Patterico's Pontifications

2/16/2024

Report: Navalny Dead

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 4:04 am

Murdered by Putin.

I am heartsick.

I bet Tucker Carlson is happy, that nasty sinister turncoat.

Evil must be defeated.

The GOP won’t help. Therefore the GOP must be defeated.

Comments (24)

24 Responses to “Report: Navalny Dead”

Death to Putin.
Patterico (634c5d) — 2/16/2024 @ 4:05 am
Prison authorities reported that Navalny “felt unwell” after a walk, “almost immediately losing consciousness,” and added that a medical team failed to resuscitate him.

Yeah. Right out of the NKVD manual.
nk (5b6da6) — 2/16/2024 @ 5:34 am
The Russian people lose again. Dictators kill off good people. Never side with, admire, or excuse dictators.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/16/2024 @ 5:45 am
Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Trump Fully Devours the Republican Establishment

Long a dominant force over the party’s institutions, he is now moving to fully eradicate their independence and remake them in his own image.

Donald J. Trump is stamping out the final flashes of independence inside Republican institutions with astonishing speed, demonstrating that his power continues to expand over the new party establishment he has created.

At the Republican National Committee, he is moving to replace longtime supporters with allies even more closely bound to him, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.

In the House, Republicans are more compliant than ever. Most vividly, Speaker Mike Johnson — ostensibly the party’s top-ranking official — backtracked on an endorsement in a crucial Senate race because Mr. Trump disagreed. On Thursday, Mr. Johnson’s candidate ended his campaign less than one week after opening it.

In the Senate, which has been less beholden to Mr. Trump, his influence over a failed border bill made one of the party’s most effective lawmakers, Mitch McConnell, look weak.

The displays of obedience emerging in recent weeks remove any lingering doubt that the Republican Party is aligned to advance the interests of one man, signaling that a sweep of victories from Mr. Trump and his allies in November could also mean replacing checks and balances in Washington with his wishes and whims.

For many Republicans, those aren’t risks but the rewards of a second Trump administration. Only a rapidly dwindling minority inside the party remains worried about Mr. Trump’s intentions.

“This is a defining moment for our party and our country,” said former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, who ran a long-shot Republican primary challenge to Mr. Trump on a promise to restore the party to its traditional principles. “As long as leaders continue to wilt under Trump’s pressure, we’re going to be moving in the direction of a Trump party and not the Republican Party.”
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 7:22 am
The GOP needs to split.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 7:23 am
The GOP won’t help. Therefore the GOP must be defeated.

The Democratic Party is just as culpable, having signed off on Putin’s adventures in Crimea. It was Obama who told Putin he’d be “more flexible after the [2012] election”, and he was.

I get it that Trump is the current problem, but there is nothing whatsoever in the history of the Democrat Party that makes me believe that they would stand up for freedom in Russia. They didn’t before. I won’t make the mistake of thinking that their talk now is anything other than the usual opportunism.

So, yes, we need to defeat TRUMP, but that does not mean we must side with the collectivists.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 7:49 am
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 7:22 am

This might be what Trump’s supporters think (I don’t read minds) is “draining the swamp” in the Republican party. Now, I am not a Republican, so if this ends the dominance of the “establishment” Republican party, well what did we think was going to replace it? It would have been nice if the entrenched politicians had supported a “non-Trump” to don the mantle of leadership, but c’mon – really? We just seen their lack of backbone in failed negotiations and failed negotiations with Democrats, and their foolish disregard for their own electorate..
felipe (5045ed) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:05 am
Someone else said it first, but Trump is a symptom, not the disease.
felipe (5045ed) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:08 am
I somehow did not expect that. But the Russian presidential election was coming up. Putin must have worried that, even though he was not a candidate, he could affect the public reaction to that, especially since he was getting out messages. And the thing is, Navalny would have had mercy on Putin and certainly Putin’s family members,

Navalny had a chance at exile. What good did it do to return
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:15 am
Back on topic:

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley blasted GOP primary rival former President Trump for his past praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin following the death of the country’s top opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Friday.

“Putin did this,” Haley wrote Friday morning on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in response to news of Navalny’s death in prison. “The same Putin who Donald Trump praises and defends. The same Trump who said: ‘In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that’.”
………
Haley, who is trailing Trump in the polls ahead of the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary, has repeatedly gone after the former president on the campaign trail for his apparent friendliness to foreign dictators. Her campaign reinforced that tactic on Valentine’s Day, dishing out satirical love letters that highlighted Trump’s past quotes about world leaders of countries that are considered adversarial to the U.S. One of the letters referenced comments Trump made in 2018 about Putin and his victory in Russia’s election that year.
……….

