…should be slammed again and again. Mussolini at least got the trains to run on time; #DimwitDon is so stupid, he doesn't care his postmaster general is too incompetent to get grandma's card delivered on time for her grandson's birthday. And THAT will drive more votes than…
…it delivered mail when it came by horses. But the Post Office can't survive the incompetence of THIS man. Things have gotten this bad because of his policies. What's going to happen to the post office if this man returns to office? We will have the worst in the world?…
The mail carrier is my friend; waiting for my prescription refills as I type. Packages from VA Pharmacy that used to take two days max, now take a week…
Trump is dismantling the country and selling it for parts…
When my son was young, we watched Arthur! I loved PBS, kept me in the world of love! 💞 Yes, thank you, NW! Much love for bringing it to our TOD family every single day! 😘😘💞
BREAKING: Trump just defended Russia’s interference in our 2020 election. He then attacked Democrats and said they’re the ones interfering. Because he’s desperate and pathetic. He needs to lose by the biggest landslide ever.
I woke up this morning. That's the good news. I have COVID and feel like I'm on a death watch waiting to see if I die like >165000 Americans have. I'm angry as hell and if I die please let the world know that Donald J. Trump killed me
.@NYGovCuomo & @AsaHutchinson: "We appreciate the @POTUS proposals to provide additional solutions to address economic challenges; however, we are concerned by the significant administrative burdens and costs this latest action would place on the states." https://t.co/KK3ENgR7nL
Looking at all the anti democratic actions taking place in China and Belarius…will that be happening here…We already had folks kidnapped off the streets…Trump and his goons in the Postal Service have already undermined the postal service….
perhaps we alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll need to be in the street!!
On August 11th, @unitehere, @AFLCIO and union members across the country will choose to fast in solidarity with the millions of people who are struggling to put food on the table without immediate economic relief. Take the pledge.https://t.co/YUo1X1sWgS
America is desperate for a strong, competent, and honest leader who seizes the moment, takes responsibility, and does everything possible to solve the crises plaguing our country.
That’s why we must elect @JoeBiden on November 3rd.
Ironically and thankfully, most of the businesses that I patronize (and many that I don’t frequent) *require* masks. (Of course, enforcement is always an issue.) Thankfully, the majority of patrons wear a mask and the few that don’t may not be acting rebelliously or maliciously.
Right now, many people are acting out of common sense and concern for their health, despite the lack of leadership. If masks are mandated, even many of the defiant ones will adhere to the rule. As many have already said, schools mandate attire for its students and they either follow the rules or are disciplined. So why is it unreasonable to make masks a part of the rules for school attire?
But I would venture even further to say that for many — REPUBLICANS especially — personal agendas supersede even politics. It seems that politics has become a tool, a weapon even, for individuals to further their own agendas. For *them*, collateral damage is just par for the course…as long as the negative fallout does not impact them.
This is the latest dire consequence of Donald Trump looking the other way on Beijing's repression in Hong Kong. Instead of standing for freedom and democracy, he consistently stands with Xi Jinping.
President Trump and Congressional Republicans rejected Dems’ compromises and instead, President Trump has issued unworkable executive orders that fail to provide relief for workers and families. By failing to enact the HEROES Act, here is some of what POTUS has left behind:
A salmonella outbreak caused by onions is expanding and has infected 640 people from 43 states. At least 85 of them have been hospitalized, the CDC said. https://t.co/krVKgNHiY3
🚨 In addition to the salmonella outbreak in Onions across the country, the FDA Just Issued a Recall of Potatoes, Lemons, Limes, and Oranges Due to Potential Listeria Contamination
The onion recall has expanded to 43 states and added brands over the last couple of days. Even if your onion brand isn’t on the list now, I wouldn’t keep them.
