URL  = Letters from an American | Heather Cox Richardson | Substack

Paul Manafort walking onto the floor of the Republican National Convention yesterday illustrated that the Republican Party under Trump has become thoroughly corrupted into an authoritarian party aligned with foreign dictators.

Manafort first advised and then managed Trump’s 2016 campaign. A long-time Republican political operative, he came to the job after the Ukrainian people threw his client,Viktor Yanukovych out of Ukraine’s presidency in 2014. Yanukovych was backed by Russian president Vladimir Putin, who was determined to prevent Ukraine from turning toward Europe and to install a puppet government that would extend his power over the neighboring country. Beginning in 2004, Manafort had worked to install and then keep Yanukovych and his party in power. His efforts won him a fortune thanks to his new friends, especially Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska. Then in 2014, after months of popular protests, Ukrainians ousted Yanukovych from power in what is known as the Revolution of Dignity.

Yanukovych fled to Russia, and Putin invaded Ukraine’s Crimea and annexed it, prompting the United States and the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Russia itself and also on specific Russian businesses and oligarchs, prohibiting them from doing business in United States territories. These sanctions crippled Russia and froze the assets of key Russian oligarchs.

Now without his main source of income, Manafort owed about $17 million to Deripaska. By 2016, his longtime friend and business partner Roger Stone was advising Trump’s floundering presidential campaign, and Manafort stepped in to remake it. He did not take a salary but reached out to Deripaska through one of his Ukrainian business partners, Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, immediately after landing the job, asking Kilimnik how “we” could use the appointment “to get whole,” and he made sure that the Russian oligarch to whom he owed the most money knew about his close connection with the Trump campaign.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election explained at least one answer: Manafort and Kilimnick “discussed a plan to resolve the ongoing political problems in Ukraine by creating an autonomous republic in its more industrialized eastern region of Donbas, and having Yanukovych…elected to head that republic.” The report continued: “That plan, Manafort later acknowledged, constituted a ‘backdoor’ means for Russia to control eastern Ukraine.”

This policy was the exact opposite of official U.S. policy for a free and united Ukraine. Russia worked to help Trump win the White House, and immediately after his election, according to the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee, Kilimnick wrote that “[a]ll that is required to start the process is a very minor ‘wink’ (or slight push) from D[onald] T[rump] saying ‘he wants peace in Ukraine and Donbass back in Ukraine’ and a decision to be a ‘special representative’ and manage this process. The email went on to say that once then–Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko understood this “message” from the United States, the process “will go very fast and DT could have peace in Ukraine basically within a few months after inauguration.”

The investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia slowed the consummation of this plan, and strong bipartisan support for Ukraine threw a monkey wrench into the works, prompting Trump’s cronies to try to smear Ukraine as the country that interfered in the 2016 U.S. election, a story that began to come out during Trump’s first impeachment hearing. Biden’s election meant an abrupt end to Russia’s quiet absorption of Ukraine’s eastern region, and in February 2022, Putin simply invaded the country and then claimed that the people there had voted to join Russia.

Trump seemed to bring this back up at a CNN event in June in which, referring to Putin’s invasion of eastern Ukraine in February 2022, he said: “Putin saw that, he said, you know what, I think we’re going to go in and maybe take my—this was his dream. I talked to him about it, his dream.” Trump has said he has a plan for “peace” in Ukraine that will stop the war in a day.

Republican vice presidential pick J.D. Vance is wildly inexperienced for such a position, but he has been staunchly in favor of ending U.S. assistance to Ukraine and was the pick of that party faction. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov cheered Vance’s nomination, saying: “He’s in favor of peace, he’s in favor of ending the assistance that’s being provided and we can only welcome that because that’s what we need—to stop pumping Ukraine full of weapons and then the war will end” Russia needs this sort of help, for just this week Ukraine forced it to remove its last remaining patrol ship from occupied Crimea (when the 2022 invasion began, it held most of its 74 Black Sea Fleet warships at ports there).

Manafort was convicted of a slew of criminal charges for his work with Ukraine and obstruction of the investigation into the connections between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, and was serving a seven-year sentence when Trump pardoned him in December 2020. Now he is back at the center of Trump’s MAGA Party.

