Interesting Read: Republican Trump supporters are proving they have a price.

As Republicans salivate [30] http://goo.gl/Ggo5Yh over kicking [22] http://goo.gl/C6WwOI the less fortunate from having health insurance (who are predominantly Trump supporters), reversing FDR’s legacy [10] [17] http://goo.gl/mGZ2Yl and celebrating hate and fake religiosity [12] http://goo.gl/M1321Z , they are refusing to see that Putin is hacking the US government and the global liberal order. [28] http://goo.gl/0rhXoS

The Key elements if the Steele Dossier have been confirmed: that Putin has been cultivating Trump for five years, the Ukraine quid pro quo and the 19% Rosneft quid (no pro quo yet, which is rapprochement with Putin). [2] http://goo.gl/BQGOPQ The 19% quid as tied to Trump is discussed here. ##

The first weeks of the Trump administration saw some alarming moves [15] http://goo.gl/3WPvNv including firing *all* ambassadors, the most senior state department officials [17] http://goo.gl/gpRxJF and spinning yarns over terrorism threats, nuclear weapons and military buildups.

All these were to form a basis for rapprochement with Putin.

The “shock and awe” campaign backfired. When the not-so-new Muslim ban was announced, Sessions, Kelly and Tillerson did not entertain questions [16] http://goo.gl/8791DF on a central Trump campaign plank.

At this point, Trump was also not entertaining questions as he cornered himself in an impeachable cul de sac [2] http://goo.gl/BQGOPQ

Tillerson has not been talkative too. [1] http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ His state department has been sidelined. [1] http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ That department’s budget is to be cut by 40% [1] http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ to pay for a military buildup we don’t need. [23] http://goo.gl/9HVvcz

120 generals have signed a letter saying diplomacy is a better war deterrent than military infrastructure. [18] http://goo.gl/x9AWxc

Putin and Trump and their attached kakistocratic kleptocrats are the only ones to benefit from the following:

– Protectionism [7] http://goo.gl/Uya32E ,
– a less capable State Department [1] http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ [18] http://goo.gl/x9AWxc ,
– less capable intelligence agencies [19] http://goo.gl/GOnf8N [24] http://goo.gl/o7DZGq [31] http://goo.gl/ByZ5Su
– the weakening of US institutions [31] http://goo.gl/ByZ5Su [2] http://goo.gl/BQGOPQ
– remaking the US Gov’t in the mold of the Trump Organization or Putin’s Russia [33] http://goo.gl/QvRY7v
– increasing polarization (tribal cult) [31] http://goo.gl/ByZ5Su [11] http://goo.gl/mm4d0F
– the erosion of America’s soft power and leading example of democracy [32] http://goo.gl/yI2VC9
– the weakening of the US-led liberal order [5] http://goo.gl/EDaEDw

Trump and his chums are intertwined with Putin and his oligarchs. [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

A Putin-Trump merged kleptocracy [8] http://goo.gl/JwTYTJ arising from the rubble [9] http://goo.gl/COv1it that their collaborators [10] http://goo.gl/zrzco7 are facilitating [12] http://goo.gl/M1321Z is rather frightening. [5] http://goo.gl/EDaEDw

“A … major theme is watching the set of people involved. There appears to be a very tight “inner circle,” containing at least Trump, Bannon, Miller, Priebus, Kushner, and possibly Flynn, which is making all of the decisions. Other departments and appointees have been deliberately hobbled, with key orders announced to them only after the fact, staff gutted, and so on.” [15] http://goo.gl/3WPvNv

“Trump’s continued operation of a private personal security force, and his deep rift with the intelligence community.” [15] http://goo.gl/3WPvNv

“Trump is likely to want his own intelligence service disjoint from existing ones and reporting directly to him; given the current staffing and roles of his inner circle, Bannon is the natural choice for them to report through.” [15] http://goo.gl/3WPvNv

And he does. [28] http://goo.gl/hEhRkr He’s trying to deconstruct the US Gov’t much like Putin’s gov’t. And he has summarily fired people who could pose a danger to him. [21] http://goo.gl/Wdar8i

Maddow [25] http://goo.gl/ShT9dT , Fox’s Shepard Smith [26] http://goo.gl/XB24XQ and Fox’s Chris Wallace [27] http://goo.gl/lb89zV all agree the situation *is* alarming.

