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Russia Is Finally Getting Its Money’s Worth With Trump’s Latest Kremlin Gift Basket

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Despite the overwhelming influence of a convergence of interests between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, many skeptics about a potential conspiracy or covert alliance between the two have argued that the Kremlin hasn’t gotten much in exchange for its efforts to help Trump get elected.

While Trump has been rhetorically soft on Putin and has waged a public relations campaign against NATO, the some of the overt actions of his administration — launching missiles at Syria, providing arms to the Ukraine, and imposing sanctions on Russian invidiuals and organizations — have gone directly against the Kremlin’s interests, these skeptics say. There has been some truth to these claims, though much of the aggressive action toward Russia has been driven by Congress and fought by the Trump administration.

But on Wednesday, the Trump administration took two major steps in line with Russia’s interests that may help make all the effort Putin went to in supporting his candidacy worth it.

First, and most substantially, Trump announced, out of the blue, that the United States will be pulling out of Syria.

“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Trump said on Twitter. Officials have confirmed that planning is underway to withdraw troops.

As analyst Nick Patton Walsh explained, this was a big win for Putin’s interests in the region.

“Without the US in the ring, Russia is the main military force in the post-war Syria,” he wrote in a piece for CNN. “However you divine it, Trump seems to have few qualms about doing things that will please Putin.”

The claim that ISIS is “defeated” in Syria, however, is overly optimistic. Martin Chulov, a Middle East reporter for The Guardian, explained:

The long fight against Islamic State looks good on a map, but it is yet to be decisive on the battlefield.

The terror group has lost more than 95% of the territory it claimed in 2014 and the juggernaut that threatened to shred the region’s borders has been battered back to where it all began for the group’s earliest incarnation – a sliver of land along the Euphrates River, bordering Iraq and Syria.

There, Kurdish-led forces, backed by US air support, have been fighting it out with diehard extremists in towns and villages in Syria’s far eastern Deir ez-Zor province.

At least 2,500 Isis fighters remain, all survivors of routs to the east and west of their last redoubt. Colossal ruin lays in their wake on both sides of the river. But the group retains the capacity to do even more damage, especially if let off the hook now.

Meanwhile, Trump’s own Republican allies are extremely skeptical of his new announcement.

“Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

“The decision to pull out of Syria was made despite overwhelming military advice against it,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). “It is a major blunder.

The GOP has often been far too eager to wield the might of the U.S. military, and there may, in fact, be good reason for the United States to pull out of Syria. But ISIS being “defeated” is not one of them, and it is suspicious that the president primarily chooses to buck his party when it aligns with Putin’s interests.

And despite the major stakes of the decision, CNBC’s Christina Wilkie reports that a senior administration official is refusing to answer any questions about the “deliberative process” behind the Syria pullout. This sugests that there likely was no deliberative process — the president acted on his own.

“I’ve never seen a decision like this,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) after meeting at the White House to discuss the decision. “For all involved, this was a major shock.”

Others who are often critical of the president also found the move bewildering.

“Why would Trump do this now? Who knows?” wrote commentator Max Boot. “Given that he is acting at odds with his advisers, this is clearly not the result of a normal policy-review process. This is the Trump Doctrine in operation: Trump does whatever he wants. It could be based on what he had for breakfast — or there could be something more sinister going on.”

Another move brought by the Trump administration Wednesday will likely mean Putin is going to be even more pleased with the president. The Treasury Department annouced Wednesday that it will be rolling back sanctions — passed by Congress as punishment for Russia’s election interference — on entities tied to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Ostensibly, this move was taken because Deripaska is divesting a significant portion of his financial stakes in these entities. However, there are serious reasons for concern about this action.

For one, Deripaska himself has troubling ties to the Trump campaign. Court filings show that Trump Campaign Chair Paul Manafort was heavily indebted to Deripaska. And uncovered emails have shown that, during the campaign, Manafort reportedly offered his position within the Trump campaign as having the potential to resolve his debt to Deripaska.

But even leaving aside the shady Deripaska connection, the Treasury’s move is troubling on its own terms.

As law professor Jed Shugerman pointed out, the entities buying up Deripaska’s shares in the sanctioned businesses are themselves deeply suspicious. One of those entities, VTB Bank, has been named as a potential funder for the Trump Tower Moscow project the president was working on during the campaign. The other firm is Glencore.

“Glencore is being investigated for money laundering, and has been doing big business with Deripaska for years,” noted Shugerman.

