The revelation that there was a mole, Stefan Halper, planted in his campaign by the FBI, prompted President Donald Trump to demand an investigation into whether the FBI or Justice Department infiltrated his campaign for political purposes. The “resistance” and the mainstream news media have been in panic mode ever since, and have been actively bad at it. Heaven forbid that journalists could admit that when they mocked the President for suggesting that his campaign was surveilled, they were wrong and he was right.
Scott Adams neatly exposed the hypocrisy and dishonesty, tweeting,
“Four things to understand about SPYGATE: 1) There was no spy in the Trump campaign. 2) The spying that did NOT happen was totally justified. 3) It would be bad for national security to identify the spy who doesn’t exist. 4) His name is Stefan.”
Ann Althouse deserves applause for her analysis as well:
James Clapper was on “The View” yesterday and it went like this:
BEHAR: “So I ask you, was the FBI spying on Trump’s campaign?”
CLAPPER: “No, they were not. They were spying on, a term I don’t particularly like, but on what the Russians were doing. Trying to understand were the Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage or influence which is what they do.”
BEHAR: “Well, why doesn’t [Trump] like that? He should be happy.”
CLAPPER: “He should be.”
Well, Trump seems happy that the word “spying” slipped out of Clapper as he was talking about what the FBI was doing. Clapper obviously knew he slipped, since he immediately tried to (subtly) erase it.
Trump displayed his happiness by tweeting: “‘Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign’ No, James Clapper, I am not happy. Spying on a campaign would be illegal, and a scandal to boot!” And, talking to reporters: “I mean if you look at Clapper … he sort of admitted that they had spies in the campaign yesterday inadvertently. I hope it’s not true, but it looks like it is.”
Then Ann dissected CNN toady Chris Cillizza’s embarrassing attempt to cover for Trump foe Clapper—which, you know, is not the job of a real journalist, only that of a biased hack:
Here’s how Cillizza tries to wriggle out of it:
“Clapper makes crystal clear that the FBI was not spying on the Trump campaign. And he also makes clear that while he doesn’t like the word “spying” — because we are talking about the use of a confidential source — that, to the extent there was any information gathering happening in conversations between the FBI’s informant and members of the Trump campaign, it was entirely designed to shed light on Russian meddling efforts related to the 2016 election.”
Clapper began by saying “no” to the question whether the FBI was spying on the Trump campaign, but then concedes that they were spying. He doesn’t like the word, because it’s politically hot (and maybe illegal/unethical), but he used it. Then the question is where were they spying. They were spying on the Trump campaign.
The qualification “on what the Russians were doing” refers to the Trump campaign, not to the Russians generally. I understand that the motivation may have been to see what was the interaction between the campaign and the Russians, but that is still spying on the campaign. Now, the motivation could also have been to figure out a way to defeat Trump. I don’t know.
To my ear, the phrase “on what the Russians were doing” is there as a denial of the political motivation, to say that it was legitimate to spy on the Trump campaign because the reason was to deal with genuine concern about Russians doing things within the Trump campaign. My interpretation is supported by Behar’s response, “Well, why doesn’t [Trump] like that? He should be happy,” which Clapper jumped to ride along with, “He should be.”
Cillizza:
“Clapper said that the FBI didn’t spy on the Trump campaign. He said that the only information gathering that happened with the confidential source was related to Russian interference.”
That just says that the spying on the Trump campaign was limited, not that there wasn’t spying on the Trump campaign!
“Any honest reading of the entirety of what Clapper said — and you can read the whole quote in about 15 seconds! — makes clear that a) Clapper doesn’t believe the FBI was spying on Trump’s campaign and b) the information gathering being done by the FBI’s confidential source was aimed at Russia and designed to protect Trump and his associates, not to mention American democracy more broadly.”
Any honest reading… so, by Cillizza’s lights, I’m not being honest.
How could reading what Clapper said make clear that Clapper does’t believe something? Clapper could be lying or bullshitting. What’s inside somebody’s head is rarely clear even when the statements are clear. But looking only at the meaning of the text, Cillizza’s interpretation doesn’t sound right to me, and his assertion that his view is the only “honest reading” is an affront to our intelligence.
