Senator M. Michael Rounds issued this statement yesterday the disastrous Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki. Strangely, he mentions neither Trump nor Putin by name:
Make no mistake: Russia is not our friend. Our poor relations are a direct result of their continued destabilizing behavior throughout the world. It is clear that Russia attempted to directly influence the 2016 election process. There is value in seeking to improve relations with Russia, but the U.S. must make clear that their irresponsible behavior on the world stage will not be tolerated [Senator Mike Rounds, statement, 2018.07.16].
Senator Rounds appears to be responding to the claims by both Putin and Trump that Russia not only didn’t interfere in our 2016 election but had no imaginable motivation for doing so:
Путин: Президент Трамп в очередной раз затронул тему так называемого российского вмешательства в избирательные процессы в Соединённых Штатах. Мне пришлось повторить то, что говорил уже неоднократно, в том числе и на личной встрече с Президентом: Российское государство никогда не вмешивалось и не собирается вмешиваться в американские внутренние дела, в том числе выборные процессы. Какие-либо конкретные материалы, если они будут представлены, мы готовы вместе рассматривать – например, в рамках рабочей группы по кибербезопасности, о создании которой мы говорили с Президентом ещё на встрече в Гамбурге.
Putin: Once again, President Trump mentioned the issue of the so-called interference of Russia with the American elections, and I had to reiterate things I said several times, including during our personal contacts, that the Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs, including election process. Any specific material — if such things arise — we are ready to analyze together. For instance, we can analyze them through the joint working group on cyber-security, the establishment of which we discussed during our previous contacts.
…Trump: My people came to me, Dan Coates came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia.
I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be [Vladimir Putin’s Russian text directly from Kremlin transcript; Putin translation and Trump statement in English from Time, 2018.07.16].
Senator Rounds did mention Trump and Putin by name in further remarks to Washington Post reporter Erica Werner. Here’s Werner’s Tweet giving the full quote from our junior Senator:
There is no question but that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 elections. I think the president clearly understands that. I have been trying to figure out why he did what he did and the only explanation that I can come up with is Mr. Putin just got out-Trumped by Trump. I just think if Mr. Putin thought he could tell a whopper, he just found out that he’s met his match. I don’t think this was good for our country. I think the immediate impact of this is people are scratching their head because they don’t understand what went on, and I can just tell you that the facts are very clear, and trying to make logic or trying to figure out why we would even be having this discussion where the facts were not laid bare to Mr. Putin, the only thing I can come up with is if he’s going to try to tell a straight-faced whopper like that, I think he just found out that he met his match [Senator Mike Rounds, quoted by Erica Warner, tweet, 2018.07.16].
If Senator Rounds sounds confused or confusing, well, that’s what happens when you try to explain Donald Trump’s destructive, anti-American words and behavior with anything other than the direct condemnation they deserve. But to cut through the clutter, after trying to ascribe to Trump a belief unsupported by any public statement Trump made in Helsinki, Senator Rounds is declaring that Donald Trump is a bigger public liar than Vladimir Putin.
What spin. No concept of truth from Rounds. This is what Limbaugh was saying ismw monday morning sputtering that the whole thing made him lol uncontrollably. GOP is pathetic.
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows … Trump threw our Justice Dept. under the bus because he can’t have the world think he couldn’t beat a woman without Russia’s help. #MisogynisticMachiavellianMonster
Confederate Comrade Thune and Comrade Rounds should follow what this Republican just did in Iowa, he resigned. Country first, politics whatever. Real Americans reject Comrade Rounds and his gibberish and understand that the Confederate Thune, sold us out to Putin before the big sale by trump. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/16/trump-helsinki-summit-putin-russia-iowa-repubican-leaves-gop/790336002/
The Des Moines Register also has on its front page “Praising Putin” trump is clearly a Russian asset and needs to go to Moscow to build a hotel or some other kind of failure, and take his Confederates with him. Put a hat on Rounds and he would fit the bill as a bell hop. Put NOem in charge of cleaning up the rooms searching for dust bunnies and put Confederate Thune as the doorman, with a name change of Igor.
