Russian troubles Archives

Before the election, Trump-Russia relations were all a-glow.
Trumpians met with Russians as if no one would ever know.
But in light of the revelations
And ongoing investigations,
Donald characterizes Russkie relations as at an “all-time low.”

Flynn’s Veep Sin

February 14, 2017March 17, 2017 Buck Banks

When you call up the Rooskies to negotiate sanctions,
You can be pretty sure several spooks are a-listenin’.
But when Mike Flynn briefed Mike Pence,
He lied to him, and hence
Lost his job over the euphemism, “incomplete information.”

Tag: Russian troubles

U.S. Spies Paid Bogus Russian $100k

$100,000

“After months of secret negotiations, a shadowy Russian bilked American spies out of $100,000 last year, promising to deliver stolen National Security Agency cyber-weapons in a deal that he insisted would also include compromising material on President Trump,” the New York Times reports.

Trump Offers to Pay for Staff Legal Bills in Russia Probe

$430,000

President Trump has promised to spend at least $430,000 of his own money to defray legal costs incurred by campaign associates and White House staff due to the Russia investigations, Axios reports.

Putin More Trusted than Trump Globally

22 out of 36

A new Pew Research survey finds that respondents in 22 out of 36 countries trusted Russian President Vladimir Putin more than President Trump when it comes to handling global affairs. And that includes American allies like Germany, France and Japan.

From Detente to …

Flynn’s Veep Sin

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“As is so often the case, Donald Trump’s opponents are playing into his hands. This is exactly the kind of fight that Donald Trump loves, with his opponents carrying Mexican flags past burning cars.”

— Republican pollster Whit Ayres, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

“Don’t kid yourself they know they are absolutely getting cooked politically with their terrible bill and rising prices, and they want to create a violent spectacle to feed their content machine. It’s time for the mainstream media to describe this authoritarian madness accurately.”

— Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), reacting on X to President Trump sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles.

“The people have spoken. A new political party is needed in America to represent the 80% in the middle! And exactly 80% of people agree. This is fate.”

— Elon Musk floated a new political party on Friday after falling out with President Trump over the big, beautiful bill, The Hill reports. He followed up with a potential name for the group, “The America Party.”

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s alliance took off like one of SpaceX’s rockets. It was supercharged and soared high. And then it blew up.”

— Associated Press

“The BBB will increase by orders of magnitude the scope, scale and speed of removing illegal and criminal aliens from the United States. For that reason alone, it’s the most essential piece of legislation currently under consideration in the entire Western World, in generations.”

— Trump aide Stephen Miller, on X, defending the Republican budget bill after Elon Musk called it a “disgusting abomination.”

Numerati

53% to 27%

As the Senate debates the GOP tax and spending bill titled One Big Beautiful Bill Act and President Donald Trump pushes for a July 4 deadline to sign it, a new Quinnipiac poll finds voters overwhelmingly oppose the legislation, 53% to 27%, with 20% not offering an opinion.

47% to 34%

A new YouGov poll finds that President Trump’s deployment of Marines to Los Angeles is deeply unpopular, with a 47 percent disapproval mark, compared with 34 percent who approve. Dispatching the National Guard isn’t much better: 45 percent disapprove and 38 percent approve.

$134 million

After persistent questioning about the cost of sending National Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over immigration raids, Hegseth turned to his acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who said it would cost $134 million, the Associated Press reports.

8

Eight states, including Florida and Tennessee, have introduced or passed legislation to ban planes from emitting “chemtrails” to poison Americans or control the weather, The Guardian reports. Of course, there’s no credible evidence that this is even happening.

70%

A new KFF Health poll finds that more than 70% of Americans are worried about the impact of Medicaid cuts in the bill leading to more people uninsured and hurting hospitals.