So after fighting Congress over Russia sanctions all along the way, the Trump administration is now rolling back some of these key penalties under highly dubious circumstances.

In response to the rollback of the sanctions, former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah said: “So, the quid pro quo in plain sight.”

It’s not clear yet if there was an explicit conspiracy between Trump and Russians in the run-up to the 2016 election. But is clear that Putin had a strong desire for Trump to win — in part because he hated Hillary Clinton and in part because he thought Trump would be amenable to his interests. This Christmas season, it’s clear Putin is getting exactly what he wanted.

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‘They Tried to Kill’: Fox Host Explodes When Pushed on Unity With Left If Harris Wins

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Co-hosts on Fox News’ “The Five” discussed the possibility of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris winning the election, and were asked if they would work with the left for the good of the country. Jeanine Pirro, a former judge and district attorney refused, appeared to suggest Democrats tried to assassinate the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

“And you know,” Pirro said, “wouldn’t it have been better for them to at least spend some time saying, ‘we’re going to do this to better all of us, as opposed to just going after [him or them]?”

“But no, they’re, they’re medically, they’re medically insane,” co-host Greg Gutfeld responded, appearing to talk about Democrats.

“But if Democrats do win tonight, a House or the Senate or even the presidency, can we say we’re all gonna try to work together?” co-host and Democratic former U.S. Congressman Harold Ford Jr. asked.

“If it’ll make you feel better,” one co-host replied, as Gutfeld snarked, “You’re sleeping on the couch.”

Then Pirro interjected:  “You know what? There’s only one guy that they tried to kill,” she said, apparently referring to the two assassination attempts on Donald Trump.

READ MORE: ‘I’m Waving at You’: Kamala Harris Phone Banks, Gets Voter Watching Her Live on TV

Republicans, including Donald Trump, have baselessly tried to blame the attempted assassinations on Democrats’ “rhetoric.” In September Trump said, “I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me,” referring to Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

One of the attempted assassins, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who bloodied Trump’s ear and shot one audience member to death at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally in July, was a registered Republican who once donated $15 to ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform.

Ryan Wesley Routh, an alleged attempted assassin, had been a Trump supporter in 2016 but by 2020 had turned against the Republican president. USA Today reported Routh is an unaffiliated voter who supported Democrats at times but “may have once voted for Trump.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Closes Campaign With Misogynistic Slur, Violent Rhetoric Against Women

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‘I’m Waving at You’: Kamala Harris Phone Banks, Gets Voter Watching Her Live on TV

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While Donald Trump spent part of Election Day with Melania at the polls, questioning the integrity of the vote, Vice President Kamala Harris took some time to reach out to voters by phone banking at a Democratic National Committee event where she made a surprise entrance to talk with volunteers.

“Are you fired up? Ready to go?” an apparent DNC operative asked volunteers, who cheered both times, “yes!”

“I would like to introduce a very, very special guest who wanted to drop by,” he said.

When the door opened and Vice President Haris walked in, the group cheered.

She brought with her a gift: a big box of her favorite food, Doritos.

RELATED: Trump Pledges to Concede ‘Fair’ Loss Before Quickly Casting Doubt on Election Integrity

Thanking them, Harris said they “truly represent the best of who we are, just reaching out to folks, letting them all know we’re all in it together, reminding them of the power of their vote.”

The Vice President then got on the phone with one woman, telling her she just called to “reach out to our fellow Americans.”

“How are you doing? Have you voted already? You did? Thank you!” Harris said as the roomful of volunteers cheered. After thinking her for taking time out of her day to vote, the Vice President said, “you enjoy your day, OK?”

Harris then spoke to another voter, asked them if they had voted and thanked them for doing so.

Another person on the phone turned out to be an eight-year old girl.

READ MORE: Trump Closes Campaign With Misogynistic Slur, Violent Rhetoric Against Women

“I can tell you’re really smart, and you’re working really hard…You are still a leader at every age,” Harris told the young girl. “OK sweetheart, I thank you, and thanks for the time, please take care.”

She spoke to another caller for several minutes, thanking them and at one point saying, “Oh, I’m so excited about that, oh you are!” Harris said with a big smile before appearing to share what the voter said with a volunteer. She then talked with the voter, saying, “the Milwaukee small business, the community, is just thriving! So I’m looking forward to paying attention to your work…Thank you, we have all these volunteers here…Tell them I said hello.”

Harris was handed another phone, and said, “Carolyn?” apparently having been told the voter’s name. “Hi Carolyn. It’s Kamala—hi, how are you?”