Related:

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign took a Valentine’s Day dig at her chief GOP opponent, former President Trump, by highlighting his “love for … brutal dictators.”

Her campaign dished out a dozen satirical “love letters” Wednesday, showcasing past quotes from Trump about world leaders of countries that are considered U.S. adversaries.
……….
“Happy Valentine’s Day from Donald Trump to dictators around the world,” the Haley campaign said in a statement. “Over the years, Trump has professed his love for the world’s most brutal dictators and praised their strength and leadership skills.”
………..
Another letter is directed from Trump to himself; it reads, “Roses are red. Violets are blue. I love dictators & they love me too.”
………..
“He’s strong like granite, he’s strong, I know him very well, President Xi of China … what can I say: he runs 1.4 billion people with an iron hand,” the message from Trump directed to Xi said. It references a line Trump said during a rally in Iowa last year.
………..
“I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory. The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong!”
………..

Ouch!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:19 am
I bet Tucker Carlson is happy, that nasty sinister turncoat.

Tucker Carlson forgot to ask about him. But Navalny’s associates weren’t predicting his death right now.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:19 am
And just the day before, Putin endorsed Biden, and he gave as his reason what people say about his possible thinking: Trump is unpredictable. That was probably to confirm some “experts” in their thinking,

His “endorsement” is probably because he expects Biden to win, because foreign almost invariably expect incumbents to win, snd because he does not believe he can move the needle, and because he believes any public endorsement would only work to hurt Trump in any csse.

Putin does not believe any polls.
Sammy Finkelman (c2c77e) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:31 am
The Democratic Party is just as culpable, having signed off on Putin’s adventures in Crimea.

Really? What document did they sign?

Obama who told Putin he’d be “more flexible after the [2012] election”

Obama was speaking to Dmitri A. Medvedev, who was President at time (admittedly a seat warmer for Putin) and the conversation was about missile defense, not Crimea (which was seized in 2014).

Journalists spied the two leaders leaning close together and talking in hushed tones. According to those in the room, the conversation was difficult to hear but the videotape revealed Obama asking the Russian leader to wait until after the November election before pushing forward on the topic of a planned missile defense shield.

………(O)ne Russian reporter managed to record the context with his equipment.

Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it’s important for him to give me space.

Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you…

Obama: This is my last election…After my election I have more flexibility.

Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

Source
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/16/2024 @ 9:35 am
I am making out the report now. We haven’t quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

— Captain Renault Casablanca
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:07 am
Rip, the history of the Democrats from Crimea to the Nuclear Freeze, to endless waffling in the Cold War is not one that demonstrates resolve. That Obama made those statements secretly, not knowing that the mike was hot, shows his real colors.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:11 am
Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.

Nor does the fact that he was speaking to Medvedev mean anything, as the message was for Putin.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:13 am
Rip, the history of the Democrats from Crimea to the Nuclear Freeze, to endless waffling in the Cold War is not one that demonstrates resolve. That Obama made those statements secretly, not knowing that the mike was hot, shows his real colors.

Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:11 am

ODS
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:35 am
And just the day before, Putin endorsed Biden, and he gave as his reason what people say about his possible thinking: Trump is unpredictable. That was probably to confirm some “experts” in their thinking,

His “endorsement” is probably because he expects Biden to win, because foreign almost invariably expect incumbents to win, snd because he does not believe he can move the needle, and because he believes any public endorsement would only work to hurt Trump in any csse.

Putin does not believe any polls.

His endorsement is because he obviously prefers Trump. Putin is evil but he ain’t dumb.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68303231

Mr Trump has called President Putin “smart” and “a genius”. He has even suggested he would “encourage” Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills as part of the Western military alliance.

If you were Vladimir Putin, who would you be rooting for?

But if he’s a closet fan of Trump, why has the Russian president gone on record as saying he’d prefer Joe Biden back in the White House?

Imagine Vladimir Putin had said publicly that he’d prefer a Trump presidency.

What a gift for the Biden campaign.