But let’s put aside the technicality of what may be an inadvertent mistake in writing about what Clapper believes (as opposed to what he asserts). Cillizza’s efforts at calling Trump wrong fail because Cillizza is only talking about the reasons why the FBI spied on the Trump campaign, not whether the FBI spied on the Trump campaign.
Do the news media, the Democrats and” the resistance” really think enough of the public can be fooled by this kind of thing? [ See Lincoln, A.: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”] They must, even though public trust in Mueller, the FBI and the news media is falling fast. This is how stupid they think we are…or this is how stupid they are. It’s hard to tell.
Here’s Professor Turley, clear-eyed and objective as usual:
In early 2017, President Trump was widely ridiculed for alleging that the Obama administration placed his campaign under surveillance. The response from experts on CNN and other sites was open mockery. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper came forward to assure the media that he could categorically deny the allegation and stated, “There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign.” The range of media analysis seemed to run from whether Trump was a clinical paranoid or a delusional demagogue.
We now know there was, indeed, surveillance ordered repeatedly on Trump campaign figures before and after the election. Rather than acknowledge the troubling implications of an administration investigating the opposing party’s leading candidate for president, the media shifted to saying that there was ample reason to order the surveillance.
That remains to be seen but much of the coverage brushes over the fact that no charges were brought against the principal target, Carter Page, or that the secret warrants for surveillance were based in part on a dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, a fact known but not fully disclosed by the FBI to the secret FISA court. The documented Russian interference, thus far, has been largely a Russian operation out of St. Petersburg that special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has said was carried out without the knowledge of Trump campaign officials…
I have been highly critical of Trump’s attacks on the media. However, that does not mean his objections are wholly unfounded, and this seems one such example. There may have been legitimate reasons to investigate Russian influence before the election. Yet, very serious concerns are raised by the targeting of an opposing party in the midst of a heated election. These concerns will be magnified by the use of a confidential source to elicit information from Trump campaign associates, though officials deny that the FBI actually had an informant inside the campaign.
Just as it is too early to support allegations of a conspiracy to frame Trump, it is too early to dismiss allegations of bias against Trump. As shown by many of the emails and later criminal referrals and disciplinary actions at the FBI, an open hostility to Trump existed among some bureau figures. Moreover, the extensive unmasking of Trump figures and false statements from FBI officials cannot be dismissed as irrelevant.
As a nation committed to the rule of law, we need a full and transparent investigation of these allegations. All of the allegations. That includes both the investigation of special counsel Mueller and the investigation of these latest allegations involving the FBI. For many Trump supporters, this new information deepens suspicions of the role of the “deep state.” If we ever hope to come out of these poisonous times as a unified nation, the public must be allowed to see the full record on both sides.
I don’t see how anyone can ethically dispute that analysis.
This tells you what I think of those who are currently disputing it.
In a new article this morning, Turley continues,
“Perhaps the most serious allegations deal with Halper’s reported effort to advise the Trump campaign or secure a position in the new administration. If Halper was a longtime paid asset of the FBI and CIA, such a role would be deeply troubling. If successful, the FBI could have had a person working with the campaign or even in the administration who was on its covert budget. Even if they stopped paying Halper, it is doubtful that he would disclose his prior relationship. Trump officials have said they were unaware of the connection in their conversations with him.
In his meetings, Halper was clearly trying to influence or possibly join the campaign while working with the FBI. At a minimum, Halper met with with Trump campaign advisers, including Papadopoulos, Page and former national campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis. Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro reportedly submitted Halper’s name for a post during the presidential transition. If the FBI knew Halper was actively seeking a role in either the campaign or the administration, this could be every bit as serious as Trump alleged.
While the media has tended to downplay these allegations, they are manifestly serious. The use of a paid FBI asset to target a national campaign in this way would be unprecedented.”
Ethics Alarms 
Wild Bill Donovan must have come back from the dead to cook up this kooky plan. Get a paid CIA mole in an administration? Amazing. Right out of a cheap spy novel. I suspect this guy Halper will be played by Brad Pitt in the movie, even though he appears to be about as svelte as Harvey Weinstein.
