For (Sadly Not) The Last Time, 'GIIIIIIINA Isn't Doing Sh*t To Help Joe Biden

RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA.

Clearly, the message has gone out! Donald Trump and his merry band of racist shit-fascists have decided that one of their most potent weapons to help Russia help them attack the 2020 election is to muddy the waters by baselessly saying 'GIIIIIIINA is attacking the election to help Joe Biden win. After all, if two of our adversaries are doing it, they cancel each other out, obviously!

Verified absolute moron DNI John Ratcliffe said it on Fox News this weekend, claiming that threats from 'GIIIIIIINA are much greater than they are from Russia, which might be true, except for how it's Russia attacking this election , not 'GIIIIIIINA. The entire Republican National Convention was 'GIIIIINA 'GIIIIINA 'GIIIIIINA. Donald Trump himself is saying it. 'GIIIIIIIIIINA.

But wait, is 'GIIIIIIINA doing anything to the election? Because we know, from the statement from William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), that Russia is literally right now actively engaged in an attack on the 2020 election for Trump's benefit. And 'GIIIIIIIINA? "We assess that China prefers that President Trump – whom Beijing sees as unpredictable – does not win reelection."

Oh, they PREFER that? Has Xi Jinping put a Biden sign in his yard or something? Is he sharing Kamala .gifs on his MySpace?

China has been expanding its influence efforts ahead of November 2020 to shape the policy environment in the United States, pressure political figures it views as opposed to China's interests, and deflect and counter criticism of China. Although China will continue to weigh the risks and benefits of aggressive action, its public rhetoric over the past few months has grown increasingly critical of the current Administration's COVID-19 response, closure of China's Houston Consulate, and actions on other issues. For example, it has harshly criticized the Administration's statements and actions on Hong Kong ...

Gotcha. China has said things publicly that are mean to Donald Trump, and they certainly have policy preferences for what they would like America to do, and that is somehow the same, in traitorous Republicans' eyes. Just like a few Ukrainian politicians posted "FUK TRUMP" memes on their Facebooks in 2016, and they act like that is the same as Russia's actual covert attack on the election.

Natasha Bertrand has a piece this week in Politico on this coordinated GOP strategy, with quotes from actual people inside the intelligence apparatus about how full of shit they are.

"China is the bigger and longer term threat to U.S. national security," said an official who has seen the underlying intelligence. "But it does not pose the most acute threat to this election. Russia does."

See how that is the same thing as what John Ratcliffe says, except for how Ratcliffe left out that last part, just like actual fascist GOP Senator Tom Cotton left it out in an op-ed for Fox News? Let's call it lying by omission, since that is the common expression for that. Let's also call it doing Russia's bidding, because it just fucking is. (And he's not the only Trump Cabinet-level official doing it, either, OH HEY CHAD WOLF. )

We didn't watch the whole Ratcliffe Fox interview, just the parts about how Ratcliffe is ending in-person briefings on current election threats for members of Congress (see: doing Russia's bidding), but Bertrand shares a quote that falls more into the category of outright lying, as opposed to just a sin of omission:

Ratcliffe [said] that "in an unclassified setting, I can't get into a whole lot of details, other than to say that China is using a massive and sophisticated influence campaign that dwarfs anything that any other country is doing."

Right. Except not right, and runs directly counter to Evanina's statement above. (Evanina and the NCSC are part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, by the way. This is all coming from the same office.)

"Does Beijing have the capability to wake up tomorrow and say, 'we really want to mess with the election' and interfere on a huge scale? Yes," the official said. "But do they want to do that? And have they been doing that? That's not borne out by the intelligence."

In other words China could do this, if China wanted to. But the actual intelligence, which Ratcliffe is apparently willing to lie through his teeth about on Fox News, says nope.

More from Bertrand's sources, who are automatically more trustworthy than John Ratcliffe, whose first nomination for DNI was tanked because of how he'd lied about his resume:  

Beijing's traditional malign influence operations [...] have not been deployed to boost Biden or sabotage Trump or otherwise wade into the presidential election specifically, officials said, citing the intelligence they'd reviewed. [...]

"The bottom line is they are a significant threat," [a] national security official said. "But they are highly unlikely to act on their capabilities to move the needle."

Golly, can two things be true at once? Can China be a long-term threat to the US but simultaneously not have an interest in fucking around in our election like Russia does? Donald Trump and his ass-sucking buddies would like you to believe those two things cannot be true, because they're trying to cover up the fact that Trump and Russia both are revisiting the scene of the crime and trying to do to the election what they did in 2016. Don't let them get away with it.

One more quote from an actual non-liar who's seen the intelligence? Have one more!

"I have been briefed in person on the threats to our elections, and I've reviewed underlying documents to support judgments by the intelligence community," [another person] familiar with the intelligence said. "The evidence reveals Russia as the only country actively trying to help the president and hurt Biden. Sure, other countries have vast intelligence resources. But Russia is aiming and firing theirs at our election."

It's Russia. It's only Russia. If another country decides to try to "help," we'll let you know. But it's Russia. Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia.

Fucking Russia. And their little troll baby in the White House, Donald Trump.

Sixty-one days until the election. Vote like your fucking life depends on it, because it literally does.

[ Politico ]

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