Civil rights activist Edith Lee Payne was 12 years old when she attended the March on Washington. Decades later, she discovered she was captured in an iconic photo at the March. Watch Payne's full story: https://t.co/m3Dfrmu61ipic.twitter.com/4yh2y4QLcy
— Voices of the Civil Rights Movement (@CivRightsVoices) August 6, 2020
I have a lot of work to do tonight, but this warrants a THREAD. The obscenely distorted narrative that white people embraced civil rights leaders during the Civil Rights Movement, and activists today are just “doing it wrong” must be challenged. https://t.co/DLD1kVVvit
Guten tag, you can read it here: @Sifill_LDF: I have a lot of work to do tonight, but this warrants a THREAD. The obscenely distorted narrative that… https://t.co/gkHmOUgTKO Share this if you think it's interesting. 🤖
1/ The stories about Post Office delay are nothing other than rank voter suppression. If people lose confidence in the PO’s ability to get their mail in/absentee ballots to them in a timely fashion, they won’t vote by mail. That’s the safest way to vote during a pandemic. https://t.co/iIbq2brWPL
As of today, San Francisco is first county in the nation to stop generating revenue from incarcerated people and their families through phone calls, commissary markups, and other services.https://t.co/EMVS7p70Bj
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information regarding individuals who work for or with foreign governments to interfere in U.S. federal, state, or local elections. @StateDeptDSS@RFJ_USAhttps://t.co/6EyF5siP0F
At this point Donald Trump is a rabid wounded animal. He's trying to project strength, but he's weakened, dazed, confused, lashing out at random, too incoherent to know what he's even trying to do anymore. It's our job to finish him off on November 3rd.
Am I the only person who thinks this is odd?
Why wouldn’t there be more reporting on this? Whether real or staged?
So that’s it? The Secret Service shoots someone near the WH and the next day we don’t know who this person was, which hospital he was sent to, what the guy’s status is? Where he’s from? Motivation? Witnesses? Literally “move on, nothing to see here?” 🤷🏽♀️
So on MSNBC they said it was a 51-yr old man and that he’s still in the hospital but won’t name him or say anything else about him. No interviews of witnesses. Still strange.
We are thrilled to announce our partnership with ‘Vote Proud’ an organization dedicated to increasing voter turnout in the LGBTQ+ community. Special thanks to @BarbraStreisand and Bruce Roberts for your collaboration! #VoteProudpic.twitter.com/lk71v0Rsvg
Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin—today is Primary Day! Be sure to turn in your vote-by-mail ballot and stay safe by wearing a mask if you’re heading to the polls. Every single vote makes a difference.
I’m hoping that the majority of the people voting absentee/by mail will take heed and will be turning in their ballots EARLY, and that most absentee ballots will have been processed by Election Day. That’s assuming that county election boards won’t be sitting on the absentee ballots.
Also hoping that Biden will have a landslide lead on Election Night.
The #PostalService delivered 1.2 billion prescriptions in 2019! Because of the USPS, 70-year-old Army veteran Jack Bainbridge doesn't have to make a 90-mile round trip to the VA Medical Center to get his prescriptions. He simply walks to his mailbox. https://t.co/tXbqlCZZAtpic.twitter.com/gyHUswOj78
📣 CT, MN, VT and WI: It's #ElectionDay! 📣#VoteByMail ballots must be received by your state’s deadline. If you are visiting the polls in person, bring a pen and mask 😷
NEW: @K_JeanPierre adds duty. as running mate chief of staff; @LizMarieAllen returns to Biden fold as VP pick comms dir, @sheilanix as sr adviser. More on the Biden camp team standing up to support the imminent choice https://t.co/xqFsDaGIff
NEW: Event preparations are secretly taking place in Hotel du Pont, where Biden announced his 1972 Senate candidacy. Workers have been coming in since midnight last night. pic.twitter.com/l2kh6PfPKx
Julián Castro says it is important for a president "to fully consider and understand the experience of everybody that you're governing. You simply can't do that unless you have the voices of people who make up 50% of the population strongly at the table."https://t.co/zen11J5pnB
“Rachel Maddow looks at how Donald Trump is following a pattern common to dictators and autocrats, using the power of the government he leads to preserve his own power, with elections being mere window dressing.”
Donald Trump: “I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed military soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement. Please don’t be too nice.” (Priorities USA ad)
Maddow:
“As a general matter, we associate authoritarian leaders and dictators with the government using violence at large scale against citizens of that country. And also curtailing the rights and freedoms of citizens of that country. Intimidating them. Limiting the means by which anybody might object to that or get any recourse for it. That’s the very visible, very scary stuff that we think about in terms of authoritarian regimes.
