THEORY... What happened to the republicans

[NYETNYET]

Way back when it came out that the DNC was hacked and emails were released, a couple republicans mentioned that they were hacked also. That story got shot down, denied and even an alternate fact spread. Moscow Mitch was on that in a flash. Nothing to see here!
I believe the RNC was hacked. The information was not publicly released, it was used as targeted blackmail. We are very familiar with scores of dirty deeds they have done. Do you think that they would like the public to see the planning of hundreds of voting machines going down at mainly black districts. Of them coordinating the purging of thousands of registered voters across the country. Do you think they would welcome the chain of emails 'fine tuning' a bit of scandalous gossip about an opponent. Who would drop the hint, who would remark on it, what media for the big reveal. How to get maximum effect.
The deals made for support, money and power... The list of topics are only limited by our imaginations. I would hazard a guess these emails were not limited to political subjects. What other activities are congressmen and senators engaged in?
The payoff of the blackmail... Ignore what is happening, fully support whatever crackpot, shady, possibly illegal scheme that comes down the road. Or else!
What was that quote? Russia, if you're watching... release those emails.

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt

[dalton99a]

2. Putin has all their files and emails

[JudyM]

25. The cloak is so widespread among them that it may be something widespread, e.g., campaign finance

violation that is bad enough to be seriously criminal...

ETA: Doesn’t seem likely that there’s independent compromat on each of them... and none of them will break because it’ll domino.

[dalton99a]

27. Yep, I think Putin found the receipts

[volstork]

3. This is 100% correct.

They are terrified of the kompromat that putin and his minions have on them, because they know it could bring them down.

[dewsgirl]

4. K and R

[mopinko]

5. correct me if i'm wrong here, but

wouldnt the fbi have come across this? at least to some extent? cia? allies?
so, send in the forensics team to seize THEIR server.

[getagrip_already]

16. We wouldn't know....

The fbi had a solid case against the nra for money laundering, then poof. So how would we know what they found out? it's all classified and buried.

[PatrickforO]

6. Interesting. And, sadly, plausible. nt

[C_U_L8R]

7. There's no before and after.

Republicans have always been contemptible fucks. No need to blackmail. They are that way on purpose.

[Sherman A1]

9. Precisely

[leftieNanner]

17. This is certainly true

But it seems to have gotten much worse! Lindsey has always been a jerk, but he has transformed before our eyes into something low, slimy and slithering. I think there really is a 'there' there. Just MHO.

[Scotch-Irish]

42. That bothers me a great deal, about Lindsay Graham. The change in him is TOO drastic

And he has been called on it by media and reporters. But he keeps on!

[duforsure]

8. I agree

And they had trump as putins candidate knowing they had more on the GOP ,especially on Moscow Mitch , more than on the Democrats, so they had trump run as a republican for Putin to further corrupt them with. I also think Mitch had been uncovered by Putin for corruption and was compromised as well and given funneled money for his and others campaigns corrupting others in their party. Now many of them are promoting putins propaganda knowing that it's false, and forced into protecting trump no matter what crimes he commits. Trump and the GOP are compromised now and promoting whatever putins wants, even phony investigations into Hillary, and now with Biden.

[dchill]

10. "Where's the server?"

[UpInArms]

11. Graham: Russians hacked my campaign email account

https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/14/politics/lindsey-graham-hacking-russia-donald-trump/index.html

Washington (CNN)Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday his campaign email account was hacked by Russians -- adding that the US needs to work together to stop this from happening.

"I do believe the Russians hacked into the (Democratic National Committee). I do believe they hacked into (John) Podesta's email account. They hacked into my campaign account," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "I do believe that all the information released publicly hurt Clinton and didn't hurt Trump. I don't think the outcome of the election is in doubt. What we should do is not turn on each other but work as one people to push back on Russia."

He added he doesn't believe that the hacking affected the elections.

"I think Hillary Clinton lost because she wasn't an agent of change and she tried to disqualify Trump and she wasn't able to do it," he said. "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue."
"They're trying to destabilize democracy all over the world. Not just here," he said about the Russians. "Here's what we should do. We should tell the Russians that on no uncertain terms, you interfere in our elections, we don't care why, we're going to hit you and hit you hard, we're going to introduce sanctions, it'll to be bipartisan."

When was it that Lindsey embraced trump?

Lindsey Graham explains his pro-Trump conversion — and it’s not because he thinks Trump is great

It’s time to stop asking what happened with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham’s complete 180 on President Trump, because Graham has now made it abundantly clear: political expediency.
But that, in and of itself, suggests his view of Trump remains about as dim as it was before.
This is a question that has stalked Graham for some time. How could he go from calling Trump a “kook” who is “unfit for office” in 2016 to the guy who, in 2017, infamously attacked others for labeling Trump a “kook not fit to be president?” And it is a fair question; Washington is not a place chock-full of principled stands and consistency, but even here the disconnect between 2016 Graham and 2017-19 Graham is remarkable.

[yardwork]

20. If we follow what happened to Graham, it would blow the whole thing open.

People speculate about what happened to Graham to make him compromise every single belief he appeared to hold. Something big happened between 2016 and 2017. Is he afraid of being exposed? Is he afraid of being assassinated?

People say the change happened one day after he and Trump went golfing.

[Scotch-Irish]

43. I hadn't heard that before.

But I also say that a lot of what tRump has on people is a LOT more damaging that a little bit of compromised emails. I always go back to the Epstein/Trump/Acosta swamp: now THOSE are "three amigos" who have/had the whole perverted story on all who were in the "address book".

