{"id":10375,"date":"2017-04-05T20:15:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T03:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/?p=10375"},"modified":"2019-04-08T14:13:39","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T21:13:39","slug":"the-second-michael-flynn-scandal-the-greek-philosopher-zeno-and-staying-frosty-during-the-chaos-presidency-of-donald-j-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=10375","title":{"rendered":"The Second Michael Flynn Scandal, The Greek Philosopher Zeno And Staying Frosty During The Chaos Presidency of Donald J. Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The%20Second%20Michael%20Flynn%20Scandal%2C%20The%20Greek%20Philosopher%20Zeno%20And%20Staying%20Frosty%20During%20The%20Chaos%20Presidency%20of%20Donald%20J.%20Trump\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-11.51.27-AM2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-10383 alignleft\" title=\"Screen Shot 2017-03-11 at 11.51.27 AM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-11.51.27-AM2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"268\" height=\"153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-11.51.27-AM2.png 532w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-11.51.27-AM2-300x170.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Peter Lance March 11th, 2017.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/58c49503e4b070e55af9efed\" target=\"_blank\">The Huffington Post.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The culpability of Donald Trump who hired de-frocked Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as our National Security Advisor, goes far beyond Sen. Howard Baker\u2019s seminal\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/nation\/politics\/politicsnow\/la-na-pn-howard-baker-watergate-20140626-htmlstory.html\" target=\"_blank\">Watergate question<\/a>\u00a0of \u201cWhat did the president know and when did he know it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After he was fired last month for lying about his clandestine calls to the Russian Ambassador,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/ap-former-trump-aide-flynn-says-lobbying-may-have-helped-turkey\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:2,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/ap-former-trump-aide-flynn-says-lobbying-may-have-helped-turkey\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;The AP&quot;}}\">The AP<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/ap-former-trump-aide-flynn-says-lobbying-may-have-helped-turkey\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:3,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/ap-former-trump-aide-flynn-says-lobbying-may-have-helped-turkey\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot; broke a story&quot;}}\">\u00a0broke a story<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday revealing Flynn\u2019s retroactive registration as an agent for The Republic of Turkey. In fact, he\u2019d filed paperwork the very\u00a0<em>day before<\/em>\u00a0which disclosed how he\u2019d earned $530,000 to lobby for the authoritarian regime of Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan starting in August at the same time he was serving as a key advisor to the Trump campaign.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>During Friday\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2017\/03\/10\/press-briefing-press-secretary-sean-spicer-3102017-21\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:4,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;press-briefing-press-secretary-sean-spicer-3102017-21&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;WH briefing&quot;}}\">WH briefing<\/a>\u00a0Press Secretary Sean Spicer was hammered with questions about the disgraced NSA. When asked if \u201cthe President was informed at all about\u201d Flynn\u2019s \u201carrangement\u201d to lobby for a foreign power he pointedly said, \u201cNo, he was not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Thursday night, VP Mike Pence, whom Flynn had previously lied to about his calls with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, told\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MahirZeynalov\/status\/840074448489213952\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:5,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/twitter.com\/MahirZeynalov\/status\/840074448489213952&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Fox News&quot;}}\">Fox News<\/a>\u00a0that he wasn\u2019t aware of Flynn\u2019s paid Turkish connection until\u00a0<em>this week,<\/em>\u00a0even though Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) had sent him\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/democrats-oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/documents\/2016-11-18.EEC%20to%20Pence.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:6,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/democrats-oversight.house.gov\/sites\/democrats.oversight.house.gov\/files\/documents\/2016-11-18.EEC%20to%20Pence.pdf&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;a letter&quot;}}\">a letter<\/a>\u00a0November 18th expressing concern that Flynn was \u201creceiving classified briefings during the\u2026 campaign while his consulting firm, Flynn Intel Group, Inc. was being paid to lobby\u2026 for Turkish interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Given that one of Donald Trump\u2019s signature campaign promises, along with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.donaldjtrump.com\/press-releases\/donald-j.