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'It was Trump's deal!' John Bolton schools conservative Newsmax host over Afghanistan withdrawal
August 12, 2022
Ex-United States Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Adviser John Bolton schooled Newsmax host Eric Bolling on Friday over the timeline of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
The on-air debate erupted when Bolling insisted that the country was safer under former President Donald Trump than under President Joe Biden, with which Bolton vehemently disagreed.
"How in the world could you think that we're safer now than we were under President Trump when he was willing to put missiles into Syrian airbases with Russians on the base? What's going on here sir?" Bolling asked Bolton.
"Because he didn't understand, fundamentally, much of anything about international affairs. His decisions were not based on a coherent philosophy or coherent policy. They were erratic. Under Donald Trump, he signed a deal with the Taliban..." Bolton began saying before Bolling interrupted.
"But we were safer. He kept them on their back feet. They didn't know where he was coming from and that made us safer," said Bolling.
"No he didn't," Bolton fired back. "He cut a deal with the Taliban to withdraw from Afghanistan. Did that make us safer, Eric? Did withdrawing from Afghanistan make us safer? Right."
The discussion quickly devolved into a shouting match.
Bolling:
You know what made us less safe? Biden pulled us out of Afghanistan, 13 Americans died, and now the Taliban tells us, 'back off, don't kill al Qaeda. Are you out of your mind?
Bolton:
It was Trump's deal! Hahahahahaha. That's right. The same thing they would have done under Donald Trump. No. Who cut the deal, Eric? Who cut the deal?
Bolling:
Who delivered the deal? Biden delivered the deal.
Bolton:
Eric, you don't know what you're talking about. He wanted everybody out, he cut a deal to do exactly that.
Bolling:
Anyone who disagrees with you doesn't know what they're talking about,"
Bolton:
You don't!
Bolling:
Trump said leave 2,500 there until we have a smooth transition of power.
Bolton:
He did not! Look, he said that after he cut the deal. The deal cut us down to zero. That's what Trump wanted. He wanted everybody out. The record on that is completely clear.
Bolling:
Over time! Biden pulled them out while Americans were still there.
Bolton:
No. Read the deal, Eric. Have you ever read the deal?
Bolling:
Oh stop.
Bolton:
Yeah I know you gotta go before you're embarrassed even further.
Watch below or at this link.
\u201cWhen John Bolton says on Newsmax that we are safer under Biden then we would have been under Trump, the host loses his mind and they have an epic battle. I know people hate Bolton, but this is fantastic - he debunks every fake narrative they created about his foreign policy.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1660316552
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Multiple news outlets that reviewed the warrant authorizing a federal search of Mar-a-Lago reported Friday that former President Donald Trump is being investigated for potential violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and unlawful removal of government records.
"This is insane. If you're not fed up, you're not paying enough attention," tweeted the advocacy group Public Citizen in response to the Espionage Act revelation.
Some reports about the warrant and an inventory of what agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation removed from the Florida residence—including from Breitbart, Fox News, and The Wall Street Journal—came before a federal judge's 3:00 pm ET deadline for Trump's legal team to respond to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) request to unseal the documents.
Trump made clear in social media posts and a legal filing that he did not oppose making the documents public, which led government attorneys to request that the court do so. As details of the leaked materials circulated Friday afternoon, U.S. Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the official release.
As Charlie Savage at The New York Times summarized:
The search warrant for Trump's residence cited three criminal laws, all from Title 18 of the United States Code. Section 793, better known as the Espionage Act, which covers the unlawful retention of defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary; Section 1519, which covers destroying or concealing documents to obstruct government investigations or administrative proceedings; and Section 2071, which covers the unlawful removal of government records. Notably, none of those laws turn on whether information was deemed to be unclassified.
According to Politico, a receipt accompanying the warrant "shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with 'TS/SCI,' which indicate one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled 'Info re: President of France.'"
Details of the search warrant and inventory followed reporting by The Washington Post late Thursday that FBI agents were attempting to recover classified nuclear weapons documents from Trump's home on Monday.
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Trump puts a target on the FBI: Cincinnati gunman shows danger posed by an endless supply of dupes
August 12, 2022
The main reason that Donald Trump is forever turning Republican campaign events and conservative conferences into fascistic rallies featuring two-hour stemwinders is that he's a champion narcissist with a vampiric need to feed off the adulation of blockheads. But a major secondary reason is what happened on Thursday, when a deranged Trump supporter named Ricky Shiffer fired a nail gun at the FBI offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, before getting killed in an hours-long standoff with the police.
As reporters covering right-wing extremism swiftly documented, before much of it was taken down, Shiffer was all wound up by Trump's lies about the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago Monday, lies that have been amplified and validated by right-wing media outlets like Fox News and much of the GOP establishment.
"Kill the FBI on sight, and be ready to take down other active enemies of the people," Shiffer apparently posted on Truth Social, a Trump-owned social media site, according to Andy Campbell of HuffPost.
"Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn't. If you don't hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it'll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me," Shiffer allegedly posted on Trump's site, right after the nail gun attack, according to NBC News.
