Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Updated; How can asking for 30k non-secret emails be treason? "The Democrats just fell for Trump's Russian email-hack bait"

"Grand Theft Convention.

...it is what we just saw Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump do to the Democrats and Hillary Clinton, and the Democrats and Hillary Clinton are helping him do it!

During about an hour-long news conference earlier Wednesday, ...Trump quickly pivoted to also discussing Clinton's private email-server controversy and the 30,000-plus emails the former Secretary of State had deleted from her private server under questionable explanations and circumstances.

Advantage Trump.

Then came the money quote, or the bait, when he said: "Russia, if you're listening,I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing; I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."

If the emails are of personal nature, 
how can the dissemination harm national security?

...the Clinton campaign incredibly took the bait and had a top policy advisor respond with this statement: "This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent."

Advantage Trump.

...Instead of ignoring Trump's already deft stealing of the headlines away from their convention, the campaign hyped the distraction even further. Sure, they meant to make Trump out to be some kind of dangerous traitor. ...the real result is that the words "Hillary Clinton," "emails," "hacking," "espionage," and "national security" are back in the headlines again.

...the Clinton campaign has fallen into the same kind of trap all those Republican candidates Trump defeated in the primaries fell for: misdirection. Most of the news media seems to have fallen for it, too...

...guess what no one is talking about right now? All those "historic" stories about Clinton being the first woman to win a major party nomination are off the news sites now. Major lead-up stories to President Obama's big speech at the convention on Wednesday night are almost non-existent now. And no one is talking about Clinton running mate Tim Kaine's speech tonight at all.

Advantage Trump.

...They forget that emotions are more powerful than facts in politics and the best persuaders play on our emotions. So speaking of those emotions, are you personally scared of Russia at all right now? You and Mitt Romney already knew the answer was "no."

Advantage Trump.

So again, what we're witnessing here is a presidential candidate stealing the other party's thunder just when it needs your attention the most.

Grand Theft Convention isn't a game, it's the real thing. And Trump just won it."

Commentary by Jake Novak, supervising producer of "Power Lunch."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/27/the-democrats-just-fell-for-trumps-russian-email-hack-bait-commentary.html
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"...Whatever one's reaction to what he said, the fact is that in one brief appearance, Trump dominated the news cycle at a time when coverage is supposed to belong to the party holding its convention.

There used to be an informal agreement among presidential campaigns that a candidate would mostly "go dark" during his opponents' convention. It wasn't a matter of courtesy as much as recognition that it would be very hard for an opponent to break through the wall of news coverage devoted to the convention.

Donald Trump has demolished that conventional convention strategy.

"Trump has blown up that precedent and inserted himself on an hourly basis into the news cycle during Hillary Clinton's convention," said Ryan Williams, an aide to Mitt Romney in 2012, in a phone conversation. "I think that's a good idea for [Trump]. Why cede any ground at this point in the race? The Trump campaign has successfully utilized free media for the last year and a half to drive his campaign message. Why stop now?"

In addition to coverage of the Democratic convention, Clinton is also running tens of millions of dollars in ads in key states. Trump is not. Grabbing attention — wresting control of the debate — is key for Trump to stay in front of voters' eyes.

...Trump once again directed attention to one of Clinton's greatest liabilities at precisely the moment she didn't want it discussed.

...Trump is playing a new sort of game.

"Modern communications technology has shortened the news cycle and created an avalanche of new information," said former Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who ran for president himself in 2004 and 2008. "This necessarily affects political parties, changes communications strategy, and invites the kind of counter-messaging that's coming from the Trump campaign."

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-media-bombs-dnc-convention/article/2597914
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"The guy is a master of PR and this is actually a brilliant move. If the Democrats want to blame the DNC email leaks on Russian's trying to help Trump, then why not tell the Russians directly what would really help? If they are truly behind the dump and they did what Trump asked, it still hurts Hillary, perhaps mortally. If they aren't behind the dump then Hillary looks like a paranoid loon for trying to blame her email misfortunes on the Russians and Trump."

Samuel Spagnola