“Senator Rounds is declaring that Donald Trump is a bigger public liar than Vladimir Putin.” but, SD congressional delegation still supports trump because as they all put it”Russia is bad, Putin not so much.
Mr. CIB vet, In South Dakota, Nelson has been real quiet regarding trump. We already know that Comrade Hickey is in full bloom with his support for all things Putin and trump, but what about a former military man?
Some of us know and have that CIB and also are aware of being up against a hostile enemy while under fire. I am wondering about other veterans and how they feel about trump embracing the man who has literally pulled the trigger on us. Show me an incoming small arms round and I will tell you that the sing was made in Russia or one of its satellites.
Why does it take 2 years for wingnuts to finally admit the truth? Wungnyuts had 2 years to do immeasurable damage to America-far into the future- by stacking the courts qualified jurists and that is all McCTurtle wants to talk about. Placing jurists at record breaking pace with many more to be pushed ahead as fast as they can before they have to turn to more serious matters- like doing their jobs.
Disregard my last post.
You can’t really blame Rounds for his ignorance as he has never served in uniform but to say: “Our poor relations are a direct result of their continued destabilizing behavior throughout the world.”
Russia did not invade Iraq, Russia did not invade Libya, Russia did not invade Yemen. Russia did not create ISIS. Russia did not send 100’s of millions of dollars secretly to the world’s greatest terrorist. All of these were products of our very own Deep State with the backing of the Establishment who reigns over all of us.
The lucky thing for 99% of you is you did not have to fight in any of these conflicts that destabilized our world and sent our brothers and sisters to fight for you yet these destabilizers in the establishment are the enemy within and this is who you are supporting.
Trump is a traitor. Both parties agree. What’s our next step?
Trump isn’t a traitor and it shows your ignorance to even partake is such nasty mouthed echo of the media. I will say I’m not in the least surprised that someone. like you, who talk crap all the time but are never willing to serve yourself would partake in such acts. Too bad you were never man enough to stand behind your words.
Trump isn’t a traitor and it shows your ignorance to even partake in such nasty mouthed echo of the media. I will say I’m not in the least surprised that someone. like you, who talk crap all the time but are never willing to serve yourself would partake in such acts. Too bad you were never man enough to stand behind your words.
OldSferbrains just proved, again, he is a Russkie troll. Drumpf’s not a traitor. Putie tells me to say that.
Troll, you need to back away from the depleted uranium enemas and wean yerself from Fake Noize. Dwahahahahahahahahahaha!
mike, get a life.
Your language and grammar are stilted in a way that indicates you are ESL. Like, removing all commentary on the underlying points you are attempting to make here: you write in a manner that leaves your posts almost unreadable.
Trump is a traitor. Both parties agree. Our next step is to coalesce around the truth. The truth is bigger than politics. Bigger than bigotry. Much bigger than Trump.
Tangerine Wankmaggot and a huge chunk of the GOP are traitors. Free from prisons the children, weed smokers, women who killed their DV assaulters or rapists and children who killed theirs. Use all that new space to lock up US traitors. Then admit the refugees who will become loyal US citizens.
Saying that the President of Russia is right that American intelligence officers and law enforcement officers are wrong is a betrayal of those American officers, the duties of the American Presidency, and of the trust of all Americans.
But hey, Donald Trump has laid out the path to happiness for us all. If he says something we don’t like, just tack a NOT onto it, just like Wayne and Garth. Trump isn’t just a liar, as Rounds admits; Trump is a nihilist, demolishing objective truth, inviting all of us to believe whatever we want.
I say nuts to that. I believe in objective, absolute truths. Among those truths is the proven fact that Trump is a liar and traitor. If he believed in anything beyond himself, if he wanted to serve the good of the nation, he would resign now.
My jaw is nearly beyond the ability to drop at the tortured attempts to re-knit statements by twitterpate45 into something positive, but it did manage a weak descent at Mike Rounds’ apparent statement that Trump purposefully tried to lie bigger than Putin.
Then, I remembered who Mike Rounds is. He’s a minor SoDak politician who, by virtue of the lack of opposition, found himself among a group of 100 people at least 98 of whom have twice as many brain cells.
don John trump aka The Helsinki Stinky