The saddest part is that, while Ricky Shiffer took it to the next level, he's far from alone.
Truth Social was set up in large part to give Trump, who was banned from Twitter after inciting the January 6 insurrection, a platform to keep up his stream-of-consciousness bigotry, lies, and conspiracy theories. It also, under the guise of "free speech," serves as a clearinghouse for fascist sentiment and violent rhetoric. As with Trump's rallies, much of it is about keeping his followers on the hook by making them feel close to their hero, an illusion he knows how to strategically bolster. In May, for instance, Trump endorsed a post by a user fantasizing about "civil war." It raised alarms about how Trump is still inciting violence, but also, crucially, it allowed his followers to believe that he reads their social media posts and cares about them.
Keeping these people hyped with lies and conspiracy theories, all meant to feed their ridiculous persecution complex, is mostly about Trump keeping the fountain of cash and worship turned on. But, as the January 6 committee has carefully demonstrated, Trump is also keenly aware that these folks are well-armed and awash in violent fantasies, making them a weapon he can wield to intimidate those he has a quarrel with.
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"They put their faith, their trust, in Donald Trump ... he deceived them," Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said during a July 12 hearing of the committee. The hearing featured testimony from Stephen Ayres, who was convicted of rioting on January 6 at the Capitol, and who feels remorse over his role in it. He portrayed himself as a dupe of Trump's, testifying, "I felt like I had horse blinders on, I was locked in the whole time."
Keeping these people hyped with lies and conspiracy theories, all meant to feed their ridiculous persecution complex, is mostly about Trump keeping the fountain of cash and worship turned on.
Trump is once again tapping his supporters as a violent resource for intimidation against Attorney General Merrick Garland and the FBI with his lies and public tantrums over the document search. While he is careful to avoid direct calls for violence, Trump's tactics rely on the universal understanding that his supporters are unhinged and armed maniacs, many of whom, as Ayres testified, are so caught up in their fantasies of "civil war" that they aren't thinking about the consequences. Trump's hyperbolic language about being "persecuted," for instance, was amplified by his stooges, such as Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, who floated false claims that the FBI was targeting Trump for assassination. Everyone knew that the chance of one of Trump's supporters going off like this was high. Indeed, after January 6, we can know that Trump himself frequently hopes his words have exactly this effect.
Trump's magic trick with his followers is convincing them that they're in on the con, when, in fact, they are his marks. Take his inciting speech on January 6, for instance. He made sure to wedge the word "peaceful" into it so that he had something to point to later when people correctly accused him of sending a violent mob to ransack the Capitol. The audience for that speech definitely heard the quotation marks around the word "peaceful," and understood that it was a CYA move to keep Trump out of trouble. I'm sure it was quite thrilling to many of them, to be part of one of Trump's schemes to slide away scot-free, covered by the legal magic of that disingenuous use of the word "peaceful."
In fact, they got so caught up in the drama of Trump's clever ass-covering, however, that they didn't stop to consider that his was the only ass covered by that bad faith deployment of the word "peaceful." Once his followers actually rioted, the word "peaceful" did nothing to protect them, only Trump. Of course, you cannot claim intent to be peaceful when you're the one beating cops with a flagpole.
Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only.
I have no doubt that Trump's followers are deeply invested in his neo-fascist movement and stick by him because they think he's the single best shot they have of creating the authoritarian state they desire. However, in their fanaticism, they keep missing the part where Trump always puts Trump first, and so often his machinations are more about serving his personal interests than their movement.
This situation around the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago is looking to be an example of this.
We still don't know why Trump was squirreling away illegally-held documents from the U.S. government. Reporting from the Washington Post suggests that nuclear secrets were in the boxes Trump was refusing to relinquish to the feds. There are a lot of uses that Trump could find with such information to achieve his personal goals, but it's hard to imagine how hanging onto it serves the wants and needs of his supporters. Whatever higher cause Shiffer deluded himself into thinking he was following, we can bet "helping Trump hang onto nuclear secrets" was not among them.
Yet Trump is out there now, claiming it's a "hoax" that what he's hoarding is related to nuclear intel. Because even he knows that even his most delusional supporters are going to think twice about being Trump martyrs for the "cause" of letting Trump hang onto some pricey info that serves his interests but not their movement.
The saddest part is that, while Shiffer took it to the next level, he's far from alone.
The FBI and the judge who signed the warrant have been deluged with threats from Trump supporters. These people aren't acting like maniacs because they want to make sure Trump has a box of valuable information he could sell on the black market. They are telling themselves a story about how Trump is some great MAGA hero that is being persecuted by the deep state. The QAnon folks are clinging to this bizarre hope that Trump is about to expose an international pedophilia ring and that's why the FBI is going after him. Some of these people know that their cause is fascist. Some are just delusional. But none of them are facing up to the fact that the number one "cause" that Trump is using them to protect is his own sorry ass. Trump wants what he wants, often for petty and selfish reasons, and doesn't care how many of his followers he has to feed into the gunfire to get his way.
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