“For a long time, I thought the Republicans in Congress could hold out against the encroaching chaos long enough to pass their wish list, which the president* would sign.” [30] http://goo.gl/Ggo5Yh [9] http://goo.gl/COv1it

For Republican Trump supporters, Treason is not too high a price.
[8] http://goo.gl/JwTYTJ
[2] http://goo.gl/BQGOPQ
[3] http://goo.gl/PFH7uH
[4] http://goo.gl/GKd6kQ

They are (Take your pick: Haters, Religious Right, FDR-haters, liberal haters (a cult), All of the above?) First and Americans Last.
[13] http://goo.gl/p90QGJ
[14] http://goo.gl/MPlQqb
[9] http://goo.gl/COv1it
[10] http://goo.gl/zrzco7
[11] http://goo.gl/mm4d0F
[12] http://goo.gl/M1321Z

# Trump’s choice of Tillerson as Secretary of State has been odd since Trump appears not to be concerned about what Tillerson does. [1] http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ He’s slashing Tillerson’s department, nixed Tillerson’s choice of deputy and has Kushner and Bannon doing foreign policy. [1] http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ

Tillerson was referred to Trump by a pro-Russian think tank (CNI). [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9 To Trump, it appears that he needs Tillerson to do just one thing (the Rosneft quid pro quo ##).

Sessions had one job, and that is to shield Trump from investigation. Sessions recused himself which sent Trump in a rage and made Trump make a proven impeachable claim.

“13. There is a Pro-Russian Think tank called the Center for the National Interest (CNI). CNI Board Member Henry Kissinger, former US Diplomat and current Putin confidante, has gotten close to Trump.” [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

“14. Kissinger suggested both Tillerson and KT McFarland to Trump.” [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

“15. Secretary of State Tillerson has many Russian business dealings through Exxon with Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft.” [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

## The Rosneft Quid Pro Quo

“16. The Dossier Christopher Steele created said that Igor Sechin along with Oleg Orovinkin were working on a deal to sell 19.5% of Rosneft to Trump in exchangefor dropping sanctions. This deal relied on Carter Page, who resigned as a Trump advisor in September. After the election, a 19.5% deal went through, Oleg Orovkin was found dead in his car and the guy behind the Russian Hacking was arrested for treason in Russia.Ca” [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

“17. The Rosneft deal is linked to Trump through a vast network of holding companies. The 19.5% was through a Singapore company using Caymans offshore accounts. QHG shares was the holding company of the 19.5% sale. QHG’s disclosure form stated that it used to be called CATALPO PTE, but no such company existed. Perhaps they did that to confuse people. Anyways, a company with the same information called CATALPA PTE did exist though. Catalpa shared an address with the Intertrust Group. Intertrust’s filing shows an affiliation with Walkers Global which is the affiliation used to incorporate QHG. Intertrust is owned by the Blackstone Group. If that name seems familiar, it is because Blackstone CEO is Stephen Schwarzman, one of Trump’s senior economic advisors. Uncovered thanks to this amazing Twitter user ” [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

“18. The Blackstone Group was cofounded by Stephen Schwarzman and CNI Board Member Peter Peterson.” [6] http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

=== LINKS =================

[1] 1984. “Tillerson struggles to make his mark in Trump’s Washington > Former Exxon CEO has been a conspicuously low-profile secretary of state” (Financial Times, 3/10/2017): http://goo.gl/W0aiTJ > Gifted
[2] 2013. “TRUMP: PUTIN’S PUPPET (69 PATHS)” (IR, 3/12/2017): http://goo.gl/BQGOPQ

[3] 2014. “The 19% Rosneft Ownership Question: Trump, Putin and the Russian Mob” (IR, 3/12/2017): http://goo.gl/PFH7uH

[4] 2015. “Wilbur Ross and the Russian Oligarchs > The Trump-Putin emissaries” (IR, 3/12/2017): http://goo.gl/GKd6kQ

[5] 386. “Martin Wolf: The long and painful journey to world disorder: As the era of globalisation ends, will protectionism and conflict define the next phase?” By Martin Wolf (Financial Times, 1/5/2017): http://goo.gl/EDaEDw

[6] 1932. 61 paths to Putin” (TheTrumpWatchDogDotCom, 3/9/2017): http://goo.gl/OtH9D9

[7] 2018. “Who benefits from Protectionism?” (IR, 3/11/2017): http://goo.gl/Uya32E

[8] 1797. “Donald Trump’s Russia relationship leaves Washington puzzled > Despite the controversy over contacts, there has been little discernible shift in policy” (Financial Times, 3/3/2017): http://goo.gl/JwTYTJ

[9] 1242. “How we got the Putin-Trump-Bannon Fourth Turning Game” (IR, 2/5/2017): http://goo.gl/COv1it

[10] 2007. “Conservative Hacks of Government Never Ceases” (IR, 3/11/2016): http://goo.gl/zrzco7

