Mass hysteria indeed!

"Mish" Shedlock, from whom we've heard many times in these pages over the years, calls the outrage - from both left and right - over President Trump's Helsinki summit with Russian President Putin "mass hysteria".

A friend I highly respect commented "There is simply no question that they did it. You can legitimately claim that it’s not important or that there has been no tie to Trump shown. On the Russians’ side, they can say, screw off, we were pursuing our interests. But you can’t take the view it did not happen. It happened."

There is a question who did it. Indictments are just that, not proof.

The US fabricated evidence to start the Vietnam war and the US fabricated WMD talk on the second war in Iraq. US intelligence had no idea the Berlin Wall was about to fall. The US meddled in Russia supporting a drunk named Yeltsin because we erroneously thought we could control him.

It's a mystery why anyone would believe these proven liars. That does not mean I believe Putin either. They are all capable liars.

Let's step back from the absurd points of view to reality.

. . .

Six Questions:

• Is this a trial or a witch hunt?
• Do we need to see the evidence or do we believe known liars?
• Is Trump guilty of treason? Before we even see proof Putin was involved?
• Is the CIA incapable of fabricating evidence?
• Even if Russia interfered in the election, why should anyone have expected otherwise?
• Has everyone forgotten the US lies on WMDs already?

I don't know about you, but I have no reason to believe known liars and hypocrites.

. . .

The amount of venom on Trump over this is staggering.

There's more at the link.

Mr. Shedlock also links to, and quotes extensively from, a two-part debate at Democracy Now! between Glenn Greenwald, an independent journalist of left-leaning but generally balanced views (best-known for breaking the Edward Snowden story), and Joseph Cirincione, President of the pacifist Ploughshares Fund.  The two parts are:

1. Is [the] Trump-Putin Summit a “Danger to America” or Crucial Diplomacy Between Nuclear Powers?
2. Should Trump Have Canceled [the] Summit After [the] U.S. Indictment of Russian Agents?

I very strongly recommend that you click over to those two parts and read the exchange for yourself.  It amazes me how the two men can be talking about the same subject, but be talking past each other rather than to each other.  Mr. Cirincione in particular seems utterly convinced, on the level of an almost mystical faith, that Mr. Trump is betraying the United States, whereas Mr. Greenwald offers a more balanced, informed approach that looks at the situation from the perspective of realpolitik, rather than emotion and ideology.  I tend to support his perspective over Mr. Cirincione's.  YMMV, of course.

It seems to me that the extreme wings of US politics, on both left and right, are whipping themselves into an absolute frenzy, with no concrete evidence to justify their hysteria.  Are they trying to foment sufficient agitation to mount a coup against President Trump, or even justify his assassination on the grounds of treason?  In some cases, it seems like they are.  I find myself shaking my head in utter bemusement at their degree of self-delusion.  As just one example, I offer this video clip of Rachel Maddow of MSNBC on Monday.

Ms. Maddow offers only innuendo, suspicion, gossip, insinuations and suggestions to justify her position.  She produces not one single shred of objective, independently verifiable evidence to sustain her charges . . . nothing that will stand up in a court of law . . . yet she's absolutely serious.  If this isn't the ultimate case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, it'll do until a better one comes along!  Nor is she alone in this.  Others, on both the left and right of US politics, are just as bad.

I'm profoundly concerned by this over-the-top hysteria.  This is the sort of thing that gets Presidents shot by those who believe it.  I hope the Secret Service is on top of their game right now, because I won't be in the least surprised if some deranged extremist takes a shot at President Trump, in the name of saving the nation from the evil incarnate that he allegedly (to them) represents.  What's even worse is, if such an attempt succeeds, it will drive a wedge between left and right in this country like nothing else could.  A new civil war might not be unthinkable, in such circumstances.

I'll leave the last word to Mish Shedlock.

I commend president Trump. Yes, I am serious ... Nearly every political action that generates this much complete nonsense and hysteria from the Left and Right is worthy of immense praise.

I agree.

Peter