The Trump-Putin Smoking Gun Likely Does Not Exist

Go Get 'Em, Trumpy

Chances are you remember the Obama-IRS Scandal--the one where Obama hired Lois Lerner and told her to target the Tea Party? Which she did--destroying her hard drive in order to keep the directives from the Oval Office from being discovered.

Right?

It didn't happen. Firstly, Obama did not hire Lerner. That was Bush. But what did happen is that the IRS did investigate Tea Party groups to a degree that constituted maleficent political activism. Yes, she got some liberal groups in there--no, the pattern was not the same.

The other part that didn't happen was that there was a communication from Obama to her--that's the part--the smoking gun--the secret sauce--that conservatives needed to be there to Bring. Obama. Down. When it failed to turn up, the scandal fizzled. They blamed the press, of course--but The Omnivore is pretty sure that that final piece of the puzzle never existed.

Why? Because it didn't need to. Firstly, Obama, aware of the Federal Records Act would never have emailed Lerner telling her to target his political enemies. Secondly, the Tea Party was explicitly an anti-Tax, anti-government, anti-IRS group. It was also abusing the rules about being a non-profit and taking political activity (just like everyone else forever does). She didn't need a directive. It's entirely plausible she decided to do it on her own.

Trump & The Russians

So now let's get current. Is there going to be a video of Putin and Trump agreeing to exchange the Baltics for Trump's real estate developments in St. Petersburg? No. You're not going to get that. Why? Because it doesn't exist--or, at least, it doesn't need to. Putin's goal was chaos and weakening of America, likely under a Clinton presidency.

He didn't need quid-pro-quo with Trump to help him: Trump was by his nature the bullet aimed at America. All Putin needed to do was help him fire--give him money, release helpful intel, and so on.

We are pretty sure at least the second happened. Probably in some way, the first. Oh, there were things Putin wanted: the change on the Ukraine stance in the Republican platform, for example--but for those, all he had to do with have cut-outs meet with people he was already friendly with (Manafort, Flynn, etc.) and make suggestions.

Those suggestions get presented to Trump as a tasty chance to get cuddly with Putin--something Trump is inclined to do anyway. That's it. That's all. Remember how Obama was strung along thinking there could be a "reset button"? They didn't need back-room deals--just good old fashioned diplomacy.

Trump is a Russian dupe--not a Russian spy.

What Does This Mean?

It means you should give up on the Intelligence Community taking out Trump. There's an outside chance something will happen (like--maybe in his Tax Returns)--but the fact is that the GOP will never impeach him unless he's on tape vocally selling out America while . . . eating pedophile pizza or something. It's just not going to happen (The Omnivore would love to be wrong about this--but The Omnivore is rarely wrong).

On the other hand, it does mean that you can bask in the stunning hypocrisy of the GOP and take notes for later. China is fast tracking Trump hotels that will offer prostitute services. Imagine if Obama had done that? This sort of thing needs to be the messaging--not that Trump is a Russian Secret Agent--that he's effortlessly bought and paid for by our geopolitical enemies.

Most Trump-voters are not persuadable--but America doesn't need most Trump-voters. It just needs most Americans. Work on that.