So why cover it up? Why resign? Why do anything at all if there's nothing to be concerned about? For people who are guilty of nothing at all, they certainly act extremely guilty.

These clearly aren't some innocuous connections. Just look st Flynn, who's now willing to testify if he's got immunity.

I'm not pointing anything at Clinton, I'm just showing there's precedent for "friendly communication" by officials without issue. I could pull up up information on every president since the 18th century that's done this.

The big thing Flynn did was lie about his communications with a Russian ambassador, even if those communications were fairly benign. No idea how deep that goes, though, but eventually he'll probably get immunity to testify about it.

My mistake then.

At this stage, I don't give a fuck about Russia. Trump could be giving Putin your launch codes for all I care.

Meanwhile, he's busy ensuring that we won't have a planet to live on in the next 40 years.

I mean fair enough, he's causing enough damage without the Russia angle. He was enough of a nutcase without that angle. Thing is that if he is indeed basically Russia/Putin's man, well then we know why half of the damage is being done, and it is a deliberate attempt then to destabilize the US. It casts all of the deliberate stupidities he's been doing since he got into office in a very different light.

At this stage, I don't give a fuck about Russia. Trump could be giving Putin your launch codes for all I care.
Meanwhile, he's busy ensuring that we won't have a planet to live on in the next 40 years.

It's interesting because a lot of people who voted GOP or support Trump have that same sentiment. Accept for them it's -

At this stage, I don't give a fuck about Russia. Trump could be giving Putin your launch codes for all I care.
Meanwhile, he's busy ensuring that we will all have jobs in the next 40 years.

I think it's very important to keep that in mind. I'm not saying pretend that the wild shit that comes from Trump or his associates be treated the same as actual facts. But, people who voted or supported him were desperate and still are desperate. They're not going to be worried about future or clandestine threats while they're wondering how they're going to eat tomorrow. Or if they're gonna have a job next month.

Call Trump and his associates on his bullshit. But make sure you are actually solving a real problem that these people have. The problem being lack of jobs (well-paying or otherwise). It's what got him into the White House.

@[member='Alpheus'], no doubt there are many who are Trump supporters/GOP who have that sentiment. But I would say it's not all of them, or even the majority for that matter. Much of that sentiment exists in the rust belt (Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.) but I'm not sure about the traditionally red states. It's like you said earlier, there's a 1000 legitimate reasons that Trump won, and we may never know for sure what gave him the election. I would concede that it's those voters who won him those key states, and therefore, the election.

However, how long will that support last? Afaik, Trump hasn't done squat for 'bringing back jobs' which imo can probably be another thread on whether such a thing is even possible, for a variety of reasons. Throw in the Russia angle, and the idea comes along that maybe the angst of these people was just being used by an opportunist and a foreign power, and there's all sorts of directions this can go.

https://www.recode.net/2017/4/3/15164358/trump-white-house-foreign-immigration-h1b-tech-hiring-crackdown

Trump's cracking down on H1B visas bigly already.

An exact quote from a developer friend I have in NC was (via text, no punctuation added for affect) "Fuck yes!!!! Does that mean our salaries are about to skyrocket back to 90's levels?"

Even mostly symbolic things like this will keep that support going along.

But, people who voted or supported him were desperate and still are desperate. They're not going to be worried about future or clandestine threats while they're wondering how they're going to eat tomorrow.

Or if they're gonna have a job next month. Call Trump and his associates on his bullshit. But make sure you are actually solving a real problem that these people have. The problem being lack of jobs (well-paying or otherwise). It's what got him into the White House.

Those people are idiots. Trump's plan isn't going to work. He may as well try to put all those blockbuster employees back to work, or maybe restart the great American horse-shoeing industry.

There is an opportunity here for jobs, but it's in completely the opposite direction. Instead of giving people shitty, dangerous jobs that will ruin the environment and fail in a few years anyway, he could be investing in hi-tech jobs in the renewable sector.

We need Elon Musk, but we've got Ned Ludd.

https://www.recode.net/2017/4/3/15164358/trump-white-house-foreign-immigration-h1b-tech-hiring-crackdown

Trump's cracking down on H1B visas bigly already.

An exact quote from a developer friend I have in NC was (via text, no punctuation added for affect) "Fuck yes!!!! Does that mean our salaries are about to skyrocket back to 90's levels?"

Even mostly symbolic things like this will keep that support going along.

So, just for clarity's sake, is this just something you're using as an example of what Trump's supporters like, or is this a sentiment that you actually agree with?