-trumps-five-point-plan-for-ethics-reform\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:7,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.donaldjtrump.com\/press-releases\/donald-j.-trumps-five-point-plan-for-ethics-reform&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;\u201cdrain the swamp,\u201d&quot;}}\">\u201cdrain the swamp,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0was the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-37982000\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:8,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-37982000&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;\u201cextreme vetting\u201d&quot;}}\">\u201cextreme vetting\u201d<\/a>of immigrants, it\u2019s fair to ask just how much care went into the selection of an appointee like Flynn, who enjoyed the highest level of security clearanc<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-10-at-3.50.22-PM-300x204.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" \/>e and sat front and center across The Resolute Desk from the Commander-in-Chief?<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Last July in a stunning \u201cpot-calling-the-kettle-black\u201d moment during The Republican National Convention, Flynn labeled Barack Obama a \u201creckless president\u201d and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/national\/michael-flynn-leads-chants-of-lock-her-up-at-republican-convention\/2016\/08\/11\/788253f8-6016-11e6-84c1-6d27287896b5_video.html\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:9,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;788253f8-6016-11e6-84c1-6d27287896b5_video.html&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;led the chants&quot;}}\">led the chants<\/a>\u00a0to \u201clock her up\u201d\u00a0as he derided Hillary Clinton\u2019s use of a private email server.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>He even went so far as to demand that she drop out of the White House race for putting what he called \u201cour nation\u2019s security at extremely high risk.\u201d Six weeks later his soon-to-be boss famously urged the Russians to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/07\/28\/us\/politics\/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html?_r=0\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:10,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;us\/politics\/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html?_r=0&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;\u201cfind the 30,000 emails that are missing\u201d&quot;}}\">\u201cfind the 30,000 emails that are missing\u201d<\/a>\u00a0But so, far no one has proven that a single Clinton electronic communication impacted the nation\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Still, you have to wonder just how U.S. interests might have been compromised if Michael Flynn\u00a0<em>hadn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0been\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/nyt-michael-flynn-resigns-as-national-security-adviser\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:11,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/nyt-michael-flynn-resigns-as-national-security-adviser\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;forced to resign&quot;}}\">forced to resign<\/a>\u00a0over his multiple conversations with Russia\u2019s top spy in D.C.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>And more to the point, getting back to Sen. Baker\u2019s Watergate question, just how out-of-the-loop could Donald Trump have been about Flynn\u2019s alleged secret status as a paid foreign agent?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>MULTIPLE MEDIA REPORTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>On November 14th,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.turkishminute.com\/2016\/11\/14\/turkey-us-business-council-chair-says-trump-can-learn-islam-erdogan\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:12,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;turkey-us-business-council-chair-says-trump-can-learn-islam-erdogan\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;turkishminute.com,&quot;}}\">turkishminute.com,<\/a>\u00a0a progressive web portal staffed by journalists outside the reach of Turkey\u2019s autocratic strongman, published a piece featuring a shot of Flynn (in uniform) next to Ekim Alptekin, identified as \u201cchairman of The Turkish American Business Council and a close ally of President\u2026 Erdo\u011fan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dThat piece cited a report published three days earlier by Chuck Ross on the conservative U.S. based website\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2016\/11\/11\/trumps-top-military-adviser-is-lobbying-for-obscure-company-with-ties-to-turkish-government\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:13,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;trumps-top-military-adviser-is-lobbying-for-obscure-company-with-ties-to-turkish-government\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;dailycaller.com&quot;}}\">dailycaller.com<\/a>\u00a0under the headline \u201cTrump\u2019s Top Military Adviser Is Lobbying For Obscure Company With Ties to Turkish Government.