“I’m looking at you and you’re looking at me? Oh, there’s a live camera somewhere here?” the Voce President said, laughing.

“Which camera? OK, I’m waving at you,” Harris said, as she waved.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘A Lot of Empty Seats’: What Reporters Are Seeing and Saying About Trump’s Final Rallies

 

 

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‘Look It Up’: Buttigieg Busts ‘Agitated and Aggressive’ Fox News Host in Heated Interview

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appears to have schooled Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, explaining that due to Donald Trump’s policies during his presidency China was able to establish itself as the leading producer of electric vehicles, in a rancorous interview Tuesday.

“The manufacturing recession is in your head,” Kilmeade falsely declared to the Secretary of Transportation. “It never happened.”

Secretary Buttigieg invited Kilmeade to “look it up on Politifact,” and “maybe bring it up on screen right now because there was a Trump manufacturing recession. Look it up.”

“Mr. Mayor,” Kilmeade, ignoring Buttigieg’s request and his current job title, then said, “Michigan matters a lot. That’s why you’re there, right?”

“That’s right—that, and because I live here.”

READ MORE: Trump Pledges to Concede ‘Fair’ Loss Before Quickly Casting Doubt on Election Integrity

“How much did the EV [electric vehicle] mandate hurt the uh, the Kamala Harris quest to be the next president?” Kilmeade asked, mispronouncing the name of the Vice President of the United States.

“Well, first of all,” Buttigieg responded, “the statement that there is an EV mandate is a lie. You can buy a gas car right now if you want one, you can buy an EV car if you want one, and we’ll help make it cheaper.”

“Really, an incredulous Kilmeade asked. “For how long?”

“As long as you want,” Buttigieg replied. “Now, our goal with the tax supports—and by the way, you you admit, right, that you can buy a gas car if you want right now, which means by definition there’s no mandate.”

“But if he has a goal by 2035, California is gone. By 2035, New York’s gone. And do you get any incentive, Mr. Mayor—” Kilmeade said as Buttigieg talked over him.

“But you admit you don’t have to, we’re not making you buy this car or that car, right?” the Secretary asked. “Now, the goal, and I gotta be careful, right, because I can’t get into the administration side, but what I’ll say is, the goal has been to be about half and half by the end of the decade.”

After some cross talk, Kilmeade asked, “if you had your druthers, would there be combustion engines?”

“If I had my druthers, every car would be made in America,” Buttigieg replied. “Now, we know that EV technology is coming. Whether people are ready for it or not, it is coming, it’s happening around the world and Donald Trump allowed China to take the lead on EVs. I want those EVs made in America.”

“Allowing China?” Kilmeade interjected, “you guys won’t ’em mine. You will not let ’em mine in Minnesota, where the governor wants to be vice president.”

“Let’s be super clear right now,” Buttigieg said.  “Let’s be very clear—Sorry, is this an interview or a debate? Can I at least finish?”

“Well, I just can’t let you throw out fallacies,” Kilmeade said. “It’s important.”

“Can I at least— excuse me? Name one statement that I just made that you would say is factually inaccurate.”

“The statement you just made that Donald Trump let China take the lead?” Kilmeade charged. “If somebody wants an EV, they should be able to get it, not get a rebate if they buy one.”

“If somebody wants an EV, they can get it,” Buttigieg replied. “And if somebody wants a gas car, they can get it, but what we’re doing is we’re making sure more of those are built in the US and here.”

READ MORE: Trump Closes Campaign With Misogynistic Slur, Violent Rhetoric Against Women

Zeteo News media columnist Justin Baragona observed, “What stands out here is that Kilmeade comes across as harried, agitated and aggressive — while Buttigieg remains calm and unflustered amid the Fox host’s constant agenda-driven haranguing.”

Business Insider in December of 2019 reported: “President Donald Trump won over Rust Belt states in 2016 on pledges to revive American manufacturing. But the sector slipped deeper into a recession in November, with a key gauge of factory activity falling for a fourth straight month.”

ABC News last month reported that experts say Donald Trump’s “tariff proposals would all but certainly trigger a global trade war.”

An October, 2024 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) appears to show that by the number of vehicles produced (“registered,”), China is by far the leading global producer. And in 2023, the MIT Technology Review reported, “China [has] managed to build a world-leading industry in electric vehicles,” and, “dominate the world of electric cars.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘A Lot of Empty Seats’: What Reporters Are Seeing and Saying About Trump’s Final Rallies

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