(What we’re watching unfold right now for example in Belarus).”
Maddow:
“But as a political science matter, it’s not as visual, but it is worth noting that as a matter of political science we are also really used to seeing authoritarian leaders get re-elected. Not because they’re popular.
Not because their beleaguered populations like them and freely choose them. But because authoritarian leaders only care about elections as window dressing. They only care about elections for the purpose of validating the leader’s hold on power. They don’t care about real free and fair democracy.
They don’t care about good and fair government. It they were, there wouldn’t be authoritarians and dictators. But as a general rule authoritarian leaders get re-elected in part, because they are absolutely shameless about what they are willing to apply to and election make sure they hold on to an election.”
Maddow:
“They are willing to use all the powers of the Government that they control to ensure that they win the next election, to keep themselves in power. As a general principle, that goes hand in hand with authoritarian leadership. And that’s why authoritarianism in elections most often yield to what appear to be re-election results for authoritarian leaders. They bring the powers of the Government to bear to ensure that they win the election to keep them in power.”
With Republicans’ reckless refusal to pass the HEROES Act alongside the Trump administration tearing apart the USPS, we aren’t only fighting for the soul of this nation, we’re fighting for our lives, and the lives of those who were willing to sacrifice theirs for us. https://t.co/tuXJMeh8ZG
Voting by mail is a safe, simple, and time-tested way to cast your ballot from home. Head to https://t.co/cBTTn9yuTH right now to register to vote and request your mail-in ballot. And make sure to share this with your friends so they do the same! pic.twitter.com/G0LAvdo7x2
“Unwanted Truths Inside Trump’s Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies”
(Robert Draper, NYT Magazine)
“Last year, intelligence officials gathered to write a classified report on Russia’s interest in the 2020 election.
An investigation from the magazine uncovered what happened next.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/magazine/us-russia-intelligence.html)
“The options faced by the intelligence community during Trump’s presidency have been stark:
avoid infuriating the president but compromise the agencies’ ostensible independence,
or assert that independence and find yourself replaced with a more sycophantic alternative.”
This is why it is NOT enough for the House to just pass a bill and send to Senate.
NOT enough for Speaker Pelosi to mention at pressers and interviews.
Activists should have staged daily protests at GOP senator’s homes and state office locations. HINT: It’s not too late to do so. Senate needs to bring up the HEROS act for an up or down vote. McConnel won’t do it without pressure…
Let's say you've started a new job running something you have zero experience with—and the biggest challenge your business will ever face is a few weeks away. Do you start cutting back and re-arranging management? No, of course not. Unless you want to fail https://t.co/f8oZkUWrnW
.@SRuhle keeps trying to wring some compassion out of this guy, and he keeps shrugging off people’s suffering. Yeah, yeah, they’ll get unemployment I guess… open schools? Dunno, let someone else figure that out. But open the economy come what may; and BACK TO WORK, POORS! 🙄
One year ago today, a favorite trail moment with @KamalaHarris (and @TimRyan’s son!) at the Iowa State Fair. Always enjoyed watching the care and respect Kamala shows for kids. Reveals a deep empathy and gentleness that God knows we need more of in our politics. pic.twitter.com/FS8I6DA8Pv
Last week, @RepAOC and I introduced the Climate Equity Act, comprehensive legislation that addresses the realities of environmental and climate injustice in our country. Justice and equity must be at the forefront of combating the climate crisis. https://t.co/vG86M8Kp6j
Maddow:
“The President bending the Intelligence Agencies to say what he wants said:
To present what appears to be intelligence information, but to present it in a way that looks the best for him.
And that omits things that look really bad for him. At his insistence.
In Robert Draper’s reporting, not one, but two Directors of National Intelligence have been fired shortly after they told too much of the truth about Russia trying to keep him in power. In Dan Coats’s case, he would not change that estimate in the National Intelligence estimate. In Maguire’s case, his Deputy told the truth about what Russia is doing to re-elect Trump in 2020. In both cases soon thereafter, they had to unexpectedly get out. In Maguire’s case he tried to cow-tow to Trump in other ways. He tried to placate him in other ways, but it doesn’t matter.
Bend and compromise the Agency’s independence and find yourself replaced anyway.”
