Posted on Aug 2, 2018
Bolton: Trump 'will not tolerate interference' in U.S. elections
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Mr Obama didn't care because the Democratic party was messing about. No one cared until Trump won.
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SFC J Fullerton
The President just referred to election meddling as the "Russian Hoax" last night a rally in PA, totally contradicting his own national security team a few hours before. You are finger pointing to the previous president claiming he didn't care, what is your opinion of the current presidents statements regarding his position on the issue?
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funny they cry about foreign interference from Russia but gladly claim foreign voters from Mexico
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SFC J Fullerton
SGT Jim Arnold - No its not self explanatory. Are you saying you condone foreign interference into American democracy? Sounds like it to me if anyone who is opposed to it is "crying". OK, I guess that makes me one of the "they", because I love my country and have a problem with foreign interference into our elections.
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SGT Jim Arnold
SFC J Fullerton - no, The democrats are the ones crying over it while they are registering Mexican nationals to vote in elections and conveying rights they are NOT entitled to. My statement above was clear enough. I do not believe anyone could misread my statement considering the national news about this all has been kicked around for a year already.
SFC Jordan Gaudard SSgt Christopher Brose LTC Greg Henning LTC (Join to see) LT Brad McInnisSFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL MAJ Raymond HaynesSPC Mike Lake SGT (Join to see) SGT (Join to see)Cpl Scott McCarroll SGT (Join to see) MSgt Stephen CouncilCPT (Join to see)Capt Christian D. Orr SGT Gregory LawritsonSSG Andrew Colket CW5 John M. PO3 Galon Miller
SFC Jordan Gaudard SSgt Christopher Brose LTC Greg Henning LTC (Join to see) LT Brad McInnisSFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL MAJ Raymond HaynesSPC Mike Lake SGT (Join to see) SGT (Join to see)Cpl Scott McCarroll SGT (Join to see) MSgt Stephen CouncilCPT (Join to see)Capt Christian D. Orr SGT Gregory LawritsonSSG Andrew Colket CW5 John M. PO3 Galon Miller
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SFC J Fullerton
SGT Jim Arnold - I didn't misread anything. You said " they cry about foreign interference from Russia". Shouldn't all Americans be "crying" that a foreign government is interfering in American democracy? Yes, non-citizens do not have the right to vote, and that is also a threat to democracy as well, but a separate issue from this. Do you believe the President when he once again last night referred to the election meddling confirmed by all of our intelligence and DOJ agencies as the "Russian Hoax"? Is it a hoax Jim? Or was it the 400 pound man in a basement? Just want to be sure what to cry about.
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SGT Jim Arnold
SFC J Fullerton - its all connected and its at the DOJ, FBI executives and immediate subordinates.
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SSgt Christopher Brose SFC (Join to see) LTC Greg Henning LTC (Join to see) LT Brad McInnisSFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL MAJ Raymond HaynesSPC Mike Lake SGT (Join to see) SGT (Join to see)Cpl Scott McCarroll SGT (Join to see) MSgt Stephen CouncilCPT (Join to see)Capt Christian D. Orr SGT Gregory LawritsonSSG Andrew Colket CW5 John M. PO3 Galon Miller
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Trump has continually denied or downplayed Russian involvement in our election meddling. Every now and then he halting reads a statement written by his staff that says the Russians did it, but that's about it. When is he going to congratulate Mueller on the great and detailed work he has done in identifying many of the Russians involved, including specifics about websites, IP addresses, etc? When is he going to address the American people and forcefully announce that the US knows that the Russians meddled before, that we know they are meddling now, and that we will take more aggressive actions and sanctions against them until they stop? Instead we get Trump praising Putin's leadership and saying that the US-Russia relationship changed "4 hours ago" because they had a meeting. And perhaps the most laughable if all, is that he puts out that yes, the Russians are meddling in the 2018 election, but they are doing so on behalf of the democrats, because Putin doesn't want Trump as president because Trump is so strong against Russia. He can say that with a straight face even as Putin continues to praise Trump and feed his ego
Obama faced a difficult decision about what to make public about the Russian interference. If you remember, this was the time when Trump was saying that our electoral system was fixed, and he wouldn't even commit to accepting the results of the election if he didn't win. Imagine what would have happened had Obama come out just prior to the election and say that Russia was meddling in the election and trying to help Trump win?
One can certainly argue about how much Obama should have done and when. But Obama did impose sanctions on Russians after the elections. You remember, the sanctions that Trump wanted to end, and General Flynn discussed with the Russians and then lied about it. But what has Trump himself actually done about Russian meddling? Has he led the effort to stop Russian interference? Of course not. He imposed no additional sanctions until Congress passed a law that made him do it, and them slow rolled even doing that. And by the way, the Russians chosen to be sanctioned were the ones identified by Muellers investigation (you know, the witch hunt).
