We misconstrue Trump when we say like @jaketapper that Trump doesn’t “believe” Russia interfered. Trump is a master PR guy, a propagandist who uses language strategically to manipulate & worm out of messes. He knows Russia interfered. He purposely denies, conflates & confuses.
“The President doesn’t believe the intelligence.” I urge @jaketapper & others to avoid using “believe.” It lets Trump off the hook for deliberate strategic use of propaganda to push his Russia narrative & a worldview where belief & opinion matter—not facts snappytv.com/tc/8508469/597…
.@juliettekayyem: Trump knows EXACTLY what he's doing. He is NOT condemning Russia. Maybe it's collusion or they have something on him. More scary: he's not nervous about the possibility of more, ongoing interference. That's why words like "treason" now being used by serious ppl. 
.@JeffreyToobin: "Trump is giving us what he believes. He doesn't believe Putin is a liar, that our intelligence is right that Russia alone meddled in election. The ONLY explanation is that he doesn't believe it." I respectfully disagree. Trump is a strategic liar, a propagandist
We wouldn't say someone telling self-serving lies he "believes" his lies. So why do we say Trump believes lies? He pushed Obama birther conspiracy for years. I doubt he believed that. We know he uses "fake news" strategically. It's all strategic, manipulative language—propaganda.
>> Trump’s been lying from the start—purposely muddying known Russian interference. Weeks before inauguration Trump was shown classified intel—emails & texts—showing Putin had personally ordered hacking & disinformation campaign to sway election to Trump nyti.ms/2LyhO1C
I remember thinking that Jan 2017 intel briefing was going to be an "intervention" to finally convince Trump of Russia's malign interference in the election. They trusted he'd step up to POTUS. I doubted a guy who rose on conspiracy theories would change.
NYT report makes clear that Trump has been intentionally misleading us every day of his presidency about Russia’s attack. He knew the intel, yet decided to keep waging a disinformation campaign of lies, smears & conspiracy theories to cover for Putin. nytimes.com/2018/07/18/wor…