\u201d Remember, this was six days after the election that swept Donald Trump into office despite a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/12\/21\/politics\/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final-count\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:14,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;politics\/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final-count\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;popular vote loss&quot;}}\">popular vote loss<\/a>\u00a0of nearly 3 million.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-10-at-4.22.16-PM-300x197.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"214\" \/>\u201cThe revelation of that new lobbying contract, which has not been previously reported,\u201d Ross wrote, \u201craises several questions given that Trump is said to be considering Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), to take over as either Secretary of Defense or National Security Advisor. It also raises questions about disclosure.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Politico then\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/11\/donald-trump-turkey-lobbying-231354\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:15,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/11\/donald-trump-turkey-lobbying-231354&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;advanced the story&quot;}}\">advanced the story<\/a>\u00a0even further, reporting that Inovo BV, the firm controlled by Alpetekin that hired Flynn, was \u201can arm of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, whose members are chosen by the country\u2019s general assembly and economic minister.\u201d \u00a0In that capacity Alptekin was \u201cinvolved in organizing\u2026 Erdogan\u2019s visit to Washington earlier this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In short, Flynn\u2019s Turkish paymaster was little more than a surrogate for the hyper-repressive Erdo\u011fan\u00a0regime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>So how could a report on Flynn\u2019s hiring as a foreign agent have escaped the scrutiny of Trump\u2019s transition team \u2013 particularly at a time when Rep. Cummings warned the Vice-President-elect that the ex-Lieutenant General was privy to classified briefings?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>And if Flynn\u2019s conflicted status as a foreign agent wasn\u2019t clear at\u00a0<em>that<\/em>\u00a0point in mid-November, alarm bells should have gone off inside Trump Tower on December 13th when Kurt Eichenwald published his groundbreaking\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/newsweek-how-donald-trumps-business-ties-are-jeopardizing-u-s-interests\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:16,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/newsweek-how-donald-trumps-business-ties-are-jeopardizing-u-s-interests\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Newsweek&quot;}}\">Newsweek<\/a>\u00a0cover story headlined, \u201cConflict Zone.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-6.33.21-PM-222x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"222\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Connecting the dots as few reporters had done at that point, Eichenwald reminded readers beyond The Beltway that Flynn had gone so far as to pen a piece\u00a0for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/pundits-blog\/foreign-policy\/305021-our-ally-turkey-is-in-crisis-and-needs-our-support\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:17,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/pundits-blog\/foreign-policy\/305021-our-ally-turkey-is-in-crisis-and-needs-our-support&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;The Hill&quot;}}\">The Hill<\/a>\u00a0on election day unabashedly supporting Erdo\u011fan and condemning his principal rival: Fethullah G\u00fclen, a Muslim cleric and Turkish opposition leader who has been forced to live in exile in Pennsylvania for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Calling him \u201ca shady Islamic mullah,\u201d Flynn compared G\u00fclen to the Ayatollah Khomeini, \u201cwhose Revolutionary Guards (in Iran) \u201ccreated Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>In his blistering screed Flynn warned that the U.S. \u201cshould not provide him safe haven,\u201d pushing for Gulen\u2019s extradition, a goal at the top Erdo\u011fan\u2019s wish list and one the Obama administration had steadfastly resisted. \u201cFrom Turkey\u2019s point of view,\u201d wrote Flynn, \u201cWashington is harboring Turkey\u2019s Osama bin Laden.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-6.33.12-PM-300x184.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next day after Flynn\u2019s\u00a0<em>Hill<\/em>\u00a0piece ran, sensing that they now owned an asset who would soon be calling shots on national security, Turkey\u2019s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim issued\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/aa.com.tr\/en\/politics\/turkish-pm-congratulates-trump-on-election-victory\/681916\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:18,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/aa.com.tr\/en\/politics\/turkish-pm-congratulates-trump-on-election-victory\/681916&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;a statement&quot;}}\">a statement<\/a>\u00a0congratulating Mr. Trump with what he described as \u201ca clarion call \u2026 to extradite Fetullah G\u00fclen \u2026 as soon as possible\u2026\u201d He them promised that G\u00fclen\u2019s removal would \u201copen a new chapter for Turkey-U.S. friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>THE QUID IN THE QUID PRO QUO<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>How much pressure to knuckle under to that extradition request might Donald Trump have felt at that point? Considerable, since it would have clearly impacted his personal bottom line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>That\u2019s because in 2010 Donald Trump cut a deal with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.doganholding.com.tr\/en\/about-us\/corporate-profile.