Did Russians interfere in the 2016 U.S. elections and is such interference acceptable?

  • Thread starter Thread starter lynnvinc
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, take a look here. Wouldn’t you agree that it is the left’s version of Breitbart?
Why don’t you check Breitbart this morning and tell me what problem you have with
it?
Breitbart probably has real and worthwhile news to read.
Occupy Democrats looks like sensationalizing trash Trump stories.
 
Why don’t you check Breitbart this morning and tell me what problem you have with
it?
Breitbart probably has real and worthwhile news to read.
Occupy Democrats looks like sensationalizing trash Trump stories.
Yeah, the far right publications are real and worthwhile news while the far left publications are just sensationalizing trash. But from my perspective, it is the other way around. Let’s just admit both publications are extreme.
 
Yeah, the far right publications are real and worthwhile news while the far left publications are just sensationalizing trash. But from my perspective, it is the other way around. Let’s just admit both publications are extreme.
Breitbart wasn’t totally biased.
 
Because Trump keeps claiming an overwhelming popular mandate. Sure, he doesn’t have an overwhelming popular mandate. But who care? He has the same technical power as President.
I guess he could claim that since he won 30 states compared to Clinton’s 20 + DC. That’s a reasonable mandate, though certainly not overwhelming
 
I guess he could claim that since he won 30 states compared to Clinton’s 20 + DC. That’s a reasonable mandate, though certainly not overwhelming
One might say that. But it would be wrong to misinterpret that as a measure of support of the people.
 
Breitbart wasn’t totally biased.
Of course they are totally biased. But they are honest about it. Same with Move On and the like. I respect that. What I don’t respect is a network like NBC that claims to be unbiased and obviously isn’t.
 
One might say that. But it would be wrong to misinterpret that as a measure of support of the people.
No it wouldn’t. In 30 states, he had majority support of the people. That is a measure of support of the people. It would be wrong to think of it as a landslide mandate like Reagan’s
 
Yeah, the far right publications are real and worthwhile news while the far left publications are just sensationalizing trash. But from my perspective, it is the other way around. Let’s just admit both publications are extreme.
I think in some sense Breitbart isn’t extreme enough. The nationalist populist movement isn’t nearly extreme enough in its support for constitutional limits on government
 
No it wouldn’t. In 30 states, he had majority support of the people. That is a measure of support of the people. It would be wrong to think of it as a landslide mandate like Reagan’s
Or that the people, overall, preferred him and/or his policies.
 
The strategy you propose for learning the truth seems to be to read what the extreme left thinks about it and then read what the extreme right thinks about it, and then take the average of these extreme views and end up somewhere near the truth. That strategy is flawed because the average of two extreme views depends more on the skill of the writers involved, rather than on the truthfulness of the positions they represent. It is sort of like trying to determine if the world is flat by taking the average between a scientist who says it is a ball about 8000 miles in diameter and a flat-earther who says it a plane supported by four turtles. That averaging strategy would lead to you believe that the earth is something like a salad bowl supported by two turtles.
I don’t think that even remotely reflects what I said. I’m not taking the average of anything. First, there is virtually nothing I take from the progressive movement. I do, admittedly, take more from the nationalist populist movement. But I am far more entrenched in the constitutional conservative movement (with a small dose of libertarianism).
That said, I feel it necessary to know what others think, even if I reject virtually all of their views.
 
Breitbart wasn’t totally biased.
Breitbart is widely viewed as having gone alt-right; its leadership has actually claimed that posture. To whatever extent Brietbart itself manages to tip-toe on the line, it connects itself to an extreme fringe of racists, anti-semites, etc.

It has a history of being reckless with its claims - and piloted the excuse for irresponsible talk now handed off to Trump.: “We are not responsible, we just passed along that something said to us by someone else.”
newyorker.com/news/news-desk/friends-of-hamas-and-andrew-breitbarts-legacy

Ben Shapiro, notwithstanding his own questionable practices (above), had enough and left the operation. He is what he says about the leadership he left - now in the Trump administration.
dailywire.com/news/8441/i-know-trumps-new-campaign-chairman-steve-bannon-ben-shapiro
dailywire.com/news/10770/3-thoughts-steve-bannon-white-house-chief-ben-shapiro
slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/gist/2016/11/ben_shapiro_on_steve_bannon_the_alt_right_and_why_the_left_needs_to_turn.html

Here is a third party story of the unsavory breakup:
nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/ben-shapiros-messy-breakup-with-breitbart.html
 
Clearly, enough supported him and his policies (or rejected Clinton’s even more).
Enough to win the election, not enough to win a plurality of voters. That distinction belongs to another.
 
I guess he could claim that since he won 30 states compared to Clinton’s 20 + DC. That’s a reasonable mandate, though certainly not overwhelming
That might be reasonable if Trump is claiming he represents lots of states. But he is claiming he represents lots of people. To check if that is true or not, you count people, not states.
 
No it wouldn’t. In 30 states, he had majority support of the people. That is a measure of support of the people.
That is a measure of support of the people in those 30 states only. So if Trump wants to claim popular support from the people in those 30 states, then fine.
 
I don’t think that even remotely reflects what I said. I’m not taking the average of anything. First, there is virtually nothing I take from the progressive movement. I do, admittedly, take more from the nationalist populist movement. But I am far more entrenched in the constitutional conservative movement (with a small dose of libertarianism).
That said, I feel it necessary to know what others think, even if I reject virtually all of their views.
That is true. I realized that I was not responding exclusively to you. But your suggestion of reading far left publications to find out what the perspective of the left is reminded me of this “averaging” position that I have heard expressed before. Sorry if I made it sound like I was accusing you of taking that position.
 
**
Donald Trump engaged in ‘cover up’ over Russian links to election campaign, says Carl Bernstein**
independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-russia-links-us-election-campaign-carl-bernstein-watergate-reporter-fbi-james-comey-a7645051.html

There is a “cover up” to hide connections between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russia, according to one of the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal.

Carl Bernstein called the current US leader “more treacherous” than Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign 1974 after, along with Bob Woodward, he helped to unearthed a web of political spying, sabotage and bribery leading back the White House.

A persistent critic of Mr Trump, Mr Bernstein made the claim after a new report suggested that members of Mr Trump’s administration may have coordinated with Russia during the presidential campaign.

Mr Trump’s election campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was accused of once working to further the interests of the Russian government.

Suspicions over electoral campaign connections to Russia continue to dog the President, who has denied any collusion took place.

But Mr Bernstein told CNN: "I’ve been saying for a while that there’s a cover-up going on here.

"The cover-up is among those who worked in the Trump campaign and associates of Trump and it’s now becoming much more clear what it is that they have been concealing which are these contacts, which revolve around leaked emails from Podesta’s account.”

John Podesta was the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful campaign, whose emails were leaked in the lead up to the election.

Mr Bernstein also questioned the President’s reluctance to be more open about the allegations.

“What we’re seeing is push back, smoke screens, an attempt to keep away from what really happened here by the President of the United States," he told the broadcaster, adding that it “raises a whole set of additional questions.”

**The President instead should “want to get to the bottom of this,” Mr Bernstein said.
**
He also raised a distinction between the members of Congress serving under Nr Nixon and Mr Trump.

**“The heroes of Watergate were really Republicans, they were Republicans in the House and the Senate who wanted this investigated to the bottom: ‘What did the president know and when did he know it’,” he said. “That’s what we’re not seeing here. We’re not seeing it from the Republicans on the Hill who are consumed by supposedly looking for leaks.”

Mr Bernstein also alleged many Republicans condemning leaks had themselves leaked classified information in the past.**
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top