Trump's Wild Conspiracy Theories: Catching on With the GOP and Just as Wacky

Trump's score board not totally up to date

(Hard to keep up with his daily rants & tweets)

What a super story here by reporter Scott Shane – he should win a Pulitzer Prize for this –my take on it:

Washington: In an April 2017 interview with the Associated Press, Donald Trump suddenly began talking about the hack of the DNC a year earlier, complaining that the FBI had not physically examined the compromised server, when he said: “They brought in another company that I hear is Ukrainian-based.”

CrowdStrike? the surprised reporter asked, referring to the California cyber security company that investigated how Russian government hackers had stolen and leaked Democratic emails, disrupting Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Trump resumed: “That's what I heard. Heard it's owned by a very rich Ukrainian; that's what I heard.”

Counter to Trump’s conspiracy BS from Wired.com – key part:

CrowdStrike said in an official statement: “With regards to our investigation of the DNC hack in 2016, we provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI. As we’ve stated before, we stand by our findings and conclusions that have been fully supported by the U.S. intelligence community.”

Related here from The Atlantic – same topic.

Now, more than two years later, Trump is still holding on to this wild, false, and crazy conspiracy theory.

For example, in his July call with Ukraine President Zelensky, Trump summed up the call in a sort of shorthand — at least according to the White House memorandum, labeled “not a verbatim transcript.”

Trump said: “I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say CrowdStrike … I guess you have one of your wealthy people…”

Then Trump added one novel detail: “The server, they say Ukraine has it.”

Note: No, Mr. Trump CrowdStrike IS NOT Ukrainian. It is an American owned and operated company in California.

It is reputable, reliable, and very trustworthy and frequently complimented on by the FBI and others agencies for their honest and thorough work. Nothing there, Mr. Trump – so, put a sock in it…!!!

Now, Trump's call for Ukraine to look into his CrowdStrike story forms the background to the House impeachment inquiry, which is focused on the second request he made: that Zelensky investigate Trump's possible 2020 opponent, former vice-president Joe Biden.

Trump has placed a concoction of disprovable claims, of the kind usually found on the fringes of the web, squarely in the middle of American politics and diplomacy. 

The tale of the supposedly hidden server may have appealed to Trump because it undercut a well-established fact that he has resented and resisted for three years: The Russian government interfered in the 2016 election to help him win, an effort thoroughly documented by American intelligence agencies and amply supported by public evidence.

By contrast, there is no evidence to support Trump's vague suggestion that Ukraine, not Russia, might be responsible for the hacking, or that CrowdStrike somehow connived in it.

But this alternate history has provided a psychological shield for the President against facts that he believes tarnish his electoral victory.

Trump has long called for better relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia and brushed aside complaints about its conduct.

So there is a certain symmetry to his suggestion that Ukraine, Russia's opponent and the victim of its territorial grab, may somehow have framed Russia for the 2016 election activity.

Also, from Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at think tank the Wilson Center in Washington, who regularly visits Ukraine and is writing a book called: “How to Lose the Information War” said: “Ukraine is the perfect scapegoat for him [Trump], because it's the enemy of Russia.”

Jankowicz further notes that a number of Ukraine-linked stories, some of them distorted or exaggerated, have been pulled together by Trump's supporters into this his single narrative.

My 2 cents: Trump is a life-long and highly-skilled con man – there is no doubt about that, but he always has devious intentions that only benefit himself and his family and their financial gain from any source and any way possible regards of who gets damaged by their tactics along the way or in the end as long as they always come out on top – a proven fact.

Note: Parts of this story I also posted here - FYI.

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