Before 2016 the Republican Party stood staunchly against Russia, and getting Republican voters to forget that history required adopting the argument of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who is aligned with Putin and Trump, that democracy has ruined the United States. In this argument, the central principle of democracy—that all people must be equal before the law, and have a right to a say in their government—destroys a country by making women, people of color, immigrants, members of religious minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals equal to heteronormative white men and permitting them to influence government. In place of democracy, they want to impose their version of Christianity on the nation, banning abortion, rejecting immigrants, and curtailing the rights of gender, religious, and ethnic minorities.

Josh Kovensky and John Light of Talking Points Memo picked up that in his speech at the Republican convention last night, Vance pushed back against President Joe Biden’s traditional idea that America is an idea, tying it instead to a place and a people. As Kovensky and Light note, this is “a somewhat-quiet, somewhat-obvious dog whistle, gesturing toward the idea there are, as some on the far-right contend, ‘heritage Americans,’” native-born Americans who have a deeper understanding than newcomers of what this country means. That view of nationhood is commonplace elsewhere, Kovensky and Light note, but its absence in the U.S. “has long made our country exceptional.”

This nationalist concept is at the heart of MAGA attacks on immigrants, which were in full display at the convention yesterday. From the podium yesterday, Thomas Homan, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for Trump’s first two years in office, told undocumented immigrants: “You better start packing to go home.” Trump has promised to round up 11 million migrants (although he claims there are 18 million) currently living in the U.S., put them in camps, and deport them. There were actually preprinted signs at the convention for attendees to wave, which they did with apparent enthusiasm. The signs said: “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!”

The convention has also emphasized its opposition to women’s rights. Trump, who has proudly claimed responsibility for the Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing abortion as a constitutional right, walked out last night to the song “It’s a Man’s World.” By focusing on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to enforce it, as the protector of “Life,” the Republican platform covertly endorses a national abortion ban.

Their rejection of democracy requires a strongman at the head of the government, and in Milwaukee that man is Trump, who will be the first convicted criminal nominated for president by a major party. He was convicted for trying to tip the 2016 election by hiding payments to an adult-film actress after they had sex, in order to keep the story from voters.

Conference attendees are honoring Trump with large bandages on their right ear as a tribute to an injury he sustained in a shooting attempt on Saturday, although—and this is very weird—there has been no information about that injury aside from his own comments and those of his inner circle, a lack the press seems willing to ignore despite their deep interest in every piece of medical information from President Biden. As he did at his criminal trial in Manhattan, Trump keeps nodding off to sleep at the convention.

The theme of the party has been unity, but that unity depends on everyone lauding Trump. Gone are the establishment Republicans that ran the party before 2016; even longer gone are the traditional Republicans who were chased out of the party in the 1990s as “Republicans in Name Only” because they believed government had a role to play in the economy and did not see tax cuts as the solution to everything. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Will Bunch wrote: “Here in Milwaukee, the political pundits finally saw the thing they’ve been pleading for—unity—and what that really looks like. It looks a lot like Jonestown,” where a cult leader took the lives of his followers in 1978.

In 1959, veteran Robert Biggs wrote to Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had led the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, asking the president to make “direct statements” that would give people the confidence to “back him completely.” Americans needed “more of the attitude of a commanding officer who knows the goal and the mission and states, without evasion, the way it is to be done.”

Eisenhower answered that “in a democracy debate is the breath of life. This is to me what Lincoln meant by government ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’”

“[D]ictatorial systems make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to support such systems—freedom from the necessity of informing themselves and making up their own minds concerning…tremendous complex and difficult questions,” Eisenhower wrote. “But while this responsibility is a taxing one to a free people it is their great strength as well—from millions of individual free minds come new ideas, new adjustments to emerging problems, and tremendous vigor, vitality and progress…. While complete success will always elude us, still it is a quest which is vital to self-government and to our way of life as free men.”

Warren Sharp football:

Help me understand…….Why does his statement state negative 32 days for SF, then the list states negative 21 days for SF?   why the different values?

“”””””the last 2 years, teams playing short week road games have won 43% of the time while covering the spread just 47.6%

take a larger sample (a decade) and dig in to focus more on late-season games, and it’s even worse

…

when looking only at games with negative rest edge, the 49ers have an unbelievable -32 days negative rest edge, most in the NFL since at least 1990″”””””

Rest Edge list: 49ers = negative 21 days.