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:19,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.doganholding.com.tr\/en\/about-us\/corporate-profile.aspx&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Dogan Holding&quot;}}\">Dogan Holding<\/a>, a Turkish media and development giant to license his name for use in a huge twin tower\/shopping mall complex in Istanbul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-12.06.17-PM-300x210.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/02\/08\/world\/middleeast\/in-istanbul-surprise-that-trump-towers-complex-is-linked-to-trump.html\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:20,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;world\/middleeast\/in-istanbul-surprise-that-trump-towers-complex-is-linked-to-trump.html&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;the NYT reported&quot;}}\">the NYT reported<\/a>\u00a0campaign records showed payments from Dogan to The Trump Organization of between $1 and $5 million by July of 2015. But that lucrative deal was in jeopardy five months later\u00a0when Erdo\u011fan publicly threatened to strip the Trump name from those Towers following the candidate\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2015\/12\/07\/politics\/donald-trump-muslim-ban-immigration\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:21,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;politics\/donald-trump-muslim-ban-immigration\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;&amp;nbsp;infamous threat&quot;}}\">\u00a0infamous threat<\/a>\u00a0to ban \u201call Muslims\u201d entering the U.S.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201c[Trump] has no tolerance for Muslims living in the U.S.\u201d Erdo\u011fan declared in a speech, reported, ironically by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/348390-erdogan-trump-tower-istanbul\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:22,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/348390-erdogan-trump-tower-istanbul\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Russia Today (RT) &quot;}}\">Russia Today (RT)\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0the Kremlin media network that\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/checkpoint\/wp\/2016\/08\/15\/trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn\/?utm_term=.91a685b36c89\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:23,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn\/?utm_term=.91a685b36c89&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;also paid Michael Flynn&quot;}}\">also paid Michael Flynn<\/a>\u00a0to give a speech and sit elbow-to-elbow at a dinner next to Vladimir Putin.\u00a0Just how deep can the swamp get?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-11.50.19-AM-300x196.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Anyway, Erdo\u011fan was livid as he chastised Trump for using \u201ca brand in [Istanbul] with his name.\u201d He even went so far as to threaten that \u201cthe ones who put that brand on their building should immediately remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Clearly he was aiming at Dogan Holding, whom he\u2019d repeatedly threatened in the past. In 2009 the Erdo\u011fan regime levied\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/09\/10\/world\/europe\/10istanbul.html\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:24,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;world\/europe\/10istanbul.html&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;a fine of $2.5 billion&quot;}}\">a fine of $2.5 billion<\/a>\u00a0in alleged unpaid taxes and penalties against Dogan Yayin, the conglomorate\u2019s media group. That move was clearly meant to chill Aydin Dogan, the company\u2019s president, who\u2019d been openly critical of the Turkish leader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>But once Flynn\u2019s piece in\u00a0<em>The Hill<\/em>\u00a0was published, Erdo\u011fan seemed to back off. In fact, the next day, as Eichenwald reported, he was on the phone with the President-elect and on that call Mr. Trump \u201cpassed on compliments to the Turkish president\u201d from one of his partners on the Istanbul project, a senior Dogan official named Mehmet Ali Yalcindag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The son-in-law of Dogan Holding\u2019s owner, Yalcindag is so close to the Trump family that he attended the election night\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/donald-trump-turkey-business_us_5836188ae4b01ba68ac41d9f\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:25,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;us_5836188ae4b01ba68ac41d9f&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;victory celebration&quot;}}\">victory celebration<\/a>\u00a0at The New York Hilton and he\u2019s been regularly photographed with the President and daughter Ivanka, the public Trump Org. face on the Istanbul project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-6.36.13-PM-300x225.