Republican support for Putin has been rising

We’ll see if today changes anything. I doubt it. Trump supporters will follow his lead.

According to a new Economist-You Gov poll, Republican support for Russian President Vladimir Putin has actually been rising since the 2016 election. pic.twitter.com/saeRDSqH5S

— Hardball (@hardball) July 16, 2018

Another voter fraud conspiracy theory

I bet Trump uses this to try to invalidate election results in border states if he doesn’t like them.

Tucker Carlson says that Mexico has been more successful at interfering in US elections and does it more routinely than Russia by "packing our electorate" pic.twitter.com/vYk0jyVFUZ

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) July 16, 2018

Covers: You Win Again

“You Win Again” was a Hank Williams song from 1952. There are may cover versions – the Grateful Dead (1972). Only the Dead could give it a beat you could dance to. Keith Richards covered it in 2001. Keith sounds like it’s 4 am and he’s been out drinking all night.

Hank Williams

Grateful Dead

Keith Richards

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Putin spoke the majority of the dialogue at the press conference today

A small fact among interesting pieces of news:
Vladimir Putin accounted for 58.2% of the presidential dialogue (3,454 words). Donald Trump: 41.8% (2,478 words). This is the first time @realDonaldTrump did not speak the majority of words at a press conf.https://t.co/iXoXLDUkKb

— Factba.se (@FactbaseFeed) July 16, 2018

Federal judge appointments by party/Trump appointment

As of July 12, Trump has successfully appointed 43 judges, including one Supreme Court justice (Neil Gorsuch), 22 appeals court judges and 20 district judges. https://t.co/yjIaUwI3Bs pic.twitter.com/NmlIzT0qAK

— Pew Research Fact Tank (@FactTank) July 17, 2018

Nearly six-in-ten current federal judges were appointed by Democratic presidents and 42% were appointed by Republicans. But these shares differ considerably by the level of court in question. https://t.co/yjIaUwI3Bs pic.twitter.com/x52bjAb3Bj

— Pew Research Fact Tank (@FactTank) July 16, 2018

Donald Trump has appointed more appeals court judges – the powerful jurists who sit just below the Supreme Court level – than all of his recent predecessors at the same stage in their presidencies. https://t.co/yjIaUwI3Bs pic.twitter.com/9qOuRoOWKL

— Pew Research Fact Tank (@FactTank) July 17, 2018

HHS will eliminate medical guideline repository

Daily Beast article

Basically. Even this article on the issue starts with "You might never have heard of the National Guideline Clearinghouse, https://t.co/235c31Gn4z. To be frank, neither had I."https://t.co/E03TznZoxY

— Steve Newell (@DrSteveNewell) July 16, 2018

National Guideline Clearinghouse site includes: info on cancer, heart attacks & strokes, caring for children w/brain tumors, & 1400+ more

Shutting NGC down & sabotaging #ACA, Trump Administration proves they don't give AF about our health. But we MUST!https://t.co/itFLC1vqDB

— Peter Morley (@morethanmySLE) July 15, 2018

WTF: The Trump Administration is planning to eliminate a vast trove of medical guidelines on 7/16/18, that for nearly 20 years has been a critical resource for doctors, researchers and others in the medical community.

Not even an archived version of the site will remain. https://t.co/Tk5coWKmnR

— Peter Morley (@morethanmySLE) July 15, 2018

@AHRQNews has to shut down the National Guideline Clearinghouse today thanks to a $30 million cut originally in FY16. A country that spent $3.3 trillion on healthcare in 2016 should not be shutting down a vital repository of clinical practice guidelines.

— Steve Newell (@DrSteveNewell) July 16, 2018

A Russian with connections to the NRA and GOP has been indicted

update 12/16/18:

NRA spending surged in 2016. And now we have to wonder what kind of influence Russia might have had with the NRA. https://t.co/edmgx2snwM

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) December 16, 2018

The NRA has more ties to Russian agents than previously known, our latest investigation shows https://t.co/WcQ9cY3MDP

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) December 17, 2018

The court papers charging Maria Butina with being a Russian agent cite an email in which she says the NRA is “the largest sponsor of the elections to the US congress” https://t.co/Uyjdu56ec3

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 21, 2018

Mariia Butina, a Russian national, has been charged with acting as a surreptitious Russian agent and establishing a secret back channel with the GOP through the NRA.

More likely to come on this; no wonder GOP members of HPSCI refused our request to bring her and others in. https://t.co/UWhoxHz3lr

— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) July 16, 2018

The arrest of Russian National Maria Butina shows at least two things:

1. The Russians used the @NRA to influence US elections. Some questions are did NRA officials know and what did the influence consist of?