Maddow:
“Leaders with authoritarian tendencies and designs do tend to get re-elected.
Whether they can get elected in the first place is one thing. Once they’ve got the reigns of power, they will use the reigns of that power to hold on and not leave. Authoritarian leaders tend to get re-elected because they are willing to improperly use the power of the government controlled to keep themselves in power. That is true as a general principle. There’s no reason to believe that any country is immune from that.”
Maddow:
“We believed heading into this presidency that the most potent, the most grave parts of our Government, the really serious parts of our Government, the parts of our Government where abuse of those elements of our Government could be catastrophic for our democracy. We came into all this thinking that those institutions had enough internal strength, a strong enough internal culture, they had enough internal protections, they had enough strong-minded and brave career professionals in them that efforts to corrupt them would fail. They could never be rotted on purpose and turned toward the political designs of a President with authoritarian intentions. That’s what we thought we had. Turns out this was not an idle test. This is our country now.”
Primary runoff elections are being held throughout Georgia today. Get out and make your voice heard today.
If you have any questions or problems, call the voter protection hotline at 888-730-5816. Find your polling location here: https://t.co/qqykGT7icj#gapol
DESPITE the fact my polling location was changed and no one told me… DESPITE the fact several precincts were at one location with bad signage so I walked around for a while… DEPSITE the fact that I put my ballot in the scanner and have no indication if it pic.twitter.com/szKbnRMHwQ
I persisted! I need you all to persist! I have no idea why it seems so freaking hard to exercise a fundamental, constitutional right in America. 🤦🏾♀️😡 pic.twitter.com/foXslEgNmH
“Potential poor & low-income voters across the country have the power to affect the outcome of 16 U.S. Senate elections & the presidential race.” @RevDrBarber
Don't forget that in the middle of this pandemic, the Trump Administration is in court trying to eliminate Obamacare and rip health insurance away from millions. It's heartless.
I'll protect and build on the ACA to ensure everyone gets the care they need. https://t.co/IwFG48ED9h
These people will have to learn the hard way — through self-inflicted pain and death. A republic can't be sustained when 40% of us defiantly and militantly exist in fantasyland. https://t.co/tl7kpO0hoJ
Michael Brown was killed by white officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014 in Ferguson,Missouri.He was 18 years old and about to enter college. Massive protests erupted as a result. His murderer is still free. In his memory Palestinian artist Suhad Khatib drew 👇🏼 #BlackLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/JPiYKedd0X
Students! If your schools aren't protecting your health and the health of your family members, blow the whistle. Post the evidence. We’ve got your back!https://t.co/wsSyrODNUq
“Robert Draper, writer at large for the New York Times Magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about his latest reporting on how U.S. intelligence officials have learned to tailor their reports to better suit what Donald Trump wants to hear.”
Maddow: “The White House pressured the Intelligence Community to change its conclusion that Russia wanted president Trump re-elected in 2020. The Intelligence Director at the time, Dan Coats, said No.
He was then fired. His successor signed off on the change, but he was then fired after one of his deputies briefed Congress on the fact that Russia is working to re-elect president Trump this year.”
Moving precinct locations confuses voters – especially close to elections. Who would ever imagine you would vote at one location in the primary, and another in the run-off for that very election?#votersuppression is death by 1000 cuts. https://t.co/Sawluis4jg
imo, we must not at any point forget that Putin requires Trump to lift the Obama sanctions on russian oil.
Nor that Trump started working on this even prior to his Inauguration. Deals with Exxon and others on that Siberian oil will make Putin perhaps the richest man in the world.
Agreed. The ballots are important, for sure, but the MAIL is EVERY DAMN DAY!
The mail carrier is my friend; waiting for my prescription refills as I type. Packages from VA Pharmacy that used to take two days max, now take a week…
Trump is dismantling the country and selling it for parts…
That thread is EXCELLENT!
You can not call the police…
Great thread, NW. And thanks for teaching me about Arthur!!
😀
When my son was young, we watched Arthur! I loved PBS, kept me in the world of love! 💞 Yes, thank you, NW! Much love for bringing it to our TOD family every single day! 😘😘💞
13 tweet thread; read every one of them…
SOON
Beauty Break
Looking at all the anti democratic actions taking place in China and Belarius…will that be happening here…We already had folks kidnapped off the streets…Trump and his goons in the Postal Service have already undermined the postal service….
perhaps we alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll need to be in the street!!
