Trump mocks critics of Russia-friendly stance as ‘fools’ & ‘stupid people’
President-elect Donald Trump took to his favorite social media platform early Saturday to state that only “fools” or “stupid people” would think that the US having a good relationship with Russia is bad.
Trump went on to claim that Russia will “respect [the US] far more than they do now” after he is inaugurated and that both countries will “perhaps” work together to solve the pressing problems of the world.
Having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. Only "stupid" people, or fools, would think that it is bad! We.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017
have enough problems around the world without yet another one. When I am President, Russia will respect us far more than they do now and....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017
both countries will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the WORLD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017
Trump’s tweets come in the wake of Friday’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) report which claimed to ‘prove’ Russian interference in the US presidential election.
Earlier on Saturday, Trump accused the DNC of “gross negligence” which “allowed hacking to take place,” adding that the Republican National Committee had a “strong defense.”
The soon-to-be president continued deriding the questionable ODNI report by saying the only reason any hacking is being discussed at all is because Democrats are “embarrassed” by their election loss.
Gross negligence by the Democratic National Committee allowed hacking to take place.The Republican National Committee had strong defense!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017
Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. Voting machines not touched!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017
Only reason the hacking of the poorly defended DNC is discussed is that the loss by the Dems was so big that they are totally embarrassed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017
The report, released by the ODNI on Friday, was widely mocked online for its lack of proof, misinformation and preoccupation with RT.
It's shocking how much this report was hyped and how literally no effort was made to include *any* evidence at all, even stuff like this: https://t.co/wvompG6Nyl
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 6, 2017
Ah yes, @AbbyMartin's Breaking the Set, which went off air in Feb. 2015, helped swing the 2016 election pic.twitter.com/KbgARKLBxi
— Sam Sacks (@SamSacks) January 6, 2017
The brief cited two RT shows - which have been off the air for over a year - along with RT’s coverage of leaked WikiLeaks documents and strong YouTube presence as some examples of supposed ‘Russian influence’ on the election campaign.
To me, the main takeaway of the odd RT stuff in the ODNI report is W media should invest in video. Nothing replaces being on the ground. pic.twitter.com/JFvg7yhAoH
— Zselyke Csaky (@zecsaky) January 6, 2017
US government's declassified "Russian hacking" report has the curious disclaimer that it is based on watching TV and reading Tweets. pic.twitter.com/Ac1Iyec839
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 6, 2017