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>By early December, despite the fact that his secret agent Flynn was embedded in the Trump transition team, Erdo\u011fan felt the need to hedge his bets and gain additional leverage over the President-elect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>As Eichanwald reported, on December 1st, Barbaros Muratogl, a senior Dogan executive, was detained by Turkish authorities \u201con threadbare allegations\u201d for allegedly maintaining links to G\u00fclen, whom\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4427190\/turkey-coup-fethullah-gulen-purge\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:26,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/time.com\/4427190\/turkey-coup-fethullah-gulen-purge\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Erdo\u011fan blamed&quot;}}\">Erdo\u011fan blamed<\/a>\u00a0for the July 15th, 2016 \u201ccoup\u201d to depose him. Reportedly led by the Turkish military at the time, the thwarted coup, G\u00fclen\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/religionnews.com\/2016\/09\/29\/cleric-gulen-says-certain-erdogan-behind-failed-turkey-coup\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:27,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;cleric-gulen-says-certain-erdogan-behind-failed-turkey-coup\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;later insisted,&quot;}}\">later insisted,<\/a>\u00a0was little more than an Erdo\u011fan false flag plot to unite the country against\u00a0<em>him.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Breaking the details of the Newsweek story on the eve of publication,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow\/watch\/newsweek-trump-business-conflicts-open-us-to-foreign-blackmail-831475267951\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:28,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow\/watch\/newsweek-trump-business-conflicts-open-us-to-foreign-blackmail-831475267951&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Rachel Maddow&quot;}}\">Rachel Maddow<\/a>\u00a0described Muratogl\u2019s seizure in no uncertain terms:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWhat if you could squeeze the personal financial interests of the American President as a way of trying to get what you want from the American government?\u201d she asked. \u201cThe Trump family stands to make millions of dollars from their relationship with the Dogan Group in Turkey. That will presumably stop if the Dogan group in Turkey all gets locked up. Now they\u2019ve started locking them up. Nice leverage, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow\/watch\/newsweek-trump-business-conflicts-open-us-to-foreign-blackmail-831475267951\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-1.33.15-PM-300x160.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a>She then quoted from Eichanwald\u2019s cover story:<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIf Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government puts more pressure on the company that\u2019s paying millions of dollars to Trump and his children, revenue flowing from that tower complex in Istanbul could be cut off. That means Erdo\u011fan has leverage with Trump, who will soon have the power to get G\u00fclen extradited. (A) financier with contacts in the Turkish government explained the dynamic to\u00a0<em>Newsweek<\/em>: \u2018Erdo\u011fan has something he believes Trump wants, and Trump has someone Erdo\u011fan desperately wants.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>INCOMPETENCE AND CORRUPTION<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Since mid December, on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:29,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;investigatingtrump.com&quot;}}\">investigatingtrump.com<\/a>\u00a0we\u2019ve chronicled the best investigative reporting on the campaign, transition and presidency of Donald Trump, with emphasis on his many\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/category\/business-holdings\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:30,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/category\/business-holdings\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;conflicts of interest&quot;}}\">conflicts of interest<\/a>\u00a0and his mysterious\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/category\/the-russian-connection-election-hack\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:31,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/category\/the-russian-connection-election-hack\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;ties to Russia&quot;}}\">ties to Russia<\/a>, which 17 U.S.