patience, attention to detail, and taking a break for a few hours, perhaps on a boat, during which the answer may suddenly occur to you.

I don’t brood about death as the actual date approaches. My mother (97) enjoyed herself into her mid-nineties, flew places, saw her ancestral Scotland, cruised the coast of Alaska, and seemed, all in all, happier than when she had six little kids to worry about. We grew up near the Mississippi and she thought extensively about drowning. When cousin Roger (17) drowned, trying to impress his girlfriend Susan, Mother sent me to swimming lessons at the Y, but I couldn’t bear it, the instructor was such a bully, so I went to the library instead, a wise choice on my part, and I grew up to earn my way as a writer rather than as a professional swimmer.

Nature is not interested in my twilight years; past 30, semen develops problems, man becomes irrelevant in the furtherance of the species. God created erectile dysfunction because old men can’t be trusted to raise kids. Living past 70 is an artificial idea, a lovely idea, like flying or anesthesia, but still. So an old man needs to justify his continuance, taking up space and being a traffic hazard on the freeway by driving the speed limit. My reason for living is simply this: I am still working and my best work may be yet ahead of me.

I say, 77 is a fine age, way beyond 17 or 37 or 57, but take your time getting there, and remember to marry someone who is good company and can carry one end of the conversation and sometimes both. There’s the real message. That’s worth reading to the end of the column to find out.

NYT uncovers new allegation against Brett Kavanaugh that the FBI ignored

Aldous J Pennyfarthing

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Saturday September 14, 2019 · 6:59 PM MDT

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So remember Brett “Bart O’Kavanaugh” Kavanaugh? He’s on the Supreme Court now because he screamed a lot at one of his hearings and the FBI did at most a 1/16th-ass investigation of the sexual assault and attempted rape claims against him.

Today, in a feature on Kavanaugh accuser Deborah Ramirez, who claimed Kavanaugh thrust his penis in front of her during a drunken dorm party while they were both students at Yale, The New York Times rather nonchalantly dropped this I-would-say-earth-shattering accusation into its story:

We also uncovered a previously unreported story about Mr. Kavanaugh in his freshman year that echoes Ms. Ramirez’s allegation. A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. Mr. Stier, who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account, but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly. (We corroborated the story with two officials who have communicated with Mr. Stier.)

Mr. Kavanaugh did not speak to us because we could not agree on terms for an interview. But he has denied Dr. Ford’s and Ms. Ramirez’s allegations, and declined to answer our questions about Mr. Stier’s account.

That seems, uh, significant.

Apparently, the FBI disagreed.

Oh, and then there’s this:

Ms. Ramirez’s legal team gave the F.B.I. a list of at least 25 individuals who may have had corroborating evidence. But the bureau — in its supplemental background investigation — interviewed none of them, though we learned many of these potential witnesses tried in vain to reach the F.B.I. on their own.

Hmm. It’s almost as if Republicans didn’t want to get to the bottom of these allegations at all.

The Air Force didn't make one stop at Trump's Scottish golf course—it was there at least 40 times

Trump up to his neck in Turnberry scandal.

 

Mark Sumner

Daily Kos Staff

Friday September 13, 2019 · 8:00 AM MDT

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When the Turnberry scandal began, it was over the crew of a single U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane being routed out of its way to spend the night at Donald Trump’s Scottish golf resort. However, the $10 million fuel bill at nearby Prestwick Airport suggested that the count of visiting military jets was much higher.

By Wednesday, it was clear that at least four air crews had visited Trump’s failing resort, as the Air Force reported that it would have to dig through individual trip vouchers to find out if there were more. It found more.

As Politico reports, that shuffling through the paperwork has so far produced no fewer than 40 instances of air crews staying at Turnberry since 2015. The Air Force hasn’t said how many of those stays happened since Trump’s election. 

It’s also not clear how many people were involved in each of these stays. Previous reports showed the number of crew members put up in a single visit ranging from five to 40. So these visits represent hundreds of rooms at Trump’s resort—maybe over a thousand.

Which means that those military rooms aren’t just a drop in the bucket for Trump. They’re a significant part of the million-dollar turnaround at his resort over the last year. At least one of these stays happened this summer.

Trump’s resort is over half an hour away from Prestwick, and getting there means driving past many lower-cost hotels. But Trump signed an agreement with the airport that puts the resort at the top of a list of locations where air crews are sent for the evening. That agreement came just a year after the Air Force signed a deal with the Glasgow-area airport as a potential refueling site.

The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into why the military has been taking Trump up on so many free rounds of golf at Turnberry, even as Trump is cutting into the military budget to take away funds for building his border fence. 

Democratic senators have been pushing the Senate to take up this investigation, along with passing a bill that would prevent the Pentagon from spending money at a number of Trump properties.