Day 590

Day 590 Saturday September 1, 2018       988 Days to Go

There are three topics to discuss today:

Trump’s ratings,

The new indictment,

and 

something else, I forget.

Trump has the highest disapproval rating of any president, ever. What does that mean for the nation? (ie for us) I think it means people are waking up to the fact that he’s a sleazy rat and they don’t like it.

They’ve been lied to repeatedly by Trump. He makes up stuff. They’ve believed him. They’ve given him a pass, but now – maybe, not so much. The evidence is piling up. At some point maybe people will stop and say, “Hey wait a minute.” Like the woman juror in the Manafort case who was a big Trump supporter (She left her MAGA hat in her car) but she said the evidence was there. It was there in black and white in the documents. They didn’t believe, or trust, Rick Gates, but the documents? They were beyond reproach. He was guilty.

So now there’s a new indictment. It’s a guy few had on their radar. Sam Patten has been charged and pled guilty to being an unregistered foreign agent. He also facilitated the giving of foreign money to the Trump Inaugural Committee so  a Russian Ukrainian with connections to the Russian intelligence agency, the GRU, could attend the inauguration events. 

So who is this Sam Patten? Well, he’s the connection between Paul Manafort, the Ukrainians, the Trump Administration, the Trump Inaugural Committee, and Cambridge Analytica. But other than that – no big deal. Right Rudy “The president wasn’t named in the documents” Giuliani? 

Patten set up a company with Konstantine Kilimnik, who has all ready been charge by Mueller for Obstruction Of Justice, etc. The company was a 50-50 deal. Patten planted false stories about the Ukraine in U.S. media, arranged meeting with U.S. reps for Kilimnik and got him tickets to the inauguration.  Kilimnik is a guy who has boasted he’s a GRU agent! What’s that Rudy? Just cause he says he is doesn’t mean he is. You are so right.

He worked with Victor Yanakovych the guy who got overthrown in the Ukraine and went crying back to his boss, Vlad Putin. Yanakovych had the gold plated toilets, the private zoo, the private pirate ship restaurant, and the safe with the secret payment books with entries to Paul Manafort. The charging doc does not reference Yanakovych just his paymaster, Serhiy Lyovochkin. Serhiy is the guy who wrote checks to Manafort, like forty million dollars worth. He also sent money to Patten for the inauguration tickets. 

Patten got an American to buy the tickets, reimbursed that person, and then got reimbursed by Lyovochkin. All of which is illegal. What’s that Rudy? Trump didn’t know? Of course not. Trump knows nothing. (The Colonel Klink defense.)

What else has Patten been doing? he had been working for Cambridge Analytica’s parent company in 2014 and 2015. What was he doing there? Working on micro-targeting and on testing American receptiveness to Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine and their feelings about Putin. Why would he be doing that in 2014 and 2015? Why indeed. Cambridge or its parent were working on a campaign in Nigeria. They were digging up dirt on an opponent. They paid Israeli hackers to breach the opposition’s computers to find dirt. Illegal? You bet. 

It was also mentioned that Patten had lied to Congress. He wasn’t charged. It was one of two illegal things he did that he wasn’t charged with. Oh gee, if Mueller starts going after people who lied to Congress on this investigation where would he begin? Drum roll please: Roger Stone? Erik Prince? Donnie Trump Jr.? Jared Kushner? or Michael Cohen? 

So with this indictment and plea deal we have the first possible evidence of Trump’s data team being involved with Russians or their puppets. Oh no! Say it ain’t true! It’s true.

When it comes to Trump and Russians it really doesn’t matter where you turn but their are Russians: Russian agents, Russian lackeys, Americans saying they have an in with Putin, the Kremlin, whatever. And not once had anyone in the Trump campaign, the Trump Inauguration Committee, The Trump administration said, “Hey, wait a minute, maybe we should tell the FBI?” Not once.

In fact, when they have been warned, or when Trump has learned someone is working on investigating the Russians those people are fired, resigned, demoted, taken early retirement, or quit due to harassment. 

Moving on.

The something else I forgot, two things actually:

One was the idea that someone floated recently asking the question, “What if it was proven that the election was stolen?” We can get into the weeds about what that means or how it could be proven, but what if it was concluded in whatever way that the 2016 election illegally elected Trump president? Would all his appointments be invalidated? 

Thing two: ESPN started running College Game Day. This means two things, no three:

1. Fall is here.

2. College football is here.

3. I can go on a three month trip, and when I return my wife might ask where I was and I could tell here I was upstairs and she’d say, “Oh.”

Just sayin’ 

Go Hokies.

Oh yes, we are in the phase of “This might be the year.”

The phase of “Did you hear who we got?” will be over with the first snap Monday night when the Virginia Tech plays Florida State. If Florida State wins big time then the phase “This might be the year” will come to an abrupt end but … but if VT romps to victory then … well you know.

988 Days to Go

PS It’s back-to-school week. Everything must be labeled.