Help me out here, since I've lost track/interest in the rat warren of the theories about conspiracies against Trump: the FBI had started investigating Trump's connections and contacts with Russians two months before Steele's reports reached the Bureau on Sept.  19, 2016.  IIRC the FBI has proven that the Steele Dossier was not the basis for the start of its investigations into Trump-Russia connections. And Steele has consistently stated that the material he gathered was "raw intelligence"—reports and rumors that had not been fact-checked or verified. Furthermore, a conservative Washington paper, the Washington Free Beacon, commissioned Fusion GPS to begin investigating the Trump connection during the GOP primaries; the Clinton campaign hired Fusion GPS only after the Free Beacon stopped its investigation into Trump about the time that Trump received the GOP nomination. 

So the FBI had started its own investigation into Trump before Fusion GPS hired Steele to look into Trump-Russia ties.

Fusion GPS was already investigating Trump as opposition research for GOP politicians (the second link notes that the Free Beacon is funded by a major Marco Rubio donor) before HRC got involved. And Steele never presented his material as verified facts, only rumors and reports that might serve as starting points for careful investigations. 

Where is your conspiracy? Don't you think it's possible that Trump and his allies are doing their best to discredit the FBI as being involved in a conspiracy (or "coup" as you like to put it)? Frankly, I see a sleazy liar desperately trying to fight against the facts. Dick Nixon made the same claims of conspiracies against him back during the Watergate scandal. 

No.  She paid for the dossier that contained that information gathered directly from Russian sources.

Relevant if you still believe the Moscow Golden Showers really happened.  Many still do.

What, did Hillary pee on Trump? I'd pay good money to see that. 

Relevant if you still believe the Moscow Golden Showers really happened.  Many still do.

So, in announcing his 2020 campaign, he goes after Hillary Clinton. A person who is utterly irrelevant at this point. What. The. Actual. Fuck.

hmm,  couple of thoughts:

I think we can all agree that the ideal is to have a free flow and complete transparency of information. In this ideal situation, everyone can say what they want and everyone can refute what they want. In this case the actions of a foreign power pales into significance, relativized by all the other noise out there.

However, the situation changes when you don't have a free market of ideas, when various institutions have a monopoly on the tools used to disseminate and communicate information. Also if you do not have a population that has learned the basic tools of critical thinking, you also run the risk of undue influence being exerted by shady forces/government manipulation etc.
(this can also be on the part of the domestic government, not just foreign governments). Just look at the power/influence of various religious organizations throughout history. It deteriorates rapidly when the truth is hidden, when political agendas are not disclosed and people purport to be something they are not.

Of course the best defense against all of this is having a free population composed of individuals who have learnt the basics of critical thinking and who are heathy and wealthy enough not to have their votes bought. It also necessitates freedom of the press and security from being persecuted on grounds of faith or political alignment. Unfortunately, these are hardly given truths. We are lucky enough to live in countries we they seem natural. But they are anything but.

I also still believe that Trump is the anti war POTUS.  He's fighting wars with money (sanctions and tariffs), not bullets.

People can say what they want; Trump has a knack of getting people to reveal more about themselves than they ever planned.

 sirdroseph wrote:
 
No you are not. I mean, no one thinks this is anything but Bolton's plan. Did we put the mines out there? May as well have.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/is-america-ready-for-john-boltons-war-with-iran/