In theory, we expect Rachel Maddow, the most popular news anchor in America, to report and comment on the news, not necessarily make the news. But last night she sure did (make the news). Look at that video up top. Stupendous reporting. She contrasts the fake news cobbled together by the Trumpist Regime and the Kremlin to hide what happened-- in plain view-- in Helsinki when a reporter, Reuters' Jeff Mason, asked-- and Putin answered-- if he wanted Trump to win and if he ordered Russian officials to give Trump a hand. He admitted that he did. "Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal."Maddow played the actual video and then showed how the White House and Kremlin have tried to make that go away. Maddow: "What the White House has disappeared from the official U.S. government record of that meeting ... is President Putin answering in the affirmative when asked if he wanted Trump to win the election." It's beyond belief-- unless you already believe that Trump has already ushered in an Orwellian America.Do you think this information is ever going to be shown on Fox/Air Force One?It may be worth mentioning at this point that a new NPR poll by Marist shows that most Americans don't believe Trump's constant boasts that's been the toughest president on Russia ever. The poll was conducted after Trump fellated Putin in Helsinki. Even 47% of Republicans agree with normal people that Trump hasn't been tough enough on Russia.
A majority (57 percent) also believes that Russia is likely to try to interfere in November's midterm elections-- something that intelligence chiefs have warned about but that Trump has downplayed. Most Republicans, however, side with Trump here, with 58 percent saying it's not very likely or not likely at all.But a whopping 72 percent of Americans said they have faith in the CIA's and FBI's conclusions about the assessment of the Russian election interference, compared with just 15 percent who believe Putin's denials. Trump has said Putin strongly denies any involvement. Eighty-six percent of Democrats say they believe the intelligence community over Putin, and 63 percent of GOP voters say the same thing. However, 21 percent of Republicans do say they believe Putin's dismissals.What is more, a majority of Americans believe that Russian interference in 2016 impacted the election, though just 37 percent said they believe it changed the outcome. Another 26 percent said it impacted the election but not enough to change the result, and 30 percent said it had no impact at all.Almost half of the country (46 percent) thinks that Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in 2016 has been fair, with roughly a third disagreeing. Those opinions are, unsurprisingly, deeply split along partisan lines-- 62 percent of Democrats say it has been fair, while half of Republicans say it has been unfair.More than two-thirds believe Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation though, including 60 percent of Republicans. Less than a quarter of GOP voters say Mueller should be fired.But Republicans view the FBI, which Trump has repeatedly demonized, differently than the public at large does. Almost 6 in 10 people say that the FBI is just trying to do its job, while one-third of Americans say it is biased against the Trump administration. Fifty-five percent of Republicans think the FBI is biased against the president, compared with 85 percent of Democrats who say the law enforcement agency is just doing its job.
Sacha Baron Cohen's second episode came out on Sunday. Full of laugh out loud moments-- and one has already yielded the resignation of a right-wing kook, Jason Spencer (R), from the Georgia legislature. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported today that "Spencer faced increasing pressure to step down shortly after the episode of Who is America? aired Sunday night, and some politicians were urging a special session to oust him if he refused. He will step down at the end of the month." Watch the segment below, unless you are easily offended watching 43 year old state legislators screaming "nigger" and running around with his pants around his knees and his butt hanging out.Spencer's decision to resign doesn't mean much since he had already been defeated in the Republican primary by Steven Sainz, 2,458 (58%) to 1,784 (42%). His district, in the southeast corner of the state (180), stretch from Piney Bluff through Woodbine and Hopewell as far west as the Okafenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Astoria, Waycross and the Duncan Donuts in Sunnyside.
