Michele, once again your kindness and open heart makes me tear eyed in such a healing way. Thank you. Thank you dear soul.
Ahhhhh! Great big heartfelt hugs to all!
So now the chickens come home to roost. We find that alleged Russian agent Maria Butina, "was in closer contact with Trump's orbit than was previously known."
It doesn't surprise me at all that Maria Butina was in some way connected to the Trump campaign. What I find more intriguing is what others have been saying that she was also connected to other Republicans, quite independently from the Trump campaign, through the NRA. It makes me wonder if behind the NRA there is more than the obvious weapons manufacturers, and there's even darker forces at play (as if manufacturing weapons wasn't dark enough, I know).
There are many links between the NRA and Russia. There's the Maria Butina link, of course. It's already been confirmed that the NRA took donations from Russian nationals. The NRA also used Cambridge Analytica for its own voting push in 2016, and Cambridge Analytica, of course, has links to both Russia and the Mercers who themselves have very strong links to various Russian oligarchs.
And, in November 2013, David Keene, who was then President of the NRA traveled to Moscow and met with Russian officials.
That date is significant for two reasons. It's the date that the video John Bolton (Trump's current National Security Adviser) filmed for Maria Butina was released in Russia.
And, November 2013 was also the month that Trump went to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant, where many believe Putin gathered the blackmail video on him.
A bunch of coincidences? Perhaps. But my gut says no, and I agree with you that there is MUCH more about the NRA-Russia-GOP-Trump linkage that we don't yet know.
RH, Your talking about "coincidences" reminded me of something Malcolm Nance (author and former intelligence honcho) said on the subject - coincidences take a lot of planning.
Add to the web of connections the Evangelical Right. Why did the Russians target the NRA and Evangelical Right? Clearly, they knew that the conservative base was unified in their response to the issues of guns, babies, and gays and was easy to manipulate with a populist agenda designed to cast blame on “the other,” deliver two and three word repetitions of authoritarian explanation and direction, and assuage fear of economic scarcity with false promises.
Exactly. The GQ article posted above puts together a plausible explanation of The Russian plan to draw the GOP to them. It makes sense to me that they would pool together big money donations, evangelicals, and the NRA.
Right on Rosie Heart, Paul W, Gracesinger, Maria D. White and Jeanne . Thanks for putting those sitting ducks in a row for us.
We see the evidence, we read the timelines and sense the clues but we really do benefit every time one of us states the connections or the obvious. It's all so helpful. Even switching back and forth between our topics and discussion it's beginning to show conclusions of patterns that just support do much of what we say and predict here.
This site truly is a great big Think Tank of intelligent as well as intuitive members!
This site truly is a great big Think Tank of intelligent as well as intuitive members! -- Michele
Yes! Yes!
A reminder to everyone that there is an RV exercise about Putin on the Remote Viewing section - in case anyone wants to have a go.
Maria Butina pleads guilty today to being involved in an organized effort, backed by Russian officials, to open up unofficial lines of communication with influential Americans in the N.R.A. and in the Republican Party,
The NY Times reported she had made a deal with federal officials to provide information in return for a reduced sentence.
What's anyone's take on this?
Mine: She wouldn't be pleading guilty this if it were not okay with her Russian handlers. Otherwise she'd be in trouble when she returns to Russia. So why are they letting her do this?
From Maria D White: With the latest revelations about Maria Butina, it looks like what people were seeing about her was probably spot on. -- Maria
[Note, I tried to move this comment to this thread from the RV Putin thread, but it ended up in the wrong place and wouldn't move. So am copying Maria's words here with apologies to Maria.]
Maria, I went through some of the things people from this community were saying, which was mainly that we all felt she was indeed working for the Kremlin to influence conservative politicians, and funneling money through the NRA, as charged. Is that what you meant when you said people here were spot on?
My thought She was funneling money from the Kremlin via the NRA to Trump as part of a broader influence campaign from Russia to U.S. politicians.
Any interesting analysis by Rachel Maddow. It was noted, on her show, that it wasn't the Mueller team that worked out the plea agreement with Ms Butina and that this investigation started before the elections. This suggests that Ms. Butina's role isn't directly related to Russian collusion in the 2016 election.
If I translate this properly, it might be part of a broader influencing campaign going on (mainly with the GOP, but we'd be foolish to think that members of the Democrats aren't caught up in this too) with American politics. I'm guessing Russian collusion with Trump was a parallel effort. This means that this whole Russia influencing elections just got a lot bigger, it isn't JUST Trump 2016.
Thanks, Codyroo. Going back through Butina's history and the emails and texts the authorities published between her and Erickson, she was interested in influencing American politicians and felt the NRA was the most powerful influencer in the U.S. on conservatives. The Russians weren't so interested in approaching democrats because the democrats' politics don't match up well with Russia. So they knew they were less likely to have influence over the dems. The ultra right GOP politics do match up with Russian politics, e.g., the anti-gay rights, the more authoritarian. And the NRA is a good match for Russian influencers.