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that pic from kenya is right up the street from my apartment.
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talking about the democratic nomination.
-The Democratic Party is not the party of the 10%
People gotta realize one thing -
foreign intelligence is older than gunpowder.
Most states have had intelligence agents in one form or another for centuries before police forces or standing armies.
The intelligence services have had centuries to figure out what factors are most likely to make an individual act against their country's interest.
In the USA we call this M.I.C.E.
If someone is recruitable it'll most likely be one or a combination of these factors. It's just a matter of deciding which lever is most likely to work.
- Money (or lifestyle)
- Ideology (or disaffection / disillusionment)
- Coercion (or compromise / blackmail)
- Ego (or status / influence / social proof)
In the Trump administration Ego is going to be a big factor - and not because I think everyone that works for Trump is a narcissist. It's rather because Trump has a hollow administration, with many senior posts lacking even Senate nominations.
Ironically, the hollow administration bubbled up in the news again this week. But there have been a barrage of news articles, going back to February, about this unprecedented low-staffing situation. So this hasn't gone unnoticed by foreign observers. In addition, if we're talking about the campaign, everyone saw the hollow administration coming - at that time, it was called the "Never Trumper" or refuse-to-join movement.
Trump's hollow administration exists because of four factors - any one of these would hurt, but they're a perfect storm in combination -
All of these things dissuade people from working for Trump.
- Trump's policy ideas lack buy-in from the wider Republican world of institutions & experts
- Trump has zero executive or legislative experience and hasn't formed relationships
- Trump is a chaotic manager who has a mutually distrustful relationship with the executive branch agencies
- Trump's administration is under criminal investigation
As President, Trump has built a cancerously White-House-centered operation, often bypassing or throwing shade on his own Cabinet. He governs by tweet and whoever gets closest to him - regardless of their qualifications or official position - governs what he tweets. Not only is this proven (as in the many cases where Trump immediately tweets about a certain subject immediately, as in minutes, after a TV program about that subject aired) but Trump makes no effort to disguise it.
All of this constitutes what we could call the
Mar-a-Lago-ization
of the federal government - the construction of an informal process alongside the official process and deliberately signalling that all real power rests in the informal process. Once you understand this is happening, examples abound. For example there's a Reddit headline right now about Trump simultaneously declaring Native American Month and tweeting a racist Indian slur at a Senator. Official, unofficial - get it? This was also on full display when Trump gave "official" and "unofficial" responses to the Charlottesville attack. The media was confused by Trump's mixed messaging but Trump's base understood that Teleprompter Trump is a Nothing. Totally meaningless. Meanwhile, "Real Trump" made very clear how he felt.
So we have the cultivation of an informal process of government in a hollow, closed-circle administration with low staffing. Now look at all of this through the eyes of a foreign intelligence agent. What levers do you see in this situation? Money, Ideology, Coercion, or Ego?
That's right - Ego is the big one. There is a huge Ego incentive for low level policy aides like Papa Dop. You can see the appeal for a 30 year old guy of being potentially "Trump's point man" on an entire country, to say nothing of that country being Russia, and it seems likely that his "The Professor" contact wormtongued exactly that into his ear: "Think of all the rungs you could skip!" The fact that Trump visibly rewards loyalty (Sessions is AG solely because he was first GOP to endorse) regardless of qualifications (look at Hope Hicks) doubles the enticement.
I would not be surprised if many younger, low level Trump aides have been "recruited" in this way. Not just by our enemies like Russia btw.
On right, it is a deflection. The Republican part has been the party of business elites for a minute.If Dems are the party of rich elites wth are Repubs the party of?
If Dems are the party of rich elites wth are Repubs the party of?
Rex was referring to their economic policies. Not their political appeal.might wanna listen to rex on this one.
Democrats been da bicoastal elitist class for at least 20 years...its not even his opinion, he's referencing that from political analysis thats been said already.
Republican policies are not that help the working man.
Alot going down rnSaudi Arabia's capital city Riyadh almost got hit with a ballistic missile
Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at a Riyadh airport but the Saudis managed to intercept it over the north-eastern side of the city.
Da Kush outchea making movesWasn't Kushner just over there like a week ago
And you could argue things like unions, a federal jobs guarantee, labor courts, EIC, and single payer would do a whole lot more for the workers. In many more industriesdepends what constituency you're talking bout.
you can argue da repeal of regulations has preserved certain jobs that would've been regulated outta existence.
this broad been nursing a grudge since da DNC left her out to dry once da podesta hack exposed her funneling CNN townhall questions to Hillary.