Foreign Policy

John McCain and Donald Trump: fellow travelers in conspiracy theories about ISIS and President Obama

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Now I understand why John McCain endorsed Donald Trump and steadfastly refuses to disavow him: they are both fellow travelers in conspiracy theories about ISIS and President Obama.

Back in June after the nightclub shooting in Orlando, McCain said: Obama ‘directly responsible’ for Orlando shooting:

McCain buttonSen. McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, spoke to reporters in the Capitol Thursday while Obama was in Orlando visiting with the families of those killed in Sunday’s attack and some of the survivors.

“Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, al-Qaida went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obama’s failures, utter failures, by pulling everybody out of Iraq,” a visibly angry McCain said as the Senate debated a spending bill.

“So the responsibility for it lies with President Barack Obama and his failed policies,” McCain said.

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Questioned on his startling assertion, McCain initially repeated it: “Directly responsible. Because he pulled everybody out of Iraq, and I predicted at the time that ISIS would go unchecked and there would be attacks on the United States of America. It’s a matter of record, so he is directly responsible.”

I did a fact check at the time to explain how McCain’s Neocon wanderlust for war with Iraq opened the door to Al Qaida in Iraq, the predecessor of Daesh or ISIL (ISIS). McCain bears responsibility as much as anyone. How the ‘McMedia’ fail to hold John McCain accountable.

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National Security officials: Donald Trump is a national security risk

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CIALast week Michael Morrell, the acting director and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2010 to 2013, published an op-ed in the New York Times unlike anything that has occurred before in an American election.

In endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, Mr. Morrell made the case that the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, is a national security risk, an “unwitting agent” (useful idiot) for Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. I Ran the C.I.A. Now I’m Endorsing Hillary Clinton:

During a 33-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, I served presidents of both parties — three Republicans and three Democrats. I was at President George W. Bush’s side when we were attacked on Sept. 11; as deputy director of the agency, I was with President Obama when we killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.

I am neither a registered Democrat nor a registered Republican. In my 40 years of voting, I have pulled the lever for candidates of both parties. As a government official, I have always been silent about my preference for president.

No longer. On Nov. 8, I will vote for Hillary Clinton. Between now and then, I will do everything I can to ensure that she is elected as our 45th president.

Two strongly held beliefs have brought me to this decision. First, Mrs. Clinton is highly qualified to be commander in chief. I trust she will deliver on the most important duty of a president — keeping our nation safe. Second, Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.

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Putin patsy Trump has a lot of explaining to do

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Josh Rogin at the Washington Post asks “Why is Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort denying that his staff worked to keep the Republican platform from supporting U.S. weapons deliveries to Ukraine?” The Trump campaign denies its own Ukraine policy:

His claims about the episode contradict not only the facts, but also the candidate’s long-standing position on the issue. He would be better off just owning it.

On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Manafort said that the effort to keep the platform from supporting arms for Ukraine, which I first reported last month, “absolutely did not come from the Trump campaign.”

“So nobody from the Trump campaign wanted that change in the platform?” Chuck Todd pressed. “No one, zero,” Manafort said.

Cartoon_19In fact, there were two Trump campaign staffers in the room when a committee of GOP delegates debated the national security platform the week before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. The original platform draft was silent on the issue of arming Ukraine until Diana Denman, a pro-Ted Cruz delegate from Texas, introduced an amendment proposing extensive support for Ukraine, including “lethal defensive weapons.”

The Trump staffers in the room, who were not delegates but were there to oversee the process, intervened and were able to get the issue tabled. On the sideline of the meeting, they negotiated with Denman to find a compromise but were unsuccessful. Eventually, through the pro-Trump delegates, they introduced a new amendment that changed the language from “lethal defensive weapons” to “appropriate assistance.”

That amendment passed, codifying the Trump staff’s language as official GOP policy. In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Trump confirmed that his people were behind the change.

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Putin pal Donald Trump asks Russia to cyberattack Clinton and U.S. State Department

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Putin pal Donald Trump said on Monday,  Our ‘Friends’ in Russia, China, ‘hacked the hell’ out of DNC emails:

Putin-Trump-KissDonald Trump told a Roanoke, Virginia, rally on Monday night that:

“Little did she (Wasserman Schultz) know, Russia, China, one of our many many ‘friends’ — Trump made a quotation gesture — “came in and hacked the hell out of us. Can you imagine? Can you imagine?” said a gleeful Trump.

The Trump remark was broadcast on CNN. A Buzzfeed video later appeared on the Talking Points memo web site.

Today Trump came perilously close to crossing the line into treason by calling for Russia to help elect him president:

We’ve never seen anything like this.

Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Russia to help find the missing emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump proposed from a podium at his Doral Resort. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

The Republican presidential hopeful added that he doesn’t believe Russia was responsible for hacking DNC materials — there’s overwhelming evidence that suggests Trump is wrong — but the GOP candidate said that if Russia did steal Democratic documents, he “hopes” the Russians have Clinton’s emails.

Let’s be very clear about what happened this morning. The Republican candidate for president held a press conference in which he urged Vladimir Putin’s espionage services to help sabotage the American election and put Trump in the White House.

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Another day, another Trump scandal

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In his convention speech last night GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence promised Trump will ‘stand with our allies’: “Donald Trump will rebuild our military and stand with our allies.”

Maybe someone should have informed Pence ahead of time that “The Donald” had just given an interview to the New York Times in which Trump undercut key foreign policy commitments just before Pence pledged to uphold them:

At one point [in his speech], Pence addressed foreign policy.

nato-logo_8“We cannot have four more years of apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends,” he said. “America needs to be strong for the world to be safe. On the world stage, Donald Trump will lead from strength. Donald Trump will rebuild our military and stand with our allies.”

Shortly beforehand, Donald Trump addressed the same topic in an interview with the New York Times. But the man at the top of the ticket offered a distinctly different understanding of America’s foreign commitments.

[Trump] even called into question whether, as president, he would automatically extend the security guarantees that give the 28 members of NATO the assurance that the full force of the United States military has their back.

For example, asked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are the most recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russia attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

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