Ironically and thankfully, most of the businesses that I patronize (and many that I don’t frequent) *require* masks. (Of course, enforcement is always an issue.) Thankfully, the majority of patrons wear a mask and the few that don’t may not be acting rebelliously or maliciously.
Right now, many people are acting out of common sense and concern for their health, despite the lack of leadership. If masks are mandated, even many of the defiant ones will adhere to the rule. As many have already said, schools mandate attire for its students and they either follow the rules or are disciplined. So why is it unreasonable to make masks a part of the rules for school attire?
No mask mandate = Politics over health.
True.
But I would venture even further to say that for many — REPUBLICANS especially — personal agendas supersede even politics. It seems that politics has become a tool, a weapon even, for individuals to further their own agendas. For *them*, collateral damage is just par for the course…as long as the negative fallout does not impact them.
Beauty Break Part Deux
The photos in this thread are phenomenal!
Wow, there are stunning photos in that thread! 💞
THREAD 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
🚨Heads Up: Food Recalls 🚨
(1 of 2): Onions. Check your pantry.
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-07-20/index.html
(2 of 2): Potatoes, Lemons, Limes, and Oranges. Check your pantry.
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/potatoes-lemons-limes-oranges-recall
The onion recall has expanded to 43 states and added brands over the last couple of days. Even if your onion brand isn’t on the list now, I wouldn’t keep them.
Way to go Illinois!
🚨 Receipts 🚨🔥🔥🔥
Goodnight TOD
Morning everyone. Thread
VOTE, WISCONSIN!
Am I the only person who thinks this is odd?
Why wouldn’t there be more reporting on this? Whether real or staged?
Seems staged to me
Me too. Even so, you’d think news outlets would ask and report at least the basic questions.
So on MSNBC they said it was a 51-yr old man and that he’s still in the hospital but won’t name him or say anything else about him. No interviews of witnesses. Still strange.
Maybe a better way to share
Never let him lead
I’m hoping that the majority of the people voting absentee/by mail will take heed and will be turning in their ballots EARLY, and that most absentee ballots will have been processed by Election Day. That’s assuming that county election boards won’t be sitting on the absentee ballots.
Also hoping that Biden will have a landslide lead on Election Night.
😀. I’m feeling good about this….
VP nominee staff named!
Chief of Staff pick is perfect!
Just a little hopeful reading between the lines;
Amanda Perez used to work for Cory Booker.
Right. I caught that. 😃[head nodding as I think of a potential cabinet slot]
HIGH FIVE, sistah!!!!
Corey and Kamala are very tight friends……..
VP Joe staffing up his pick.
Hmmmm…….NYT reporting.
“Rachel Maddow looks at how Donald Trump is following a pattern common to dictators and autocrats, using the power of the government he leads to preserve his own power, with elections being mere window dressing.”
Donald Trump: “I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed military soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement. Please don’t be too nice.” (Priorities USA ad)
Maddow:
“As a general matter, we associate authoritarian leaders and dictators with the government using violence at large scale against citizens of that country. And also curtailing the rights and freedoms of citizens of that country. Intimidating them. Limiting the means by which anybody might object to that or get any recourse for it. That’s the very visible, very scary stuff that we think about in terms of authoritarian regimes.
(What we’re watching unfold right now for example in Belarus).”
Maddow:
“But as a political science matter, it’s not as visual, but it is worth noting that as a matter of political science we are also really used to seeing authoritarian leaders get re-elected. Not because they’re popular.
Not because their beleaguered populations like them and freely choose them. But because authoritarian leaders only care about elections as window dressing. They only care about elections for the purpose of validating the leader’s hold on power. They don’t care about real free and fair democracy.
They don’t care about good and fair government. It they were, there wouldn’t be authoritarians and dictators. But as a general rule authoritarian leaders get re-elected in part, because they are absolutely shameless about what they are willing to apply to and election make sure they hold on to an election.”