So while it is easy to look back and question what Obama should or should not have done in the last few months of his presidency, the real issue is what is our CURRENT president doing about it? What is our CINC doing to rally the effort to expose and end Russian interference? Sadly, the answer is next to nothing. He denigrates the US intelligence community while standing a few feet away from Putin, he constantly calls for and end to the only investigation that has gathered enough hard evidence to indict dozens of Russians, and he constantly refers to that investigation as a witch hunt.
So I would ask you, SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint , what is your assessment of our CURRENT presidents efforts over the last year and a half to protect our democratic systems and punish those who are attacking us?
Obama faced a difficult decision about what to make public about the Russian interference. If you remember, this was the time when Trump was saying that our electoral system was fixed, and he wouldn't even commit to accepting the results of the election if he didn't win. Imagine what would have happened had Obama come out just prior to the election and say that Russia was meddling in the election and trying to help Trump win?
One can certainly argue about how much Obama should have done and when. But Obama did impose sanctions on Russians after the elections. You remember, the sanctions that Trump wanted to end, and General Flynn discussed with the Russians and then lied about it. But what has Trump himself actually done about Russian meddling? Has he led the effort to stop Russian interference? Of course not. He imposed no additional sanctions until Congress passed a law that made him do it, and them slow rolled even doing that. And by the way, the Russians chosen to be sanctioned were the ones identified by Muellers investigation (you know, the witch hunt).
So while it is easy to look back and question what Obama should or should not have done in the last few months of his presidency, the real issue is what is our CURRENT president doing about it? What is our CINC doing to rally the effort to expose and end Russian interference? Sadly, the answer is next to nothing. He denigrates the US intelligence community while standing a few feet away from Putin, he constantly calls for and end to the only investigation that has gathered enough hard evidence to indict dozens of Russians, and he constantly refers to that investigation as a witch hunt.
So I would ask you, SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint , what is your assessment of our CURRENT presidents efforts over the last year and a half to protect our democratic systems and punish those who are attacking us?
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SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
Very interesting read, and to answer your question.... Trump would have an easier job if Obama had protected us and made this a NON-issue. But, because of inadequate actions, we have the current problem for POTUS... The RU have 8 years of actions in the digital world, and Trump has just over a year in office. FYI, RU has been doing influence ops since the 1950s. I had an interesting chat with Khrushchev's son recently and it was interesting....plus, he has been living and teaching college in USA since 1990s. See my earlier article. https://inhomelandsecurity.com/russia-election-meddling-espionage/
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LTC (Join to see)
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint - yes, if Obama had made the problem go away, it would be a non issue (though I believe this issue will never be completely ended as the Russians will never stop trying. But you still seem to have dodged the answer about what is your assessment of our current President's actions over the last 18 months. Do you think he has done a good job with this issue? Do you think his response to this attack has been appropriate? Has he appropriately informed the nation about the reality of this threat and rallied the public about it? From my perspective I think he has failed to act appropriately in any of those areas, and in fact has gone out of his way to denigrate those who are waging the battle and has used every opportunity to diminish the threat.
And I believe he is doing those things because of his own ego, and because he puts himself before the needs of the country. A man who has already spread lies as to why he lost the popular vote (millions of illegal immigrants voting, busloads of voters crossing state lines in the Northeast) because he cannot stand the idea that a plurality of the American people didn't vote for him also cannot admit that the Russians actively tried to help him win. It doesn't matter whether there were any actual voters affected by the influence ops. Trump simply cannot admit that the Russians attempted to help him win. In his mind, this is an attack on the validity of his election. So even though the evidence has been overwhelming, Trump continues to waffle about it.
So what do you actually feel about Trumps actions to date? Do you feel they have been appropriate? Tough enough? Too tough?
And I believe he is doing those things because of his own ego, and because he puts himself before the needs of the country. A man who has already spread lies as to why he lost the popular vote (millions of illegal immigrants voting, busloads of voters crossing state lines in the Northeast) because he cannot stand the idea that a plurality of the American people didn't vote for him also cannot admit that the Russians actively tried to help him win. It doesn't matter whether there were any actual voters affected by the influence ops. Trump simply cannot admit that the Russians attempted to help him win. In his mind, this is an attack on the validity of his election. So even though the evidence has been overwhelming, Trump continues to waffle about it.
So what do you actually feel about Trumps actions to date? Do you feel they have been appropriate? Tough enough? Too tough?
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SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
MSgt Steve Sweeney - I would have used covert methods in the cyber arena. The hackers have lots of tools to screw with people...Nation States have much better tools. We do not need to publicize our actions, but so something. It would have been a lot easier 7 or 8 years ago. I do believe O was worried about it causing a Hot War....but doing nothing can be just as bad. Hackers call it being owned....
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SFC Kelly Fuerhoff
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint - I think you overestimate the talent that the US government has in the cyber arena...we are so far behind everyone else when it comes to cyber it's ridiculous. We can't recruit the best "hackers" because they don't want to work for the government and be hamstringed by rules and regulations. Also the pay is better when they're independent and work for hire.
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