Phone-y evidence: That's how Trump is gonna screw us. Plus, a few other noteworthy items...

Is this good news or bad news? When Trump backed away from his choice of the Doral resort for the G7, my first reaction was: "This is bad news."

You're probably wondering why I reacted that way. Isn't this good news? After all, backing down from his initial decision makes Trump look weak.

Here's my reasoning: From the start, I presumed that the president chose his own resort because he had fully accepted that he will be impeached but not removed. Trump must have reasoned: "If impeachment is a lock, why shouldn't I do whatever the hell I want? In for a penny..."

But the fact that he reversed himself tells me that he's suddenly afraid to add another count to the impeachment list. And if he's thinking that way, maybe he has come around to the belief that he can avoid impeachment altogether.

That's why I wonder if this bit of seemingly-good news might actually be bad news.

On the other hand, maybe he had other reasons for wanting to sidestep this debacle:

The self-dealing could have inspired an extra article of impeachment, lawsuits, demands for forensic accounting, boycotts by world leaders, defections by Republicans and other consequences Trump can't afford.

Tulsi, Tulsi, Tulsi. The more I look into this woman, the more I despise her. It's clear to me that she is poised to inherit the leadership of her rather slimy cult, the Science of Identity Foundation. She certainly has become the vehicle -- the avatar, if you will -- for the political ambitions held by the cult's founder, Chris Butler.

After Hillary issued her charges -- and thank God that she did! -- Tulsi clambered atop her high horse, claiming that she cannot be held responsible for Russian efforts on her behalf. Those efforts are undeniable; even Gabbard can't challenge Hillary on this point.

Bill Browder offers a powerful piece of counter-evidence:

Tulsi Gabbard say that she doesn’t control the Russian bots that support her, but she did control the hiring of Chris Cooper, the smear campaigner who was paid by Natalia Veselnitskaya and her Russian backed sponsors to smear me and try to repeal the Magnitsky Act in DC

The Cooper/Veselnitskaya connection indicates that Gabbard is a witting Russian asset, and that any contrary assertions are disingenuous. Even if Tulsi were to fire Cooper tomorrow, we must presume that she did so purely out of self-preservation. This cult-crazed, Putin-excusing wolf-in-sheep's-clothing has to be tossed out of Congress ASAP. If you live in Hawaii -- and even if you don't -- please consider supporting her challenger, Kai Kahele -- a state senator, a veteran, and a real Democrat.

This is how Team Trump will screw us. In a previous post, I offered my view that Trump will win in the end. The plan hinges on Joseph Mifsud, the  double-dealer who functioned as a go-between linking Russia to the Trump campaign.

Far-right propagandists have cooked up an elaborate alternative narrative centered on Mifsud -- a conspiratorial fantasia which I do not yet understand fully. But I'm certain of this much: If that guy decides to talk (right now, we can't even be sure that he's still alive), Mifsud will surely say any ridiculous thing that the Trumpers want him to say, and he'll say it in some forum where he can avoid unfriendly interrogation.

In my previous post, I also wrote these words, the prescience of which now stuns even me.

Whatever garbage story these guys (Mifsud, Barr, Horowitz) manage to concoct, it'll be backstopped by "evidence." This evidence will be bogus, but it'll look damned good. Remember, the Trumpers have Spookworld's finest working for them: The FSB, the right-wing faction within American intelligence, the right-wing faction within British intelligence, the Italians, maybe the Israelis. These guys are pros. They can come up with fake documents, fake voice recordings, even fake videos.

Would you believe...a fake phone? Or maybe more than one?

George Papadopoulos has just revealed the big play.

It’s incredible that after 2 years of investigating “Russia collusion,” that Comey or Mueller never went and picked up Joseph Mifsud’s phones. It took the new duly constituted investigation by Barr and Durham to really investigate high crimes, conspiracy and potential treason.

A tweet quoting Gateway Pundit (ugh! I can taste lunch again...) offers a bit more...

Mifsud's Phones Obtained by Durham Have UK Sim Cards Tying Them to the UK -- AND BACK TO JOHN BRENNAN

If I had the belly to spend more time on the right side of the internet, I'd dig up more details about this phone business. But if you have any imagination (some people don't), you can foresee how this thing will play out.

The Trumpers have been gunning for Brennan for years. There's an anti-Trump faction within Spookworld, and he's the face of it.

I remind you: The people ginning up this "evidence" are pros. Those SIM cards are going to read the way the Trumpers want them to read -- and the result will be a story that will buttress every crazed conspiracy story that Roger Stone and the Breitbartian hordes been peddling over the past two years. The Trumpers are presuming -- correctly, I think -- that these STARTLING! STUNNING!! NEW!!! revelations will completely overpower the Ukraine story. Once this thing breaks, no-one will pay attention to the increasing amount of evidence linking Rudy to Dmitry Firtash.

(I haven't even talked about the new Firtash stuff, have I? Soon. Soon.)

It's a bit dizzying. I predicted that we'd be slammed by a techno-fake, and sure enough, that's what's a-comin'. Damn. Am I precognitive or just pessimistic? Either way, I want to turn it off!

Update: I have not yet read what Marcy has to say about all of this. Here it is.