Comment by Pyxl101 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Pyxl101 | Hacker News Reader

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Supposedly the Trump campaign is viewed as getting along with Russia while Hillary's campaign is viewed as more antagonistic toward Russia. Trump and Vladimir Putin are both rich businessmen. This article has some details:

http://www.vox.com/2016/7/27/12271042/donald-trump-russia-pu...

> All of this raises one big question: What the hell is going on with Trump and Russia? The answer appears to be twofold. First, the Kremlin appears to be interfering in the US election in a way likely to help Trump become president. (...)

> Second, Trump is deeply, weirdly pro-Russian. Trump’s proposed foreign policy would, intentionally or no, aid Vladimir Putin in ways the Russian dictator could only dream about before Trump. Trump has repeatedly expressed wild admiration for Putin personally; his campaign staff and businesses have extensive ties to Russian interests. (Just yesterday, the New York Times reported the existence of a handwritten ledger documenting $12.7 million in payments to Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, from Ukraine's pro-Russian deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych).

Trump has been known to make statements like, "Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing [from Hillary Clinton's email server]. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

The article also reviews the evidence pointing to that Russia might be interfering in the election or helping Trump in some way.

>Supposedly the Trump campaign is viewed as getting along with Russia while Hillary's campaign is viewed as more antagonistic toward Russia. Trump and Vladimir Putin are both rich businessmen.

All irrelevant. If its the Russian's its tit-for-tat reactions to pressure Russia is experiencing as a result of certain policy choices its made these past years:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/20/obama-extends-...

http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/03/20/u-s-freezes-assets-of-ru...

Manafort was hired by many Republican campaigns. Ford, Reagan, HW Bush. Cold War era. He's always been big in the Republican establishment. Check his Wikipedia for yourself.

The story isn't as simple as "Trump is pro-Russian." If that were the case, then Cold War era presidents could be described as Pro-Russian.

Manager has only recently been involved with Putin via Yanukovych. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/c01989a47ee5421593ba1b301ec07...

Manafort, of course.

What's more likely:

Trump hires Manafort because he has Russian ties?

Or

Trump hires Manafort because he's connected to the Republican establishment?

"both" seems most likely to me.

Trump could have any number of choices among the Republican establishment, but he also has a number of business interests in Russia, so a Republican with Russian ties is possibly more attractive to him than a Republican without because he unifies Trump's political and business goals.

Manafort's Russian ties aren't only known to Trump. The entire Republican Party establishment is well-aware of his background. Manafort is a part of that establishment and he's close to HW Bush.

This isn't Trump using private information to his personal advantage. This is complicity within the entire Republican Party establishment.

It's more likely that the Republican party itself has ties to Russia. Manafort was probably a compromise between the Republican establishment and the Trump campaign when he won the nomination, seeing as he let Lewandowski go and Manafort was tasked with moderating Trump's image. It also was Manafort who allegedly pressured Trump into supporting Ryan.

Trump is probably not using the Presidency to get preferential business treatment in Russia. There are much much much much easier ways to get edge, even in Russia. If he is, it's a goal that is way out there on the periphery, likely not something on which he would base his choice of campaign chairman.

Surely if "Russia" releases Hillarys emails it wouldnt be a big deal because she says there is no national security issue with her private server?

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