This TrumpWorld Grab-bag has an Inconsistent Story

One of the things that really steams me about TrumpWorld is the lack of consistent stories. Take Trump making the claim that he, nope, no way, nyet, did not have any Russian business interests. Well, with some exceptions. But he did--there was correspondence about a Trump Tower in Moscow. There happen to be several documents that detail the interest Donald Trump had in Moscow.  The man had an international business interest in hotels and golfing resorts all over the world--why not Moscow (where he held the Miss Universe pageant)? Just copping to some business interests in the first place would not have looked as odd as saying there were not any. Being untruthful (because he couldn't be unaware of the connections) just doesn't seem like he forgot.

It looks like concealment. The problem here, though, isn't President Trump's veracity or recollection of events, alone, though. Donald Trump as a public figure has at best what could be described as an eccentric relationship with facts, and his inconsistency by itself might point to nothing more than his own tendency to say what he thinks other people might want to hear. But when this is added to the various omissions by AG Jeff Sessions, Paul Manafort, former NSA Mike Flynn, Senior WH Aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner--and also, current head of Donald Trump's business concerns, Donald Trump, Jr., a pattern of concealment seems to be taking place. The only thing is--what the hell are they concealing?

Trump Jr.'s story definitely seems to have evolved since the news of a meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign was first broken. The meeting was treated at first as being no big deal. But if it wasn't, why would the story change? Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE.) darkly suggested it was potentially a criminal level of untruth.  Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT.) indicated that the inconsistencies were such Trump Jr. would likely need to be called back. And Robert Mueller has produced the names of six current and former WH staffers he intends to question over the White House itself being involved in the crafting of one of Trump Jr's inconsistent statements (even though he is a grown man, not on staff at the White House, and the White House using it's pull directly to protect Trump Jr's bacon being pretty irregular)--and for other episodes related to the Trump/Russia connections. (WH Communications Director for the last minute, Hope Hicks, has lawyered up.)

Whatever Mueller may or may not have regarding the possibility of Trump/Russia collusion, the basic lack of ability to keep any kind of straight story starts making the obstruction of justice complaint look more and more like a thing. Why is everybody lying about stuff if it was for no reason at all?

In the meanwhile, more about how Russia helped the Trump campaign is becoming clearer. Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts used targeted information to spread disinfo regarding the campaign that was favorable to Trump, unfavorable to Clinton.  Also, something like $100K in ads directing to fake news sites on Facebook might have been seen by tens of millions of potential voters. That quite a lot of bang for the foreign campaign fuxxoring buck! (This story about what Russia is trying online has layers, folks--they messed with Texas!) And who even knows what else had been "cooked up"?

It's awkward as heck--when we find out from RT that President Trump had a very cordial meeting with the new Russian Ambassador, or learn that Russian influence has affected US strategy against ISIS, it doesn't not feel like a "spirit of cooperation"--but something else. The US relationship with Russia isn't, actually, cooperative.

It's inconsistent.

(If you have enjoyed this installment of TrumpWorld Grab-Bag, there is more where that came from! See The TrumpWorld Grab-Bag Collection for the rest of this on-going series.)