Trump wouldn't give the media a show in Russia, so they're mad

by Eddie Scarry

| July 19, 2018 12:00 AM

You can acknowledge that President Trump gave an embarrassingly weak performance at the press conference following his face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, while rejecting the media’s weird preoccupation that Trump didn’t publicly insult Putin to his face.

In 2018, every day goes down as a bad day if Trump didn’t use it to condemn Russia for interfering with the 2016 election.

If you didn’t watch the conference live on Monday and instead only saw the media’s coverage of it, you’re forgiven for maybe falling under the impression that Trump disowned the U.S. intelligence community and pledged allegiance to Putin.

“Trump sides with Putin over US intelligence,” said a headline at CNN’s website.

Politico declared that Trump “publicly sides with Putin on election interference.”

What Trump actually did was give a typical noncommittal response to an issue he hates talking about: His win, and whether an outside influence had anything to do with it.

“So, I have great confidence in my intelligence people,” he said. “But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

Trump also said he didn’t “see any reason why it would” have been Russia, though the next day he said he had meant to say “wouldn’t” have been Russia.

Asked whether there was anything he wanted to fault Russia for in sour relations with the U.S., Trump said, “I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish.”

None of this is any different than anything Trump has said since his inauguration. His skepticism of the intelligence community is well known. His stated belief that the U.S. should have better relations with Russia, and that the Obama administration deserves blame for much of it, is on the record. And his reflexively defensive posture against the slightest suggestion that he didn’t fairly win the one campaign he has ever done has been demonstrated over and over and over.

That Trump was supposed to say something different because he was in front of Putin (who he had just had two hours-worth of negotiations with) and it would have been a good show for the media is absurd.

But immediately after the conference, CNN’s supposedly objective Anderson Cooper greeted viewers by calling it “perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president” that he had “ever seen.” (Mind you, having been spanked on stage by Madonna, those are searing words from Cooper about any “performance.”)

Because Trump didn’t say the complete opposite of what he’s been saying for at least a year and a half, the media want everyone to be offended.

Several Republicans followed suit by saying Trump should have rebuked Putin to his face, but that’s been the standard GOP position for exactly 1 billion years, so there’s another nonevent. Trump, by comparison, openly stated at his campaign events that he believed he would personally “get along” with Putin.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/trump-wouldnt-give-the-media-a-show-in-russia-so-theyre-mad

MAGA gets a mention

James Comey's cheerleading for Democrats plays into Trump's hands

by W. James Antle III

| July 19, 2018 12:00 AM

If President Trump was colluding with or compromised by Russian President Vladimir Putin, how would his behavior be any different?

So it has been asked countless times, phrased in various ways, since Helsinki. Trump deserves the lumps he has taken for his supine press conference performance and weak subsequent clarification, but he is not the only one whose conduct raises questions.

If recent former heads of the FBI and CIA were partisan opponents of Trump abetting or even inciting a "deep state" revolt against the president of the United States, how would they behave any differently?

Fired former FBI Director James Comey literally became a partisan opponent of Trump when he endorsed a Democratic takeover of Congress Tuesday night.

Judging the Republican Congress incapable of checking the president, Comey took to Twitter to proclaim, “All who believe in this country’s values must vote for Democrats this fall. Policy differences don’t matter right now. History has its eyes on us.”

This use of the ballot box to rebuke Trump is mild compared to former CIA Director John Brennan’s implicit call for impeachment. Brennan tweeted — do important national figures communicate any other way? — that Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors, crossing the Constitution’s threshold for removal from office.

“It was nothing short of treasonous,” Brennan fumed. “Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin.”

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had already called Trump a Putin/KGB “asset” and written that Russian interference clearly swung the election in the president’s favor, which is stronger than the judgment national intelligence agencies have publicly rendered.

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA and NSA chief, tweeted out emojis depicting himself laughing at Trump and reminded his followers to vote in November.

What is it about Trump that drags even his fiercest critics down to his level?

All these men have a right to their opinions. Now that they are out of government service, they are also freer to express them publicly. And none of them are tweeting intemperately from the White House, as their target routinely does.

But given the growing partisan divide and deepening distrust of our national institutions, they should possess a bit more self-awareness and restraint than they are displaying here. If Trump is conforming to Resistance expectations of Putin perfidy, these tweets are straight out of the MAGA imagination of "deep state" resistance — no pun intended — if not a conspiracy against the president.

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/james-comeys-cheerleading-for-democrats-plays-into-trumps-hands

Congressional conservatives should settle net neutrality for good

by Michi Iljazi

| July 19, 2018 12:00 AM

On June 11, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s landmark Restoring Internet Freedom order officially took effect, ending a failed three-year experiment in investment-killing federal micromanagement of the broadband market.

And believe it or not, the world is still standing.

Despite months of apocalyptic predictions from the Left, the FCC’s policy change didn’t break the Internet. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had famously warned back in February that Yankees fans trying to stream a game on their phones might only be shown every other pitch if Obama-era broadband utility rules were repealed; as a Tampa Bay Rays fan I haven’t personally tested his theory, but the lack of wide scale rioting across the Tri-State Area would seem to suggest Schumer missed the mark on that one.

