Its not about a “scandal” of a laptop per se. Its the failure to report on the laptop, deny its existence, and then get 51 former (and now we know some were still contracted) intelligence officials to claim it was not real and Russian interference. So imo the laptop is not the “scandal” its the 51 officials.
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Fear Trump for what? Look at all these current wars under our amazing democratic president.
The issue was over the provenance, and therefore authenticity, of the data being alleged to have come from the laptop.
There were multiple strands of evidence, several of them ongoing national intelligence investigations, that Trump world people (specifically Rudy) were working with Russian intelligence contacts to insert dirt about the Bidens’ into the election. I mean fuck, this was the basis of his first impeachment. This preexisted the claim a laptop belonging to Hunter had so the laptop allegations landed in a national security environment that any such information should be treated with incredible skepticism. The NY post publishing cultivated excerpts of the alleged contents given to them by Rudy who was by this time a known Russian agent, and doing so without any due diligence is the scandal. This is what the “51 officials” responded to. Other entities didn’t not because they were pressured not to, but because that is standard journalistic practice over such information.
While some of the data has been validated as authentic, some of the more supposedly damaging piece have not been, and more to the point cannot be. This is entirely consistent with the warnings from the Intelligence community of what a Russian Op is created to do…insert fake data into collections of real data.
People who think you are a sucker want you to believe the issue is over the existence of a laptop and proof of ownership. But you need to understand that those people think you are not better Zoolander and Hansel trying to break into Maury Ballstein’s computer to get the evidence.
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The US is at war ?
It is not so much the distant wars but rather what is lost by voting in such a phenotype - a second time to boot. It feels like the end of an ideal/dream (or possibly the pinnacle?).
If it is an end then why do people still flock to come to it??? It is still an incredibly successful country full of possibilities.
For me are are two things in play, people have lost perspective and systems are eventually gamed. The two are somewhat at loggerheads in terms solutions….
It looks like one group of people are already convinced that Biden is going to be persuaded to quit. The Republicans’ House campaign arm have started running an ad attacking Kamala.
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While sending out warnings that the worst the things the Dems could do would be to create the chaos of Biden standing down.
And this is how things are spun.
“Clinton” does something (Steele dossier) to smear Trump, leftist media/journalists jumps on it as all true, and after the fact that it is no longer relevant, ignore.
“Trump” does something (laptop) to smear Biden, leftist media/journalists jumps on it as all false, and after the fact that it is no longer relevant, ignore.
Biden is mentally and physically a mess, leftist media/journalists jumps on it as all false, and after the fact that it is no longer deniable, report on it.
The point of the matter is that all media (left and right) does a shit job of reporting, which leads people to have an indoctrinated view of issues. It would be bearable except for the fact that journalism, media outlets, owners, are slanted heavily towards liberal talking points/support.
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Despite it circulating for months, no outlet published any details of the Steele dossier until after the election. When Buzzfeed broke ranks and published it (again, not until after Trump was sworn in), their decision to do so it was roundly criticized by the rest of the main stream media for what was viewed as an irresponsible decision. What focus there was on it by the left and main stream media was quickly dropped in favour of focusing what we then knew of ongoing government investigations into the connections. Trump people, eager to mischaracterize the veracity of the allegations about Russia’s involvement in the election, were the main people keeping the Steele Dossier in the news by trying to pretend this was the basis on the ongoing questions about his Russian ties
Whatever validity there may be to claims of “the media are bad”, hanging on to ideas that are at best misunderstandings of complex issues, and leaning on sources that treat you as a mark to be exploited is not the best way to navigate through that.
As for Steele being a Clinton smear, again you misunderstand the details. The investigation began as a republican funded exercise after Fusion GPS contacted donors saying “there is something here and some of you people who oppose Trump really should pay us to document it for you.” Once they saw the writing on the wall with Trump’s nomination they turned to people in Clinton’s orbit to share what they had learned and ask if they wanted to fund the continuation of it. Notably, despite the Clinton team having versions of the report as early as July they never went public with any of the information in it. In what way is this is a “smear”?
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NYT reporting he’s thinking about it…
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Circa 20:10 
Jean-Pierre has clarified that no human can travel 6 time zones with a cold and perform at a debate. Having said that, the president has owned up to it. He also went to the Waffle House and with the maple syrup having revived him, the President has no intention of stepping down.
Carry on.
Trump just interpreted that as having to put tariffs on Canadian imports to punish them for supporting Biden’s campaign with PED syrup
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The Fox reporter just asked if Joe takes a nap every day.
She has followed up with how Joe could go to the Waffle House with a cold.
Jean-Pierre has said that anyone who fights through a cold should be commended.
I have a sore throat, @Iftikhar
What a time to be alive.
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Just…
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I just don’t see how JB comes out of this still viable. The fact that we are in this situation and having these conversations is going to leave a lasting scar. He clearly doesn’t realise it himself yet, but it is starting to feel like a matter of time.
The fact that everyone’s still talking about it a week later and that the campaign and the White House are unable to change the narrative suggests you’re right. The only way they are going to be able to move on is if they allow him to come under serious scrutiny again , without a teleprompter. Friday’s interview might be a start but you’d have to suspect that he’s going to be getting a heads up as to what to expect. One thing’s for sure though , hiding him away and only seeing him give prepared remarks is no longer gonna cut it.
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Neither are good options, bad one is undoubtedly worse and will have lasting effects.
Biden is the equivalent of grandpa stepping in dog shit, then walking through your house. Your carpet now stinks, you need it professionally cleaned but grandpa is apologetic.
Trump on the other hand has oil on his boots. When you raise it with him at first he would blame you. You can’t tell if he does not care it did it on purpose. Your carpet is ruined, but what worries you most is that he has a box of matches in his tiny hands. You no longer worried about the carpet your worried about why he has them if he does not smoke.
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bloody hell ISMF, the example things are meant to be based in realism…
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