Here’s the breathless title from Reuters
Former intelligence officials say Trump is being manipulated by Putin
Former CIA Director John Brennan and ex-National Intelligence Director James Clapper both said Trump was mishandling Moscow ties even as a special counsel investigates possible collusion between Trump’s campaign team and Russia.
“I think Mr. Trump is, for whatever reason, either intimidated by Mr. Putin, afraid of what he could do, or what might come out as a result of these investigations… It’s either naiveté, ignorance or fear in terms of what Mr. Trump is doing vis-à-vis the Russians,” Brennan said in an appearance with Clapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Actually, Brennan never said what is being claimed in the title.
Clapper added:
“I do think both the Chinese and the Russians think they can play him,” Clapper said.
Think they can play him is one thing. Being manipulated is another.
What was it Trump said?
“I really believe that, when he tells me that, he means it,”
That doesn’t mean Trump believes it.
But here’s the giveaway line:
Clapper added that foreign leaders who roll out the red carpet for Trump are able to manipulate Trump.
Is that so? Do Clapper and Brennan think Putin was able to manipulate Xi Jinping when he visited Moscow in 2013 and had the red carpet rolled out for him?
Vladimir Putin rolls out the red carpet (and guards on horseback) for visit of President Xi Jinping
Back then rolling out the red carpet meant something important:
The grand welcome was a clear indication of the importance placed on the visit by Moscow. Russia is one of the world’s biggest energy producers, and China is the top energy consumer. These realities tend to outweigh the traditionally tense relations between the two neighbouring giants, who were bitter rivals during the Soviet era despite their ideological links.
Now let’s recall something. Both Brennan and Clapper have lied to Congress. They’ll sure as hell lie to us. Yet why would they say something like foreign leaders who roll out the red carpet for Trump are able to manipulate Trump?
That suggests that every time a red carpet is rolled out it is being done because the host believes he can manipulate the visitor? Is that what Brennan is saying? That would be pretty interesting.
Chinese authorities have rolled out the red carpet for leaders including India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, Brazil’s president, Michel Temer, and the British prime minister, Theresa May, who touched down on Sunday morning.
Was China able to manipulate all those leaders?
Was Japan able to manipulate Trump?
Japan’s Abe rolls out red carpet for Trump
Was Obama able to manipulate Renzi?
Obama rolls out red carpet for Italian ally Matteo Renzi
No, of course not. Why are Clapper and Brennan spewing this drivel? It’s because of the embarrassing way obama was made to exit from the “ass” of Air Force One last year:
“The reception that President Obama and his staff got when they arrived here Saturday afternoon was bruising, even by Chinese standards,” the New York Times reported.
Jorge Guajardo, Mexico’s former ambassador to China, said he was convinced Obama’s treatment was part of a calculated snub.
“These things do not happen by mistake. Not with the Chinese,” Guajardo, who hosted presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Felipe Calderón during his time in Beijing, told the Guardian.
“I’ve dealt with the Chinese for six years. I’ve done these visits. I took Xi Jinpingto Mexico. I received two Mexican presidents in China. I know exactly how these things get worked out. It’s down to the last detail in everything. It’s not a mistake. It’s not.”
Guajardo added: “It’s a snub. It’s a way of saying: ‘You know, you’re not that special to us.’ It’s part of the new Chinese arrogance. It’s part of stirring up Chinese nationalism. It’s part of saying: ‘China stands up to the superpower.’ It’s part of saying: ‘And by the way, you’re just someone else to us.’ It works very well with the local audience.
And
“It sure looks like a straight-up snub,” Bishop said. “This clearly plays very much into the [idea]: ‘Look, we can make the American president go out of the ass of the plane.’”
Which makes some sense, since obama spent eight years diminishing the importance of the US. Clapper and Brennan would have us believe that making the US President leave out of the ass end of the plane is more respectful than a red carpet.
Here is the video for your enjoyment
Is trying to improve relations with Russia a bad thing? It sure wasn’t a bad thing when obama tried in 2014:
President Barack Obama had his first face-to-face chat Friday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, since their relations broke down over the Ukraine crisis early this spring. Their brief conversation about stopping the ongoing bloodshed in eastern Ukraine was the clearest sign yet that ties are on the mend, and that Putin’s decision in March to annex a chunk of Ukrainian territory will not lead to his isolation from the club of Western leaders.
