Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:47 pm
Picking up where he left off last night in response to allegations that Vladimir Putin has damaging information on him, Donald Trump launched an all-too-familiar tweetstorm this morning, claiming his innocence in ever more hysterical tones:
Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
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This is patently and demonstrably untrue. Donald Trump does have business ties in Russia and his nominee as secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has even more damaging business ties to Russia.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and, in violation of the law, his senior advisor, also has Russian ties, as Vox pointed out:
“Foreign investors, including some from Russia and China, have invested in Kushner’s companies, including Cadre and the real estate firm.”
The Washington Post‘s intrepid David Farenthold also jumped into the fray in response to Trump’s frenzy of denials:
Here's a good WaPo story from June about @realDonaldTrump's business dealings in Russia. https://t.co/UhI0oXb01p https://t.co/1hXHMRESeF
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) January 11, 2017
In a word, Donald Trump, his family and cabinet are lousy with business ties to Russia. That didn’t stop Trump from claiming “fake news” and that he won “easily” (he lost by millions of votes):
I win an election easily, a great "movement" is verified, and crooked opponents try to belittle our victory with FAKE NEWS. A sorry state!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
The icing on the cake is Trump alluding to Nazi Germany. Yes, the man who accepted the enthusiastic endorsement of the KKK and American Nazis, gave and received Hitler salutes, who repeated Adolf Hitler’s own anti-Semitic tropes in his speeches, is asking if we are living in Nazi Germany:
Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to "leak" into the public. One last shot at me.Are we living in Nazi Germany?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2017
This is all easily settled, of course. As The Plum Line’s Greg Sargent points out,
If this is fake news, why not support a full and independent probe into all aspects of this whole affair that would prove *you* right? https://t.co/xs0VkoJlSt
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 11, 2017
That, of course, is the last thing Donald Trump wants. He’d rather claim Hillary Clinton destroyed American democracy by getting debate questions ahead of time, even though that tired old lie has been repeatedly debunked.
Donald Trump always prefers lies to facts, and the hysterical nature of his denials on top of his repeated lies about his business ties to Russia, suggests he has something to hide.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