Has anyone raised the question as to whether there was “not a spy” embedded in Hillary’s (or Bernie’s or Liz’s) campaign to check for Russian meddling?
Who’d need a spy for that, W.R? All you’d have to do is follow the money on Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation. Or Bill’s speaking fees when he spoke to, gasp, Russians. Gasp, in RUSSIA!
Too bad Chris is not around to eat crow.
Again, taking what we know of how the Obama Admin acted, it is a high probability that the full power of the US government was used to attempt to sway an election (it failed, but that is moral luck, or divine intervention, take your pick)
(There, Z: no unproven allegations in that statement! 🙂 )
60s Liberals spent their youth fighting the Man. Then they became the Man, and found that they like the perks of being the Man. They became what they started out to fight, and acted like the Man they despised.
And they spawned progressives, who will consume them using ideological purity and the tactics liberals taught them.
What remains to be seen is if they take us with them. America is at a dangerous crossroads. How many common Americans wake up and fight will determine if America as we know it survives. If progressives get their way, America falls. And the world will enter a new kind of dark age.
Hope and Change.
slickwilly wrote, “Again, taking what we know of how the Obama Admin acted, it is a high probability that the full power of the US government was used to attempt to sway an election…”, “There, Z: no unproven allegations in that statement!”
Good job!! 😉
One of my all time favorite commercials about baby boomer:
I doubt Chris would ever concede anything on this issue. He’s not very fond of crow as a dish.
Yes, but he knows down deep that his demigod, Obama, was cheating for Hillary.
However, he may feel that was a good thing…
OB, that commercial is just… awesome. The phone on his desk could actually TEXT (if you reused the numbers on the keyboard to cycle through the letters)
AND they mention NEXTEL!
It’s a beaut. Great acting. Great script. Hard to beat. And yes, the technology is very much on the vintage side already.
“60s Liberals spent their youth fighting the Man. Then they became the Man, and found that they like the perks of being the Man.”
Some were fighting the man in some rebellious spirit. Some were fighting the man TO BECOME the man. That’s bolshevist insurgency 101…plain and simple Alinsky.
They’re world-view demands totalitarianism, but while not in charge, they must look like freedom fighters.
?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23302560295958749184
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip…
Jack; I’m haven’t been getting EA auto-delivered nor getting follow-up comments for over 4 days. The above comment didn’t even offer the “box” to check to have follow-up comments forwarded.
Am I in wordpress purgatory again?
Test.
Jack; I haven’t been getting EA posts, or follow-up comments, auto-delivered, for about 4 days now.
This time it didn’t even show the little “box” to check to have follow-up comments forwarded.
Am I on wordpress double-secret-probation…again?
Paul,
I got all three of your comments in my inbox, but only two show here.
The missing comment had the line “Am I in wordpress purgatory again?”
I’ll check. (Sorry.)
Just found one comment in moderation. None in Spam.
Test successful!
Paul,
Here’s what was in the link you tried to share.
Barack Obama made his own funny meme.
Must have hired Jimmy Kimmel’s writers. But I’m sure he’s just now hearing about all this from reading the newspaper.
Perfect, as usual, Paul, with that pic! I’m a Wolverines fan, thanks to you!
And I have to log in for EVERY new comment I make. Even after my first and previous comments are posted. (I am watching and waiting for my daily Eeyore-validation: Watch – this one won’t post.]
So instead, I’m a liar. (But I STILL have to log in anew.)
This is probably your browser logging you out for some reason. Have you tried a different browser just to test?
Shhhhh… Lucky really IS on double secret probation… don’t make us change to accomodate a different browser!
I’ll quit whining, I promise – but not yet. I can quit anytime.
Zoltar, I read what you said. Thank you. Changed browsers. Now, let’s see what happens…login, coming up…
I cleared my browser (I think) and now it’s giving me the little square boxes, let’s see if that helps.
Didn’t work…X*#$@^%+X^%*&#@$!!!!!!!!!!!
The best thing about the new “he should be happy about that” spin is that you can use it to justify spying on absolutely anyone.