2. Another FU to @realDonaldTrump by the US @TheJusticeDept. https://t.co/20rBHujhpA

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 16, 2018

Butina with Jim Porter of the NRA. pic.twitter.com/l6DCK4tcHB

— Justin (@JNova__) July 16, 2018

Wisconsin's Republican Governor @ScottWalker took a boatload of money from a Russian oligarch and affected Maria Butina in a way that will "remain in my memory forever."#GrandOldPutinParty #TrumpRussia pic.twitter.com/vVKrC6IAym

— Grant Stern (@grantstern) July 16, 2018

FBI Special Agent Kevin Helson wrote that Butina was attempting to “establish a ‘back channel’ communication for representatives of the Government of Russia.” https://t.co/slReTHs5Eg

— Devlin Barrett (@DevlinBarrett) July 16, 2018

Here's video we previously uncovered of Trump speaking in 2015 to now indicted Russian national Maria Butina—and telling her that he'd likely drop sanctions against Putin https://t.co/6nJ0YjFGkw

— Mark Follman (@markfollman) July 16, 2018

Why didn't GOP Senators want to question a Russian spy who was trying to establish a back channel with the Kremlin? The American people deserve an answer. https://t.co/d9PcNHXxWX

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) July 16, 2018

Friends. I have been saying this for awhile. NRA & Russia. NRA ran ads against HRC on Benghazi, not guns, Benghazi. Also @BetoORourke is going to beat @tedcruz (my other favorite hobby horse). https://t.co/NZLJeYjDZ1

— Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) July 16, 2018

WE

TOLD

YOUhttps://t.co/LIppQ1vh2O https://t.co/6yYNrx5PyV

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) July 16, 2018

A judge decides alleged spy Mariia Butina, also known as Maria, should be held in jail until at least her next court appearance. Her attorney argued the Russian national is not a flight risk. https://t.co/r3fHGKw6Ap pic.twitter.com/uVMBZRlWa1

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 17, 2018

EXCLUSIVE: Republican Dana Rohrbacher and Democrat Greg Meeks were the congressional delegation referenced in the charges against alleged Russian spy Maria Butina. https://t.co/7p5IC59gLy

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) July 17, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) says he’s not sure whether he’s the congressman mentioned in Monday’s indictment of a Russian gun-rights activist for acting as an unregistered agent of the Kremlin — but he's sure the charge against the woman is “bogus” https://t.co/a9YSEUJ0Tf

— POLITICO (@politico) July 17, 2018

The Trump 2020 campaign has raised $88 million

President Trump has raised more than $88 million for his re-election campaign over the last year and a half, giving him a dramatic head start https://t.co/HbVMPhkAen

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 16, 2018

Donald Trump has already amassed a giant 2020 war chest: https://t.co/Twnc927Ryq pic.twitter.com/YszLEdqVUo

— Slate (@Slate) July 17, 2018

Senate race results are similar to presidential votes

The results of U.S. Senate elections increasingly are aligned with states’ party preferences in presidential elections – a trend that could have major implications in this year’s battle for control of the Senate. https://t.co/jFJ0dGefy4 pic.twitter.com/EdtuQW7tfn

— Pew Research Fact Tank (@FactTank) July 16, 2018

I still think Blackburn wins in the end, but if Bredesen pulls this off it may be a sign a. candidates really do matter. b. our memory is often too short. Maybe prez vote shouldn't be weighted so heavily in determining Senate outcomes just cause it worked well past few years… pic.twitter.com/QiB1PG9pKU

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 16, 2018

Russia’s economy is much smaller than ours

Trump should not be sucking up to Russia.

US GDP = $18.5 Trillion
Russia GDP = $1.3T

US Defense budget= $639B
Russian Defense budget= $61B

So why is Russia dominating the US President?

— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) July 16, 2018

GDP chart

Russia’s GDP is smaller than Italy’s or Canada’s.

A reminder: Russia’s economy is about the same size as South Korea’s or Mexico’s and is smaller than Italy’s. Russia is a serious military power with a lot of nukes, but it’s important not to lose sight of that very real economic weakness.

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) July 16, 2018

.@SRuhle is the only one on TV making the key point that Russia is an adversary but NOT a “competitor” of the US. Its GDP is a tiny fraction of ours, and Obama’s sanctions for Putin’s takeover of Crimea plunged Russia into a deep recession. So Trump’s elevation of Russia is crazy

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 16, 2018