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/grizzly-steppe-fbi-report-on-russian-hacking\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:32,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/grizzly-steppe-fbi-report-on-russian-hacking\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;intelligence agencies&quot;}}\">intelligence agencies<\/a>\u00a0concluded had helped influence the 2016 election in his favor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Now the Flynn\/Turkey scandal underscores the duel axes we\u2019ve come to recognize in the Trump presidency:\u00a0<strong>incompetence<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>corruption<\/strong>. From the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/444816\/trump-immigration-order-ninth-circuit-ruling-debacle-consequences\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:33,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/444816\/trump-immigration-order-ninth-circuit-ruling-debacle-consequences&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;bungled rollout&quot;}}\">bungled rollout<\/a>, of the \u201cMuslim ban,\u201d to Mr. Trump\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2017\/02\/trump-nobody-knew-health-care-could-be-so-complicated.html\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:34,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/nymag.com\/daily\/intelligencer\/2017\/02\/trump-nobody-knew-health-care-could-be-so-complicated.html&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;recent admission&quot;}}\">recent admission<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cNobody knew Health Care Could Be So Complicated,\u201d to his false allegations of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2017\/01\/more-trump-deception-on-voter-fraud\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:35,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2017\/01\/more-trump-deception-on-voter-fraud\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;voter fraud&quot;}}\">voter fraud<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/03\/04\/politics\/trump-obama-wiretap-tweet\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:36,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;politics\/trump-obama-wiretap-tweet\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;baseless Tweets&quot;}}\">baseless Tweets<\/a>\u00a0that he was wiretapped by Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-1.22.11-PM-300x227.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"227\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Betraying the campaign promise that he\u2019d get the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/video.cnbc.com\/gallery\/?video=3000551392\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:37,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/video.cnbc.com\/gallery\/?video=3000551392&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;\u201cbest people\u201d&quot;}}\">\u201cbest people\u201d<\/a>\u00a0people to work for him, Donald Trump appointed the likes of Michael Flynn and Jeff Sessions, who\u2019s already been forced to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/powerpost\/top-gop-lawmaker-calls-on-sessions-to-recuse-himself-from-russia-investigation\/2017\/03\/02\/148c07ac-ff46-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?utm_term=.0e4665d0336b\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:38,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;148c07ac-ff46-11e6-8ebe-6e0dbe4f2bca_story.html?utm_term=.0e4665d0336b&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;recuse himself&quot;}}\">recuse himself<\/a>\u00a0from DOJ investigations of Russian influence in the campaign and Kellyanne Conway, so mistrusted for her conflations and lies that she was<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-fix\/wp\/2017\/02\/15\/morning-joe-has-blacklisted-kellyanne-conway-and-thats-not-all\/?utm_term=.4e7330b085fe\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:39,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;morning-joe-has-blacklisted-kellyanne-conway-and-thats-not-all\/?utm_term=.4e7330b085fe&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot; blacklisted&quot;}}\">\u00a0blacklisted<\/a>\u00a0by \u201cMorning Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Then there\u2019s Scott Pruitt, ex-AG from Oklahoma \u2014 the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/energy-environment\/wp\/2017\/03\/10\/epa-administrator-scott-pruitt-call-your-office\/?utm_term=.7dfef580ed13\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:40,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;epa-administrator-scott-pruitt-call-your-office\/?utm_term=.7dfef580ed13&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;climate change denier&quot;}}\">climate change denier<\/a>\u00a0and flack for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2017\/02\/emails-reveal-close-ties-epa-boss-scott-pruitt-fossil-fuel-interests\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:41,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2017\/02\/emails-reveal-close-ties-epa-boss-scott-pruitt-fossil-fuel-interests\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;fossil fuel industry,&quot;}}\">fossil fuel industry,<\/a>\u00a0who is determined to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/02\/05\/us\/politics\/scott-pruitt-is-seen-cutting-the-epa-with-a-scalpel-not-a-cleaver.html?_r=0&amp;mtrref=www.google.com\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:42,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;us\/politics\/scott-pruitt-is-seen-cutting-the-epa-with-a-scalpel-not-a-cleaver.html?