As the Russians like to say, Putin is once again rukopozhatny, or worthy of a handshake.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a leader whose close friends and associates have been the targets of Western sanctions over the past three months. During preparations for Obama’s trip to Europe this week, the White House avoided questions over whether the U.S. President would speak with Putin or even shake his hand in France, where the two gathered on Friday along with a dozen European leaders to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasions.
Brennan and Clapper are not about to let you think the Russians and and Chinese have a higher regard for Trump than they did obama. obama got rolled consistently for eight years by the Russians. He promised to be flexible for them, sold them 20% of US uranium despite knowing the Russians were involved in criminal activity in the US and did nothing as the Russians tried to meddle in US elections. Don’t you wonder why Brennan and Clapper were not bothered by any of this?
It is because they are political hacks.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Yeah, basically, it was a weekend-wide liberal media blitz trying to make it look like the resurgent respect for the United States of America is not what it is. More losers screaming at the sky.
So how soon will they have a idol of Obama so all his loyal boot lickers and get to grovel at its feet and leave their little offerings to it just like the news media dose
Good intelligence officers or investigators have the ability to pay strict attention to detail and filter out the nonsense that obscures clues. These guys don’t seem to have paid very close attention to what Trump actually said.
It seems Liberals need the obvious pointed out to them, the Chinese may be using the sea to hide their submarines.
Reminds me of warning labels on ladders.
The do not eat label on desiccants packs placed in new shoes.
I guess the real manly thing to do would be to sent Putin an email saying he better stop being a meanie or he’ll be most upset.
neither one of these two asshole were qualified for the job. crapper is an old billy the whore dog cabinet member and Brennan is a demorat , a piece of work that severely compromised the cia during his tenure. crapper screwed up a covert mission in two Eastern European countries that tied heroin trafficking to isis to weapons filtered through Africa.
So General Flynn is charged with lying to the FBI? I thought Hillary pretty definitively established that lying to the FBI was OK?
When Candidate Trump thought he might get your support, but he disagreed with your solution to a problem he had a cool way of dealing with it so as not to alienate you.
There were several young adults who asked candidate Trump if he would consider forgiving student loans (over $1 trillion in debt!)
He said he had a better solution: to improve the economy so grads could find better-paying jobs than barrister at Starbucks.
That way, grads could pay back their own student loans.
I bet he even got a few of these indebted grads to vote for him, too.
So, when President Trump meets wold leaders who he doesn’t have all that much in common with, he looks for whatever common ground there is and emphasizes that, minimizing areas of disagreement.
He’s not being manipulated.
He’s manipulating!
He’s disarming the enemy.
And, look at the results, $billions in deals from those places, he’s succeeding!
Now look what Putin forced Trump to do
HHS Secretary: Trump donating his 3rd quarter salary to help fight America’s opioid crisis pic.twitter.com/96srAaNCw2
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 30, 2017
@Bill… Deplorable Me: All just another left wing wet dream. The key word is “transition”. All incoming transition teams have contact with foreign governments. In 2008, Obama’s campaign contacted Russian officials before the election. Not a peep from anyone. Trump’s transition team had contacts with 12 governments including Russia. Nothing unusual.
In the meantime, we know for a fact that Hillary broke the law with her email server. We know for a fact that Hillary lied before Congress when she claimed she handed over all of her emails. We know for a fact that Hillary operated pay for play at the State Department. We know for a fact Clapper lied to Congress when he said Americans weren’t being spied on. We know for a fact Comey obstructed justice with Hillary’s email investigation. We know for a fact Comey perjured himself multiple times before Congress when questioned about the email investigation. We know for a fact Lynch attempted to obstruct justice with Hillary’s email investigation. We know for a fact Obama officials illegally eavesdropped on and unmasked Americans for political purposes. Yet, no charges against any of them. Let them take down Trump on bullshit charges and see what happens when 62 million plus Americans have their votes flushed down the toilet in a coup.