“No honey, I didn’t hire a private investigator to pretend to want to be your best friend. That was just a PAID INFORMANT. I also did not tap into your phone, that was just EAVESDROPPING. And I wasn’t suspicious about YOU, I was PROTECTING you in case any shady character tried to seduce you and come between us! It was to HELP you! You should be HAPPY! Oh, and by the way I’m going to spend one year and one million dollars combing through all of that information and using it against you and any friends or family members of yours, in any way I possibly can, even if you didn’t cheat. I’m so glad we cleared the air on that. So, what are you making for dinner?
[Applause]
Touche’. Of course, if the spy-ee has nothing to hide, they should welcome the spying spy. It’s for National Security. And for The Children. And for Democracy. Always.
Bingo
Would I be out of line to quote a suspended commenter?
“Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha[!!!!!!!!!!!]”
See, but I know you’re being sarcastic…
And isn’t “it’s for your own good” the height of “mansplaining?”
Touche’! to #MeToo-ers!
Touche’! to #MeToo-ers!
[This time, my login failed to cause my comment to post. Logging in…]
Other Bill, this is my THIRD try to Reply to your comment with:
Touche’! to #MeToo-ers!
[My login failed TWICE to cause my comment to post. Logging in AGAIN…]
(They all posted, but don’t stop now!)
I wish I didn’t have to stop, but I do have to, for now. A meeting calls…
[and I am logging in AGAIN]
The Wolverine ate yo’ baby…
Is piling on more likely or less likely to elicit a reformation in the heart of the suspended commenter?
In that particular suspended commenter’s case, likelihood = “odds” = “indeterminable, but based on available data, ZERO.”
I still hope the suspension will end and the commenter will return. I mean to capture all his manner of arguments in the blog, dissect them, re-package them, and teach right-wingers how to be even more effective than him in the same manner. Why? Because those who can’t, teach.
This is the easiest suspension ever. All the individual has to do is email me an apology that says, “I apologize for engaging in mockery rather than substantive commentary to you, the blog host. I recognize that this was specifically inveighed against in the comment policies. I did not intend to offend, and will not do this again.”
To which I will reply: “Apology accepted. Thanks. Welcome back.”
The fact that a reader wouldn’t take such a basic, ethical step is itself signature significance.
I have now tried THREE times to reply to Other Bill’s 3:34 pm comment.
TEST:
“Other Bill, this is my THIRD try to Reply to your comment with:
Touche’! to #MeToo-ers!
[My login failed TWICE to cause my comment to post. Logging in AGAIN…]”
I guess the only way for me to log OUT of THIS login is to close my browser. I don’t even see the little icon that points me to “sign out.”
Nope: There is the array of login fields again! (Email>Name>Website)
We still cannot see any of your login attempts or the comments you attempted to post. Could you clear your cache, close your browser, reboot your device, reinstall the operating system, put you left hand in, take your left hand out, do the hokey pokey and shake the device all about?
Now that’s funny, You’re on a roll Slick!!! 🙂
Thanks slickwilly, I needed that today so that I could laugh – and, for the best laugh of my day! Thank you again! (The login-for-every-comment feature persists. I’m convinced: we are now in the Perversion Zone where bugs are features and features are bugs. I’ll just have to become a virus.)
You are welcome
And not a single bit of this information, the flavor of which brought down Nixon, would ever see the light of day if Hillary had been elected.
Can anyone ethically vote for members of the DNC any time in the near future, seeing what depths of totalitarianistic conduct they are sinking?
I mean, barring a open 180, an open admission of misconduct, an open and grovelling apology, and clearly established patterns of behaving themselves for a few years, I don’t see how voting for Democrat candidates at all advances the cause of Liberty, Rule of Law, or our Republic.
(This is no endorsement of the RNC, of course)
“(This is no endorsement of the RNC, of course)”
They are all Establishment Elites, and thus crooks.
They’ve had like 3 DNC chairpersons in a row resign in disgrace, and still don’t feel that there was anything to apologize about.
Introspection is not their thing.
Why apologize? They have gotten away with similiar things that got those three fired for decades. Those three just got caught, but I (new DNC Chair) won’t.