_r=0&amp;mtrref=www.google.com&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;dismantle&quot;}}\">dismantle<\/a>\u00a0decades long environmental protections as boss of the EPA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>And let\u2019s not forget that this latest embarrassment surrounding Flynn began with the Trump transition\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/michael-g-flynn-resigns-from-trump-transition-team\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:43,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/michael-g-flynn-resigns-from-trump-transition-team\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;dismissal of Flynn\u2019s&quot;}}\">dismissal of Flynn\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0son for pushing that fatuous\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/12\/13\/politics\/pizzagate-suspect-federal-charges\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:44,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;politics\/pizzagate-suspect-federal-charges\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;\u201cpizzagate\u201d&quot;}}\">\u201cpizzagate\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/12\/13\/politics\/pizzagate-suspect-federal-charges\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:45,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;politics\/pizzagate-suspect-federal-charges\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;conspiracy&quot;}}\">conspiracy<\/a>, a fake news story claiming that members of the Democratic Party were tied to a child-sex ring. Propagated by right-wing websites, that looney tunes story actually led to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/12\/13\/politics\/pizzagate-suspect-federal-charges\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:46,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;politics\/pizzagate-suspect-federal-charges\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;a shooting&quot;}}\">a shooting<\/a>\u00a0in a D.C. area pizzeria.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-11.52.34-AM-300x241.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"241\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>How was it, as one reporter asked Spicer on Friday, that Flynn\u2019s early failure to register as a foreign agent didn\u2019t \u201craise a red flag?\u201d His response? \u201cIt\u2019s not a question of raising red flags. It\u2019s the question of whether (Flynn\u2019s lawyers) gave them (the transition team) advice they were supposed to, it\u2019s not up to them to make decisions as to what you need to do or not do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Actually, that\u2019s precisely the job of a vetting team. But the larger question is why Sean Spicer continues to defend his boss\u2019s gross negligence in putting Michael Flynn, a man with epic bad judgment, in the same room as the military aide who carries the nuclear launch codes?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>And here\u2019s another question everyone in the media should be asking: why doesn\u2019t Flynn\u2019s duplicity focus a laser beam on the hypocrisy of two more Trump\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.donaldjtrump.com\/press-releases\/donald-j.-trumps-five-point-plan-for-ethics-reform\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:47,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.donaldjtrump.com\/press-releases\/donald-j.-trumps-five-point-plan-for-ethics-reform&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;campaign promises&quot;}}\">campaign promises<\/a>: the first to issue a \u201clifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of foreign government(s)\u201d and the second for \u201ccampaign finance reform\u201d preventing \u201cregistered foreign lobbyist(s) from raising money in American elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>What meaning do those pledges have if the President\u2019s spokesman just blows off the foreign lobby issue?<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>OUTRAGE FATIGUE<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Now comes the biggest danger we may face \u2013 that this perpetual crisis of incompetence, corruption, fake news and frontal assaults on the media will create a normalized state of chaos \u2013 where ever more outrageous attacks on the truth and the stable democracy we seemed to enjoy until election day will began to exhaust us. Not just reporters whose job it is to \u201ccomfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,\u201d but every American who wants nothing more than affordable health care, a safe place to raise their children and a chance to hit The Powerball.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>I started\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:48,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;investigatingtrump.com&quot;}}\">investigatingtrump.com<\/a>\u00a0as a resource for other reporters and an archive of the history that\u2019s being made every day with blinding speed. Now, as I research a book on the blackmail-like influence The Kremlin seems to have over the 45th president, I find myself identifying with Zeno of Elea, the Greek philosopher who lived between 490 and 430 B.C.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Best known for his paradoxes, like the one that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/health_and_science\/science\/2014\/03\/zeno_s_paradox_how_to_explain_the_solution_to_achilles_and_the_tortoise.html\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:49,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/health_and_science\/science\/2014\/03\/zeno_s_paradox_how_to_explain_the_solution_to_achilles_and_the_tortoise.html&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;famously involved&quot;}}\">famously involved<\/a>\u00a0Achilles in a race with a tortoise, Zeno hypothesized that despite what we perceive through our senses, motion or a forward trajectory is just an illusion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-1.24.44-PM-300x170.