READ MORE:

https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/congressional-conservatives-should-settle-net-neutrality-for-good

‘DISGRACE’: TRUMP CONFRONTS TURKEY’S ERDOGAN OVER JAILED AMERICAN PASTOR

2:08 AM 07/19/2018

President Donald Trump broke new ground on Wednesday by publicly confronting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over an American pastor who Trump says is being held “hostage” in a Turkish jail.

“A total disgrace that Turkey will not release a respected U.S. Pastor, Andrew Brunson, from prison. He has been held hostage far too long,” Trump tweeted. “[Erdogan] should do something to free this wonderful Christian husband & father. He has done nothing wrong, and his family needs him!”

Trump’s tweet comes after a Turkish court refused earlier on Wednesday to release Brunson from jail, where he has been held since October 2016 on flimsy charges that he aided terrorist organizations.

Brunson, who operated Christian churches in Turkey for 23 years, has been accused of helping supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who is living in exile in Pennsylvania. (RELATED: Trump: American Pastor Jailed In Turkey Is ‘Totally Innocent Man’)

Erdogan has called on the U.S. to extradite Gulen. The Turkish leader claims that Gulen, his former ally, masterminded a failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt against the Turkish government. Erdogan has led a crackdown on Turkish society, universities and the media as part of an effort to root out Gulen supporters. Tens of thousands have been arrested or fired as part of the purge.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have reportedly worked behind the scenes to free Brunson, but Trump has so far commented very little in public about the case. (RELATED: Erdogan Again Shows He’s Holding American Pastor Hostage In Turkish Prison)

https:// dailycaller.com/2018/07/18/trump-erdogan-jailed-pastor/

FBI DIRECTOR: CHINESE ESPIONAGE ‘MOST SIGNIFICANT’ SPY THREAT FACING US

1:04 AM 07/19/2018

Chuck Ross | Reporter

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China, rather than Russia, is the “most significant” long-term threat to the United States, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday.

During an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt at the Aspen Ideas Forum, Wray said that the FBI has economic espionage investigations in all 50 states that trace back to Chinese activity.

“It covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between,” said Wray.

Most of the forum focused on the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and in other arenas. Wray’s appearance comes in the wake of two significant indictments in Russia-related investigations. (RELATED: Trump Fights Back Against China By Limiting Chinese Student Visas)

The special counsel’s office on Friday indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers allegedly involved in disseminating emails stolen from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. And on Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted a Russian national named Maria Butina who allegedly attempted to infiltrate Republican political circles and that National Rifle Association. (RELATED: Grand Jury Indicts Russian National Linked To NRA, Adds ‘Foreign Agent’ Charge)

Wray acknowledged the seriousness of the Russian threat, saying that the U.S. has to deal with it “very aggressively.”

“There are certainly other countries that…have their own ways of influencing our public opinion, our politicians, our business community. But there’s no question that Russia has been by far the most aggressive actor in the space we’re talking about right now,” he said of Russia’s campaign-related efforts.

But China is “trying to position itself as the sole dominant superpower,” said Wray. “They’re trying to replace the United States in that role.”

“I think China from a counterintelligence perspective represents in many ways represents the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat we face as a country,” he added.

He said that China’s espionage activities are “a whole of state effort” that involves “economic espionage as well as traditional espionage” and “human sources as well as cyber means.”

“The volume of it, the pervasive of it, the significance of it, is something that I think this country cannot underestimate,” he said.

https:// dailycaller.com/2018/07/18/christopher-wray-china-significant-spy-threat/

CNN Hires Staff That Support Cop Killers

CNN COMMENTATOR PRAISES COP KILLER WHO FLED TO CUBA AFTER ESCAPING FROM PRISON IN THE 1980S

10:14 PM 07/18/2018

CNN’s commentator Marc Lamont Hill posted a photo on Instagram praising Assata Shakur, a woman convicted of killing a law enforcement officer back in 1977, in an Instagram post on Monday

marclamonthillThinking about Assata Shakur on her 71st birthday. She wrote the second book that changed (and saved) my life. She taught me about the value and power of Freedom Dreams. She showed me the beauty of struggle. And she proved that "a wall is just a wall. and nothing more at all. It can be broken down." I pray for her continued safety and protection. I continue to work to demonstrate her innocence. And I implore the State to stop prosecuting an unjust and unfair campaign against one of our most treasured Freedom Fighters. Thank you Mama Assata. Wishing you 100 more years! #palenquequeen

“She wrote the second book that changed (and saved) my life. She taught me about the value and power of Freedom Dreams,” Lamont Hill wrote.

“I pray for her continued safety and protection. I continue to work to demonstrate her innocence. And I implore the State to stop prosecuting an unjust and unfair campaign against one of our most treasured Freedom Fighters,” he continued.

https:// dailycaller.com/2018/07/18/cnn-praise-cop-killer/