The wokest thing that the Left is rabidly tweeting about is how the imbedded spy was a good thing for Trump and how it saved his candidacy…
Wow.
“…how [the spy] saved his candidacy…”
WhaaaaAAAAAAAAT????!!!! Somebody’s got some lefsplainin’ to do!
“left-splaining” Oh yeah. That’s a term that is overdue for general adoption.
“So they started leftsplaining about how Obamacare would save everyone money.”
“The University spokesperson leftsplained that banning some speakers was done in support of freedom of speech.”
“The Governor leftsplained that doubling the minimum wage would reduce unemployment, and help the economy.”
#leftsplaining
Fourth try…(and first login using Mozilla, after two failed tries in Chrome)
Thanks, Joe. I appreciate your building on my thought. GREAT examples!
I left out the “t” in “leftsplaining” on purpose. Partly just out of spite against my Teutonic heritage. (It’s already too many consonants in a row to say “mushrooms,” but having to say “schwammerln” goes beyond ridiculous.) And partly out of mockery of current, lazy, slurred American speaking patterns (example: “bae”). Maybe some of us should counterattack. Maybe we should start calling a currently popular music form “ra.” Like “rat” without the t. Oh what the hell. Let’s start pronouncing “rat” the same way. “You like ra, bae?” “Lookada bi ra! Gon’a ea da bae!” (Look at that big rat! It’s going to eat the baby!)
Maybe I’m just a superannuated “peacenik” from the Vietnam war days, and am subconsciously hopeful that “leftsplaining” or “lefsplainin'” will catch on in time to avert left-vs-right hostilities from becoming permanently, pervasively, and genocidally violent. I remain hopeful, but am not optimistic.
I can’t believe they’re actually going to go with the “I’m not a prostitute, I’m an escort” strategy.
This is why I’m eager for the blog’s left-wing commenters to get over their funk and explain to me why embedding a mole in the Republican Presidential campaign is just fine. Really bad spin is so much fun to dismember.
I’m enjoying the peace and quiet (and lack of inanity), myself. But I’m sure the many gifted argumentarians here are itching for a fight. It’s as if the trench warfare has ground to a halt because everyone’s temporarily out of ammunition. I’m sure the firing will re-commence soon.
Other Bill wrote, “I’m enjoying the peace and quiet (and lack of inanity), myself.”
I know some might drop their jaw reading this but, I completely agree.
It’s terribly tiresome addressing inanity from what I perceive as internet trolls, but when it needs to be done and if I feel reasonably capable of doing it on a case by case basis, I step up. I’m one of those people that if I see that something that I think needs to be done, I just do it; I refuse to expect things from others if I’m not willing to do it myself. Personally I’d much rather openly discuss things in a reasonably civil manner instead of having to constantly deal with what I perceive as inanity from internet trolls.
Trust me, Zman, I admire your and the others’ doggedness and determination. I run out of patience quickly.
I’ve been trying to come up with a term to describe what I think I am. I guess conservative is the obvious term. Maybe traditionalist is better. Skeptic works to an extent. But I think my main thrust is to highlight bad ideas that are in play and point out the damage they can possibly do to the world we live in. Kind of an intellectual exterminator a la Orkin or Truly Nolen. The only good bad idea is a dead bad idea. Civil society is frail and it can only withstand so many bad ideas.
But am I always on the front lines as you are? No. Sometimes I just step back and shake my head. But keep up the good fight. Along with the others here. And if this place becomes a placid redoubt of sanity, so be it.
Other Bill wrote, “if this place becomes a placid redoubt of sanity, so be it.”
Well said!
Cheers.
A is the target of a investigation making it seem “reasonable” to spy on A. So when A is having a conversation B they are spying on the conversation because A is part of it, the fact remains that they are spying on the conversation between A and B. Now B claims that they were spying on “him”, it completely blows my mind that people can say with a straight face that B wasn’t being spied on when B was part of the conversation that was being spied on because A was part of the conversation.
Isn’t this a logic thing?
Hate and bias have no logic.
I ran across this recently, I liked it so I saved it…
That’s a good “picture-preach.” Thanks Zoltar, for sharing it.