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In an exercise in \u201coverthink\u201d he reasoned that by perpetually dividing the distance between two points, we would never arrive at our destination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Aristotle credited Zeno with creating the dialetic, the method he used for discovering truth. But the dialectic was later hijacked by Marx &amp; Engels to forge what became the official philosophy of Soviet Communism \u2013 the premise that historical and political events are the product of social forces in conflict, prompted by material needs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>That\u2019s exactly where we find ourselves now: a nation in what seems like an endless series of arguments with rigid forces unwilling to compromise. The oldest democracy on earth watches as the scourge of nationalism creeps across Europe and into our homeland and the principal winner seems to be Vlad Putin, the ex-KGB hood my research suggests, installed Donald Trump in The White House.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It\u2019s that same shit storm of lies, Tweets, conflations and bungling that explains how most of the Mainstream Media missed the Flynn\/Turkey\/conflict back in the fall. Simply put: Donald Trump overwhelms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>We can retreat into our tortoise shells and hide under the covers waiting for Kim Jong-un to crash our missile defense system with a space-based nuclear blast. We can continue to deny, as the MSM keeps doing, that our\u00a0<em>local<\/em>\u00a0<em>voting systems<\/em>\u00a0are impervious to hack. Or we can remember the words of Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn) from the second incarnation of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ht2RJvc4ExI\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:50,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ht2RJvc4ExI&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;Alien in 1986&quot;}}\">Alien in 1986<\/a>: \u201cHey, I know we\u2019re all in strung-out shape, but stay frosty and alert. We can\u2019t afford to let one of those bastards in here.\u201d\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-11-at-6.42.14-PM-300x205.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Some might argue that one of those bastards\u00a0<em>already<\/em>\u00a0got in.\u00a0So now, more than ever, this is not the time to get tired; particularly the reporters whose job it is to pound away at the president and congress until the truth behind all of this corruption is laid bare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The good news is that each day more pieces of the puzzle reach the surface. We learn more about the President\u2019s conflicts of interest and the troubling connection between his surrogates and Russia\u2019s role in the most shocking victory in U.S. electoral history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>With each broken campaign promise we come to see Donald Trump for who he really is. More Americans who slept through civics as school kids are engaging in the political process. The news networks who gave wall-to-wall coverage to the candidate\u2019s airport rallies, as he denigrated their own reporters, are now showing some spine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Like everyone else, there are moments in my day when I feel blitzed by the overload. Then\u00a0<em>The Times<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>The Post<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0<em>The AP<\/em>\u00a0breaks a story like the one on Wednesday and I get my game back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>With two of the three branches of government controlled by the GOP and the third about to swing in their favor if Trump gets his way on the Gorsuch nomination, there was never a time when we needed the oversight of the media more. So I\u2019m going to keep writing, populating\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-beacon=\"{&quot;p&quot;:{&quot;mnid&quot;:&quot;citation&quot;,&quot;mpid&quot;:51,&quot;plid&quot;:&quot;http:\/\/investigatingtrump.com\/&quot;,&quot;lnid&quot;:&quot;the website&quot;}}\">the website<\/a>\u00a0with the best reporting I can find and connecting as many of the dots as possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>To paraphrase the Dos Equis campaign, \u201cStay frosty my friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The%20Second%20Michael%20Flynn%20Scandal%2C%20The%20Greek%20Philosopher%20Zeno%20And%20Staying%20Frosty%20During%20The%20Chaos%20Presidency%20of%20Donald%20J.%20Trump\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>By Peter Lance March 11th, 2017.\u00a0The Huffington Post.\u00a0 The culpability of Donald Trump who hired de-frocked Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as our National Security Advisor, goes far beyond Sen. Howard Baker\u2019s seminal\u00a0Watergate question\u00a0of \u201cWhat did the president know and when did he know it?\u201d After he was fired last month for lying about his clandestine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10375"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10375"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10382,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10375\/revisions\/10382"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}