[11] 1677. “Conservatism’s dead. Trump killed it.” (IR, 2/24/2017): http://goo.gl/mm4d0F

[12] 1990. “A *Religious* White Supremacist 50-Day White House” (IR, 3/11/2017): http://goo.gl/M1321Z

[13] 1989. “The religious right is steeling itself for a Biblical battle on Trump’s behalf” (Washington Post, 3/6/2017): http://goo.gl/p90QGJ

[14] 119. “Trump, McConnell, Putin, and the Triumph of the Will to Power” (NY Intelligencer, 12/10/2016): http://goo.gl/MPlQqb

[15] 1003. “Trial Balloon for a Coup? > Analyzing the news of the past 24 hours” (Medium, 1/30/2017): http://goo.gl/3WPvNv

[16] 1854. “Three Cabinet secretaries rolled out Trump’s new travel ban — and took zero questions > Trump is quietly and implicitly admitting he made a mistake.” by Matthew Yglesias (Vox, 3/6/2017): http://goo.gl/8791DF
[17] 2017. “Trump administration asks top State Department officials to leave” (CNN, 1/27/2017): http://goo.gl/gpRxJF

[18] 1816. “120 U.S. Generals and Admirals Just Sent Trump a Dire Warning About Diplomacy > Turns out it’s diplomacy, and not Trump’s much-loved weapons, that is key to keeping America safe.” (Alternet, 3/2/2017): http://goo.gl/x9AWxc

[19] 1991. “WikiLeaks has joined the Trump administration” by Max Boot (Foreign Policy) (Business Insider, 3/11/2017): http://goo.gl/GOnf8N

[20] 1999. “Trump knows the feds are closing in on him” (Business Insider, 3/11/2017): http://goo.gl/05mrui

[21] 2009. “The ranking Oversight Committee member is suspicious about the U.S. attorney firing > Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) thinks Bharara’s ouster could have something to do with investigations into Trump.” (ThinkProgress, 3/11/2017): http://goo.gl/Wdar8i

[22] 1851. “TrumpCare is a fraud. Paul Ryan is not a wonk. And conservatism is dead” (IR, 3/9/017): http://goo.gl/C6WwOI

[23] 1745. “Trump’s Proposed Increase In Defense Spending Would Be 80 Percent Of Russia’s Entire Military Budget” (UPRoxxx, 2/27/2017): http://goo.gl/9HVvcz

[24] 1977. “Trump silent as WikiLeaks hits CIA > Trump has said he loves WikiLeaks, yet was silent after it attacked the CIA by revealing secrets. GOP foreign policy adviser Max Boot explains how the admin. has cozied up to WikiLeaks. David Corn and fmr. CIA Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash also join Ari Melber.” (MSNBC, 3/9/2017): http://goo.gl/o7DZGq

[25] 1979. “Maddow: Russians May Be Controlling Our Government > There are connections between Donald Trump, Nigel Farange, Julian Assange, and ultimately, Vladimir Putin, the out MSNBC journalist posits in her latest salvo against the president.” (The Advocate, 3/10/2017): http://goo.gl/ShT9dT
[26] 1963. “Shepard Smith Is Fed Up: ‘It’s Too Much Lying, Too Much Russia, Too Much Smoke’ > The Fox News host rails against latest Michael Flynn bombshell.” (HP, 3/10/2017): http://goo.gl/XB24XQ

[27] 1970. “Fox’s Chris Wallace tells Shep Smith it’s ‘Inconceivable’ Trump was unaware of Flynn’s Turkey lobbying” (RawStory, 3/10/2017): http://goo.gl/lb89zV

[28] 1145. “It’s Putin’s World” (IR, 2/5/2017): http://goo.gl/0rhXoS

[29] 2022. “Meet the Hundreds of Officials Trump Has Quietly Installed Across the Government > We have obtained a list of more than 400 Trump administration hires, including dozens of lobbyists and some from far-right media.” (Propublica, 3/8/2017): http://goo.gl/hEhRkr

[30] 2026. “This Level of Corruption Is Unprecedented in the Modern History of the Presidency > And it’s threatening our democracy.” (Esquire, 3/13/2017): http://goo.gl/Ggo5Yh

[31] 2027. “What Happens When You Fight a ‘Deep State’ That Doesn’t Exist” (NYT, 3/12/2017): http://goo.gl/ByZ5Su

[32] 2028. “Allies Fear Trump Is Eroding America’s Moral Authority” (NYT, 3/10/2017): http://goo.gl/yI2VC9

[33] 2030. “Trump Lets Key Offices Gather Dust Amid ‘Slowest Transition in Decades’” (NYT, 3/13/2017): http://goo.gl/QvRY7v