“”””””Bill Belichick had disrobed the Rams offense in the Super Bowl,,”””””

True, but no Kupp no Gurley…huge void.

who would’ve caught the game winning TD vs the Bengals in the Super Bowl if Stafford didn’t have Kupp??? Benny Skoronek?

Goff helped change a 30+ year losing culture in Detroit with Captain Insano as head coach…and a 13 year losing culture with the Rams…

I like Stafford a lot, but he wasn’t the missing link to a Title…without OBJ or Kupp or Ramsey or Von Miller the Rams don’t make playoffs in 2021 with an overconfident pick six king under center…

Zooey wrote:

I thought the Nuggets were losing to somebody. I’m for whoever is playing against Boston.

I can’t stand the Celtics either…..

Nuggets were losing, but not anymore… ,……strange series…. the road team has won in each of the 1st 4 games of the series…    Denver altitude finally got to Minnesota….. home team won game 5.

Denver leads series 3-2.

I like to follow NBA playoff basketball……..

zn wrote:

wv wrote:

Yeah, i imagine purty-much every QB who signed a contract three years-or-so ago is unhappy at this point. w v

QB contracts go up every year. Just how it works.

Unless you’re a rookie QB, post Sam Bradford era….

Naomi Klein:

“””Zionism is a false idol that has taken the idea of the promised land and turned it into a deed of sale for a militaristic ethnostate”””

“”””The false idol of Zionism has been allowed to grow unchecked for far too long.””””

• This reply was modified 11 months, 3 weeks ago by joemad.

URL = https://foxsportsradio.iheart.com/featured/the-herd-with-colin-cowherd/content/2024-04-30-colin-cowherd-ranks-the-top-10-nfl-teams-following-the-draft/

10. Los Angeles Chargers

“Herbert and Jim Harbaugh are great but they lost a lot of offense. Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Gerald Everett. They lost a lot of productive veteran dudes. I like the kid they drafted, Joe Alt, they got Hayden Hurst, and they got Gus Edwards. They got some replacements, but I don’t think they’re going to be quite as lethal offensively.”

9. Houston Texans

“I may have them under-ranked. I may be wrong; they may be higher than this. I liked their draft, I liked their free agent signings; Stefon Diggs, Danielle Hunter, Joe Mixon – the last two years in personnel they’ve done as well as anybody in this league. I LOVE what they’re doing.”

8. Philadelphia Eagles

“Offensively, it’s stacked. With or without Kelce it’s stacked. Receivers, tight ends, Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts. They have new coordinators so I just wanna watch it. A couple years ago I loved their coordinators but last year I didn’t like their coordinators. Mitchell, the corner from Toledo, hopefully solves their secondary, which was a mess.”

7. Buffalo Bills

“You can sell all your Buffalo Bills stock, but their o-line and run-game finally arrived last year. I’m not having Josh Allen out of my top ten. I thought they had another excellent draft drafting Keon Coleman.”

6. San Francisco 49ers

“They addressed secondary in the draft and drafted two receivers. They had nine Pro Bowlers last year and they all return. I feel like last year they peaked.”

5. Green Bay Packers

“I love the Packers. I don’t think they quite have the roster of Detroit but I love them. Josh Jacobs is maybe the first or second best running back in the league. They allowed the third-fewest sacks in the league. This team drafts as well as anybody, Jordan Morgan is a STUD at left tackle. First four picks I thought the Packers and Buccaneers had the best four picks.”

4. Los Angeles Rams

“I thought they had an unbelievable first four picks. Four guys who will start. All my executive and scout buddies in the league thought the Rams crushed it, and they crushed last year’s draft. They lost Aaron Donald but they got Jared Verse.”

3. Detroit Lions

“This is a stacked roster. I think they’re the Niners, but with younger players. They’re the Niners with a more talented quarterback. They added Marcus Davenport off the edge, Carlton Davis the corner from Tampa I’ve always liked, and then they went out and got Terrion Arnold, another corner. They were BAD at corner last year and they addressed both.”

2. Baltimore Ravens

“They lose Gus Edwards and Dobbins, but they get Derrick Henry. They had a disappointing postseason but they rolled teams last year in the regular season. Lamar is in his prime and the coaching staff is great.”

