Name:   copperline - Subject:   good question Date:   7/7/2017 11:19:18 AM

I have been wondering what your opinions on all this would be, having picked up on some of your experience & assuming you had a different perspective than the average person.   My post was intended to be provocative, I think it’s very important to point out the contradictions in our opinions about D Trump, the Russians, etc.    I think it’s also important to point out to people that Trump supporters have been drawn into the position of excusing, tolerating and turning a blind eye to the intentions behind what we are calling “the Russian Hack”.   It’s much bigger in scope than a simple computer hack job & theft of documents, and those same people who have been historically suspicious of Russian intentions have changed their minds.

 For my part, I think what we are looking at is the culmination of a large-scale intelligence operation that was designed to successful disrupt as much of the integral processes of the US society as possible   (Like the integrity of election results & confidence in the electoral process) and discredit H Clinton.  It also appears that D Trump was a person of interest to Russian intelligence operations going back some years, quite likely an asset who was cultivated over time…. Trump may or may not have been a conscious player, in fact, it would be a more common procedure for ex-KGB operatives to draw him in (think loans from Russian banks) and develop leverage over him without him being aware of what he was getting himself into.   Part of an operation like that would also include developing connections to other people in Trump’s orbit who might be useful points of influence on him.    The actual election of D Trump may have surprised even the Russians, whose ambitions could have been met just by proving they could influence US public opinion with their support of a self-described “disrupter” of the US political process.   An intelligence operation like this would be considered successful just on the basis of causing more polarization among the electorate of the target country.    Actually getting their preferred candidate elected to the US Presidency may have been so far-fetched as to not be seriously anticipated.

 Trump has all the attributes of the Stuxnet virus, launched by Putin into the US system.    Do you think that US Intelligence folks would think that was a fair analogy?

 Are you content to believe that D Trump is well aware of the risks, and that his ego will let him rationally assess the dangers involved when Russians inject themselves into our elections?  Or do you think he has a blind-spot that makes his ability to effectively respond unlikely?   Do you think he has been sufficently curious about what happened?  He certainly has not been outraged & instead took time in his European speech to cast doubt on the integrity of US Intelligence and importance of a Free Press.   All of that on foreign soil, too.

 Do you think the investigations of US Intelligence agencies are all pointedly flawed and should be dismissed by voters as D Trump is advocating?    

 If you wanted to do harm to a target country, could you come up with a better idea than to elect a man who has never held any political office before, nor military experience, nor foreign policy & diplomatic experience… a man who is so completely confident in his intelligence & wisdom that he dismisses his own countries’ Intelligence apparatus (they are all lying about me) and military (I know more than the generals, and POW’s are losers), the free press (they are all fake news)…    A man who is so absolutely boastful & conceded, but then can’t respond cogently to reporter’s questions on policy issues?

 Your skepticism regarding allegations, published reports, and my overall opinions is understandable.     You are right, I never worked around US intelligence operations.   But I do have some experience with the vulnerabilities of certain character types to manipulation and to the risks that certain character types present when we put them in positions of authority & power.   Trump has always had vulnerabilities that make him a dangerous man to elect as POTUS.    There were glaring warning signs then, and they continue today.      

I’m going to keep pointing that out, just like I did in the campaign, because I think we are in a crisis of leadership like we have never seen before….