About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Those nude photos of Melania released by the Russians are a not-so-subtle warning to Donald to stay in line.
@SC_Birdflyte:
They’ve got other ways of doing that – they can yank on whatever leash Putin has been holding since Trump’s first term and they won’t do it in public.
No, I think the nudes are a way of showing to the world that (1) Putin has Trump’s balls in his pocket and that (2) Putin has a very low opinion of Trump personally. Putin will be showing in other ways in the future how America is now a Russian franchise.
@SC_Birdflyte:..nude photos of Melania…
Apparently I need X-Ray glasses to see these. Or maybe my mom is messing with the Twitter link.
The tweet seems to have disappeared.
The other day trump declared that Putin needed to stand in place re: Ukraine, while numerous press outlets are reporting a build up of 50,000 Russian and NK troops in the east. We’ll soon see how little influence little donny has on bad vlad.
@Mister Bluster: @Beth:
I can’t get it, either.
Here’s another link to contemplate: https://bsky.app/profile/gtconway.bsky.social/post/3laqift6u522m
Putin aide says to win the election, Trump has “corresponding obligations” to “certain forces” that he “will be obliged to fulfill”.
Hmm. What does that sound like to you?
@Not the IT Dept.: I saw that last night, too. Talk about making it obvious.
Hmmm. The pics of Melania were there when I first looked about an hour ago, after @Mister Bluster: But now they’re gone. As the link is to X, I suspect Elon is demonstrating his devotion to free speech.
Why is everybody so interested in nude pictures of Melania?
@Not the IT Dept.:
It doesn’t sound like anything good. It’s tantamount to coming right out and saying “We own the president-elect!”
@just nutha:
Because they appeared on Russian television a day or so ago and the Russian newscasters (or whatever they call them) were openly laughing about it. The feeling is that this is not an indication that they respect Trump.
Clicked on the X link. It’s been removed. Searched for other reports of the event, and either the American press is slow to report or are unwilling to report. Lots of foreign news coverage, however.
@Not the IT Dept.:
Sounds like wishful thinking, but “…as a responsible person…” was as far as I got. Have to go get a new keyboard now.