[Pepsidog]

21. Republicans are so unprincipled, so immoral that I'm sure Russian was able to compromise them easily

Putin told Trump what he has on Graham. After that Graham fell in-line like a puppy dog. It’s obvious, Graham is being blackmailed, there cannot be any other reason for his abrupt and stunning switch to Trump’s puppy. Just think about what he just did. He started an investigation of Biden’s son which he knows is bullshit. Trump is making him do it. You don’t turn on a colleague like that who he has known for 30 some years. Biden is not the kind of man who makes enemies easily. Trump’s hands are all over Graham’s conduct. Putin the puppet master is making a mockery of America. Again a Democratic president is gonna have to clean up the mess Republicans made just like Clinton and Obama and the cycle will begin again. As a Democratic president mends fences with our allies, Republicans will call it an apology tour and with the help of Fox and Russia spew lies and disinformation. The next president must put a real
hurt on Russian and we must figure out how to contain the likes of Fox and Facebook. We need another Roosevelt-part Teddy, part Franklin. I haven’t picked a candidate yet but believe Warren must be in the equation. Biden/Warren where Biden serves 1 term and Warren will be responsible for domestic policy, Biden focuses on foreign policy. We must take control of both Houses and the Oval Office and they must hit the ground day one with polices to start rebuilding the nation. A new, New Deal. 2020 we must win and win big. We can’t take four more years of Trump. The judiciary will be ruined for a generation. So much at stake in 2020.

[mountain grammy]

12. K & R

[NurseJackie]

13. Also...

[mahina]

37. Who is that?

[NurseJackie]

40. Chris Hansen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hansen

[mahina]

41. One possibility I guess but there's so much

That’s more likely.

If you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras.

Remember when the wingers accused Hillary Clinton of being part of a pedophile ring, how kooky that was? I still don’t know how they can be so gullible.

A man, or men, I could see, but if course I don’t have evidence either.

Really good graphic though!

[scuciti]

14. Ring of truth to it

Fantastic post NyetNyet. I think you are right. This fits better than any other explanation.

[Baked Potato]

15. Couple this with the contents of Pecker's and Epstein's safes

And that’s a whole lotta blackmail.

[Bayard]

18. Interesting theory....

Yes, I could see that happening.

[skydive forever]

19. I've been saying this for years

It's the only thing that explains why some of the repubs that were never trumpers flipped so quickly. Someone (Russians) have dirt on all of them.

[panfluteman]

22. Exactly! Why would the Russians do only half a job?

That's what my dear sister, who got me into DU, maintained - that there were released emails on the Democrat side, and covert, blackmail emails on the Republican side. And yes, I also thought, "Gee - how strange that all the Republicans who were resisting giving their support to Trump after the Republican convention came around so quickly. That explains it.

[ariadne0614]

33. +1 n/t

[JudyM]

23. The ones who are giving up their seats may be the ones who are unwilling to be bribed.

[OMGWTF]

24. I have always thought that same thing. Putin has dirt on them too. LOTS of dirt.

[cstanleytech]

26. Two things are possible either just simply a want for power at any cost that caused the corruption

or massive amount of blackmail of a large number of Republicans.
If it's blackmail though the question is what could the Russians have on so many Republicans like Mitch?
About the only thing I can think of that would give them that kind of pull would be blackmail over sex but these days it takes a really special kind of sex.
I don't mean having a mistress on the side either considering they've elected and supported Trump as he's had many even current ones but I mean having sex with kids.
If that's the case and I wonder if it could have started from back when Reagan was in office as if I recall correctly there was a hushed up sex scandal within the White House itself involving underage males then used for sex.

[Sunsky]

28. Sold their soul to Putin

Money + power > country.

[wryter2000]

29. Could have happened

But, honestly, they got on this crazy train under Reagan. It's just now gotten to top speed.

[Thomas Hurt]

30. We have been heading toward a christofascist theocracy since Reagan.

The Russians may have aided or pushed through kompromat an agenda on some minor level, but the right was already heading toward an authoritarian state.

I don't think Trump is being forced to do sh*t by Russia. That whackjob wants to be our Putin and he wants to turn this country into an authoritarian state like Russia.

[TheBlackAdder]

31. Rupert Murdoch never seemed to like the USA, Russia tapped into that in a multi-prong assault.

.

Payments to Republicans, Funding via the NRA and kompromat give Russia the competitive edge.

None of this would have transpired without the aid and abetting of FOX News.

.

[ariadne0614]

32. No doubt in my mind, your theory is sound.

I would love to know what they have on Ron Johnson’s suspicious “win” over Russ Feingold, and his Independence day visit to Moscow.

[krawhitham]

34. THEORY a black POTUS broke their brains and now they will do ANYTHING to keep power

That includes working with Russia to win

[Dem4Life1102]

35. This started long before that

It started with Nixon and many on the right resentful that he was forced to resign. That led to Reagan and the growth of right wing media. What we are seeing now is the end results of decades of Rush, FAUX News. etc. All they care about is gaining and holding power whether the President is Bush or Trump.

[moondust]

36. Plausible.

Being the dumbos that they are, they might not have fully understood until fairly recently that their unsecured emails and texts could be intercepted and potentially used against them for years. Finding that out would naturally mean closing ranks tightly for the forseeable future.

Nunes sounds like somebody who works in a Soviet propaganda mill. I even suggested as much four days ago...before the latest story broke about him digging for dirt on Biden.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=12703613

I don't know how the federal government deals with "suspected" spies or foreign assets in Congress. I don't recall a previous case like that; possibly something during the Joe McCarthy or J. Edgar Hoover years? Delicate subject.

[alfredo]

38. They possess Hubris, covetousness, chauvinism, anti intellectualism, and they are big poopie heads

[bluecollar2]

39. Kick for exposure...n/t

[lunatica]

44. Very good point!

There’s something very obscure in what motivates the Republicans so much that they’re actively helping to destroy their own party.