Idiot Trump supporter admits Steele dossier is real

I didn't want to write another dossier post so soon after the long-ish post which precedes this one. But I have to talk about a noteworthy piece of inanity by Mediaite writer Larry O'Connor -- a piece which exemplifies the mendaciousness and madness of the right's current agit-prop campaign.

The article is titled "If Journalists Were Consistent They’d Claim Hillary ‘Colluded With Russians’ On The Dossier." The piece opens with a gratuitous insult directed at Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, which lets you know what you're in for.

The entire article is ragingly stupid.

Yes, a yet-to-be-revealed Republican client initiated Fusion GPS’s oppo research on Trump, but the now-infamous “Dossier” created by former British spy Christopher Steele was not researched or created until after the Democrats took over the task. “After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele” the Washington Post reports. Meaning, yes, a Republican paid for oppo research, but they didn’t pay for Steele and the dossier, that was all Hillary.

The only source for this claim is the WP, which cites unidentified "people." But David Corn interviewed Steele himself, and Corn reported that Steele's work was originally funded by a Republican. Oddly enough, Trump himself said the same thing in an interview earlier today. (He said that he felt he knew the funder, but would not offer a name.)

Now let's get to the really, really stupid part of the O'Connor text.

Furthermore, according to ex-Acting CIA Director (and Clinton ally) Michael Morell, Steele paid his sources (operatives close to and involved with the Russian government) for the unverified dirt on Trump that found its way into the dossier.

Follow the money with me, would you please?

Clinton’s campaign pays Fusion GPS.
Fusion GPS pays Christopher Steele.
Steele pays sources connected to the Russian government.

The money may be laundered a couple of times, but there’s no denying Clinton campaign cash ended up in the hands of Russians in exchange for dirt on Trump.

This nonsense is meant to hornswoggle rubes who haven't read the actual dossier. I have. As most of you know, this humble blog was the first site -- and may still be the only site -- to present an OCR version of the entire set of documents.

Right now, let's focus on the "pee pee" claim, since that is the only part of the dossier that most Trumpers know about or care about. The dossier lists three sources for this assertion: Source D, Source E and Source F.  It's often standard practice, when compiling raw intel, to keep a list of the real names as a separate document.

An anonymous tipster wrote in to this humble blog and suggested that the likeliest candidate for Source E is Boris Epshteyn, who, during the campaign, was often seen representing Trump on our teevee screens. This identification has found some acceptance elsewhere. I don't know for a fact that Ephsteyn is the man, but he's the only person I know who fits the description of Source E offered by the Washington Post, which had access to a less-redacted version of the dossier.

The real name is not important right now. What's important is that the dossier does NOT identify Source E as a Russian intelligence officer. He is a Russian emigre very close to Trump.

As noted above: There were two other sources for the "watersports" claim. Source D is described as a member of the Trump campaign. Source F is described as someone who works at the Ritz-Carlton.

Thus: When it comes to the urination episode, exactly NONE of the three sources work for the Russian government.

Two of the sources were people in Trump's orbit, while the third was a lowly toiler employed by the hospitality industry -- specifically, by the Ritz-Carlton, part of the Mariott chain. (Mariott is an American corporation.)

By O'Connor's lunatic logic, consistency compels us to say the following:

Clinton's campaign pays Fusion GPS
Fusion GPS pays Christopher Steele.
Steele pays sources connected to the Trump campaign.

The money may be laundered a couple of times, but there's no denying Clinton campaign cash ended up in the hands of members of Team Trump.

O'Connor wants us to believe that Hillary and Putin are somehow "in it" together. By his same logic, one could claim that Hillary and Trump are "in it" together!

But wait: There's more. The "watersports" allegation hogs most of the attention, but it's hardly the only claim in the dossier. It's true that the other sections compile information derived from sources identified as Russian government employees. Newsflash: Spies have always paid for information; that's what they do. The standard acronym in the spy game is MICE -- Money, Ideology, Coercion and Ego. Those are the four things that motivate people in the enemy camp to give information to an intelligence operative.

As some of you may have noticed, the Reagan administration had spies on the payroll. Since the MICE principle was operative in Reagan's day, you can bet your life's savings that Reagan's spies paid cash money for information. Much of that money no doubt went to KGB agents and other Soviet functionaries.

Do you know what this means? By O'Connor's logic, it means that Ronald Reagan funded Yuri Andropov and Mikhail Gorbachev! By O'Connor's logic, Reagan and the Soviets were working together! By O'Connor's logic, Reagan was a Soviet puppet!

And so were all other American presidents during the Cold War, because they all employed spies who paid for information.

Seriously. That's the size and shape of O'Connor's nutball argument.

I'm seeing that kind of antilogic all over the right side of the internet right now. They're ginning up another fake scandal, just like Benghazi and that email nonsense. None of it makes any sense, but it's sure to fire up the rage-aholics who are desperate to scapegoat the Clintons for their own failures in life.

One final idiocy. Just to prove how monumentally stupid O'Connor and his fellow Trumpian propagandists are, let's take yet another look at O'Connor's text and take note of something you might have missed the first time around. Once more into the breach, dear friends...

Clinton’s campaign pays Fusion GPS.
Fusion GPS pays Christopher Steele.
Steele pays sources connected to the Russian government.

The money may be laundered a couple of times, but there’s no denying Clinton campaign cash ended up in the hands of Russians in exchange for dirt on Trump.

Did you see it? Did you notice it this time?

For months, Trump and his supporters have told us that everything in the dossier is completely fictional. Now, O'Connor and the other Trumpers are confessing that Steele really did meet with Russians and really did acquire information. A British spy does not pay money for fairy tales.

This idiot O'Connor just admitted that the dossier is real!