Maddow:
“They are willing to use all the powers of the Government that they control to ensure that they win the next election, to keep themselves in power. As a general principle, that goes hand in hand with authoritarian leadership. And that’s why authoritarianism in elections most often yield to what appear to be re-election results for authoritarian leaders. They bring the powers of the Government to bear to ensure that they win the election to keep them in power.”
Yep. Poll tax.
WORKS FOR ME
CHILLS
HMMM………
I see Kamala Harris as one of speakers on Thursday! 😎
“Unwanted Truths Inside Trump’s Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies”
(Robert Draper, NYT Magazine)
“Last year, intelligence officials gathered to write a classified report on Russia’s interest in the 2020 election.
An investigation from the magazine uncovered what happened next.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/magazine/us-russia-intelligence.html)
“The options faced by the intelligence community during Trump’s presidency have been stark:
avoid infuriating the president but compromise the agencies’ ostensible independence,
or assert that independence and find yourself replaced with a more sycophantic alternative.”
This is why it is NOT enough for the House to just pass a bill and send to Senate.
NOT enough for Speaker Pelosi to mention at pressers and interviews.
Activists should have staged daily protests at GOP senator’s homes and state office locations. HINT: It’s not too late to do so. Senate needs to bring up the HEROS act for an up or down vote. McConnel won’t do it without pressure…
The essence.
ICYMI…
Primary runoffs in Georgia today. I voted during the early voting period.
Maddow:
“The President bending the Intelligence Agencies to say what he wants said:
To present what appears to be intelligence information, but to present it in a way that looks the best for him.
And that omits things that look really bad for him. At his insistence.
In Robert Draper’s reporting, not one, but two Directors of National Intelligence have been fired shortly after they told too much of the truth about Russia trying to keep him in power. In Dan Coats’s case, he would not change that estimate in the National Intelligence estimate. In Maguire’s case, his Deputy told the truth about what Russia is doing to re-elect Trump in 2020. In both cases soon thereafter, they had to unexpectedly get out. In Maguire’s case he tried to cow-tow to Trump in other ways. He tried to placate him in other ways, but it doesn’t matter.
Bend and compromise the Agency’s independence and find yourself replaced anyway.”
Maddow:
“Leaders with authoritarian tendencies and designs do tend to get re-elected.
Whether they can get elected in the first place is one thing. Once they’ve got the reigns of power, they will use the reigns of that power to hold on and not leave. Authoritarian leaders tend to get re-elected because they are willing to improperly use the power of the government controlled to keep themselves in power. That is true as a general principle. There’s no reason to believe that any country is immune from that.”
Maddow:
“We believed heading into this presidency that the most potent, the most grave parts of our Government, the really serious parts of our Government, the parts of our Government where abuse of those elements of our Government could be catastrophic for our democracy. We came into all this thinking that those institutions had enough internal strength, a strong enough internal culture, they had enough internal protections, they had enough strong-minded and brave career professionals in them that efforts to corrupt them would fail. They could never be rotted on purpose and turned toward the political designs of a President with authoritarian intentions. That’s what we thought we had. Turns out this was not an idle test. This is our country now.”
This is my Rep in the Georgia State House!
Ignorance is poison. NSFW. Trash mouth alert
Joe’s granddaughter.
A tool
https://votequadrant.com/
“Robert Draper, writer at large for the New York Times Magazine, talks with Rachel Maddow about his latest reporting on how U.S. intelligence officials have learned to tailor their reports to better suit what Donald Trump wants to hear.”
“Unwanted Truths Inside Trump’s Battles With U.S. Intelligence Agencies”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/magazine/us-russia-intelligence.html)
Maddow: “The White House pressured the Intelligence Community to change its conclusion that Russia wanted president Trump re-elected in 2020. The Intelligence Director at the time, Dan Coats, said No.
He was then fired. His successor signed off on the change, but he was then fired after one of his deputies briefed Congress on the fact that Russia is working to re-elect president Trump this year.”
New post.
https://obamadiary.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/stay-loud-for-breonna/
imo, we must not at any point forget that Putin requires Trump to lift the Obama sanctions on russian oil.
Nor that Trump started working on this even prior to his Inauguration. Deals with Exxon and others on that Siberian oil will make Putin perhaps the richest man in the world.