1. Kansas City Chiefs

“Xavier Worthy, I don’t know how good he’ll be. His sizer worries me, but if anybody is going to make it work, it’s going to be Kansas City. They added Hollywood Brown, and their receiving corps will be much more worthy and acclaimed than it was last year. Last year was the year to beat them.”

i wonder how successful the Rams were in this 4-2-5 alignment? …. Rams gave up 450 yards in this game… but in fairness to the D… Baltimore’s offense dominated just about every team they faced last year, with the exception of the playoff loss to KC, where they only ran the ball 6 times. (Spag’s defensive magic?)

The walk off punt return in OT was a killer….. the last two games that the Rams played in Baltimore were close exciting games.

RIP Jack…

GO RAMS.

wv wrote:

Lotta talking heads blaming Shanahan for the loss, and crowning Andy Reid as the best ever, etc. But, put Mahomes on the 49ers, and how does Reid look, and how does Shanahan look? w v

Put Mahomes with Shanahan and you might end up with Mahomes playing like Trey Lance…..

SF passed on Mahomes in the draft cuz they put their hopes on Blaine Gabbert.  Thus, they drafted a nobody like Soloman Thomas instead of Mahomes.

SF should’ve been eliminated both in the divisional and championship rounds this year.

Zooey wrote:

<script async=”” src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js&#8221; charset=”utf-8″></script> I thought this was interesting. My first SB that I remember watching was SBIII. Jets over Colts. I guess, in retrospect, that wasn’t a bad place to start.

Super Bowl 5.   Colts vs Cowboys with O’Brien’s game winning FG.

BTW, NFL Network replayed 30 min NFL Film highlights of each Super Bowl this past weekend.  I binged SB 3 through SB 9, then binged SB 50 through 56.

When I grow up, i want to work for NFL Films.

Coach “Captain Insane-o” Campbell blew it big time.  Kick the damn FGs

Zooey wrote:

joemad wrote:

One major Rams’ advantage this Sunday, the Rams’ coaching staff, specifically play calling in crucial moments. I’ve watched almost every Lions game since “The Trade” ….Dan Campbell takes foolish risks that cost the Lions a lot of games in the Goff era the past 3 seasons.

Holy shit! Tell us more about the Lions. Does Goff still make inexplicable throws to nobody from time-to-time? What do you think of the Lions’ D-line? Somebody was saying that their secondary is pretty bad except for one guy (Branch?), and that Sutton is particularly terrible. Does Sutton play a lot? How big of a blow is it to them if LaPorta can’t play? Is there anybody to keep a particular eye on?

yes, Lions’ secondary is suspect, Nick Mullins and Justin Jefferson recently tore them up and seemed unstoppable in 2 games in December.

LaPorta is Goff’s version of Ben Coats. Not as great as Gradkowski, but a definite outlet for Goff…

But it still comes down to play calling and limiting risk… Everyone remembers the blown 2-point conversion call by the refs in Dallas that cost the Lions…..Everyone remembers the Justin Turner FG that bounced on the goal post and miraculously went through the goal posts in Detroit when the Ravens escaped with a victory… but Campbell’s bone headed play calling late in the game put them in that position to lose. Goff started 0-7 as the Lions starter, but that was mainly due to Campbell’s stubbornness and emotional play calling in crucial situations.   McVay and staff are pretty good at game management, except when they play SF.

Every point matters in the playoffs……. can Maher deliver when needed? can a bunch of rookies on special teams contain punt returns…… Whole-Lee Shit!!!

Rams offense better score a lot of TDs.

That place will be rockin’ and the crowd will be insane.

Detroit hasn’t been this excited since Sparky Anderson and Kirk Gibson wore Tiger pinstripes, or when Bill Lambeer made Draymond Green look like a mild mannered basketball player.   Lion’s haven’t won in the playoffs since Plymouths and Pontiacs were rolling off the assembly lines.

It’s been a long time. That city and team is starving.

Rams kept battling… and won at Levi…. It’s been five years…

As noted, big plays by Yeast…

Wentz literally “carried” the Rams with his legs.. with some very nice passes thrown in.

RAMS WIN … BANG BANG!