Donald Trump’s political enemies would have pounced on such an endorsement and accused the former US president of colluding with the Kremlin, of having ties to Russia two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Hardly a vote-winner for the Republicans.
Patterico (634c5d) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:40 am
Obama was wrong…and was wrong to mock Romney’s concerns over Russia. My personal opinion was that Obama was the proverbial lightweight….that Reid and Pelosi worked over regularly. He just didn’t have the resume or experience to be a sage voice on foreign policy. His view was just to do the opposite of George W. Bush. Sometimes it displayed weakness and it often lacked foresight.

Biden is not a lightweight, but he’s been wrong on lots of things over his 50 year career, including going after Bin Laden. Still, he hasn’t F’d up Ukraine yet. The GOP is trying its hardest to do so. We can always be harder on Russia, Iran, and China….though I’m not persuaded that the current GOP has a stomach for any of it. Maybe Taiwan…but push comes to shove, I’m no longer confident that Trump et al will act strategically. Trump always sounds like a high-schooler when he talks foreign policy. I have zero confidence that he brings much gray matter to complicated questions. Sometimes the art of the deal isn’t what is needed….but it’s his one hammer

No one has laid out a good plan for yanking the party away from Trump. The GOP must lose and lose influence. It seems like the only way…absent a justice system miracle. That is in no way an endorsement of liberal sensibilities, just an assessment that they pose less harm right now. If a 3rd party can be part of that demolition, great. Otherwise, no action should compromise Trump losing as decisively as possible.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 2/16/2024 @ 10:49 am
Rip, the history of the Democrats from Crimea to the Nuclear Freeze, to endless waffling in the Cold War is not one that demonstrates resolve.

Endless waffling in the Cold War? Seriously? The Truman Doctrine, creating NATO, Marshall Plan, Berlin Airlift, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Berlin Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, NSC 68, supporting the Greek government during their civil war, supporting the Afghans after the Soviet invasion (resulting in grain embargoes on the USSR), etc. are examples of Democratic waffling?

From 1961 to 1964, the number of nuclear weapons increased by 50 percent, as did the number of B-52 bombers to deliver them. The new ICBM force grew from 63 intercontinental ballistic missiles to 424. He authorized 23 new Polaris submarines, each of which carried 16 nuclear missiles.

Source

If you want waffling, how about the failure of the Eisenhower Administration to support the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and oppose the Cuban Revolution? The Eisenhower Administration actually reduced Truman’s military buildup.

The Nuclear Freeze campaign was a lunatic fringe movement that accomplished nothing.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/16/2024 @ 11:05 am
there is nothing whatsoever in the history of the Democrat Party that makes me believe that they would stand up for freedom in Russia. They didn’t before. I won’t make the mistake of thinking that their talk now is anything other than the usual opportunism.

So, yes, we need to defeat TRUMP, but that does not mean we must side with the collectivists.

Kevin M (ed969f) — 2/16/2024 @ 7:49 am

Kevin, I enjoy your willingness to shoot from the hip, even if that sometimes results in mistakes. I think this is one of those times, as Rip pointed out above.

Moreover, the important thing is that right now the Democrats are the ones standing up for freedom in Ukraine, while the Republicans are afraid of MAGA talking points on Ukraine. Even DeSantis fell prey.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/13/war-ukraine-ron-desantis-00086917
norcal (a6d8f6) — 2/16/2024 @ 2:29 pm
Moreover, the important thing is that right now the Democrats are the ones standing up for freedom in Ukraine

Yup.

I have always despised the Democrats, but lately they are the closest thing to sane on several critical issues, and this is a key example.
Patterico (634c5d) — 2/16/2024 @ 4:30 pm
What do Republicans offer voters anymore, other than vengeance, impeachments, retribution, soap opera-like outbursts of inanity, and pathetic defenses of an accused rapist and insurrectionist. There is no rational draw to the Party anymore.
Dana (8e902f) — 2/16/2024 @ 4:42 pm
What do Republicans offer voters anymore, other than vengeance, impeachments, retribution, soap opera-like outbursts of inanity, and pathetic defenses of an accused rapist and insurrectionist. There is no rational draw to the Party anymore.

Dana (8e902f) — 2/16/2024 @ 4:42 pm

None of that matters if the cult leader offers the prospect of “good policies”, whether or not he ever implements them.

To some, the chance of getting a few favored policies is more important than trying to bully the VP into changing an election outcome, calling for the termination of the Constitution, and encouraging Russia to invade its neighbors.

Trump apologists are civic wrecks.
norcal (a6d8f6) — 2/16/2024 @ 5:05 pm

2/16/2024

Report: Navalny Dead

24 Responses to “Report: Navalny Dead”

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