“FLAMBOYANT NOT BRILLIANT”

Rachel Maddow quashed Cheeto Jesus’ idea that Russian President Vladimir Putin called him “brilliant.” And she was upset that she even had to.

“This is an election year where the Republican Party is running as their candidate for president a candidate who is so self-centered and narcissistic that a flippant — and apparently misquoted — compliment from another foreign leader was enough to put enough stars in his eyes that the Republican Party’s presidential nominee now really does say that he prefers the president of Russia to the president of the United States,” she fumed. “This is crazy. And it’s irrelevant. But this is the highest level of our politics right now.”

A night earlier, Maddow’s colleague Matt Lauer presented as fact that Putin called Trump “a brilliant leader” during their interview at the “Commander-in-Chief forum” aired on the network.

“Well, I think when he calls me brilliant, I’ll take the compliment, OK?” Trump responded.

But Maddow played footage of Putin himself correcting CNN’s Fareed Zakaria earlier this year regarding the matter, telling him, “I only said that he is a bright person. Isn’t he bright?”

VIDEO COURTESY OF MSNBC



However, even that description was lost in translation. Maddow explained that had Putin meant to call Trump “brilliant” because of his intellect, he would have used the word “blestiashchlii.” Instead, he used the adjective “yarkii,” which is closer to calling him brightly-colored or flamboyant.

“And you know what? It really shouldn’t matter,” she said. “On the one hand, who cares? On the other hand, we now have to. Because this is an election where the Republican presidential campaign at the number-one online ‘debunker’ of 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing and the Challenger disaster, and the Aurora movie theater massacre, and the Sandy Hook shootings, and the Boston bombings because ‘all of those things didn’t really happen — they’re all government conspiracy theories.'”

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ROBERT GATES ENLIGHTENS TIN FOIL HAT SCOIETY

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates pushed back on Sunday against conservatives who’ve blamed President Obama’s “weak” foreign policy for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Crimea.

Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Gates dismissed arguments that Obama’s handling of the conflict in Syria or his efforts to trim the defense budget emboldened Putin, arguing that the Russian president also invaded Georgia during the George W. Bush administration.

“My own view is, after all, Putin invaded Georgia when George W. Bush was president. Nobody ever accused George W. Bush of being weak or unwilling to use military force,” Gates, who served as Defense Secretary for Presidents George W. Bush and Obama said. “So I think Putin is very opportunistic in these arenas. I think that even if — even if we had launched attacks in Syria, even if we weren’t cutting our defense budget — I think Putin saw an opportunity here in Crimea, and he has seized it.” Earlier this week, Gates told the Washington Post that the GOP lawmakers should “tone down” their criticism and “try to be supportive of the president rather than natter at the president.”

Though most Republicans agree with Obama’s policy for handling the Crimean crisis, some conservatives have argued that Obama’s perceived “weakness” on the global stage has given Putin the space to move Russian troops into Crimea. “We have a weak and indecisive president” and that “invites aggression,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said last week. “Putin is playing chess and I think we’re playing marbles,” Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee claimed, adding that Russia is “running circles around us.”

During his appearance, Gates also dismissed criticism of Obama’s weekend vacation. “I’ve seen this happen year after year, president after president. President takes a day or two off and plays golf. Doesn’t matter whether it’s President Obama or the first President Bush going fishing. I think you’ve got to give these guys a little time off, you know, mostly they are working 20 hours a day.”

Gates said he does not believe that “Crimea will slip out of Russia’s hand.” “I think its part of a long-term strategy on Putin’s part to create a Russian sphere of influence, a Russian bloc,” he explained. “I don’t think he will stop in Ukraine until there is essentially a pro-Russian government in Ukraine, in Kiev.”

Cross posted from thinkprogress




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