Odds Are, Russia Owns Trump ... Green Rules apply
Three months ago, The Washington Post reported that even as Donald Trump ran for president, he pursued plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. The next day, The New York Times published excerpts from emails between Felix Sater, a felon with ties to Russian organized crime, and Michael Cohen, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers and Sater’s childhood friend, about the project. Sater was apparently an intermediary between Trump and Russia, and in a Nov. 3, 2015, email to Cohen, he made the strange argument that a successful deal would lead to Trump’s becoming president. Boasting that he was close enough to Vladimir Putin to let Ivanka Trump sit in the Russian president’s desk chair, Sater wrote, “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.”
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
These stories were, at the time, bombshells. At a minimum, they showed that Trump was lying when he said, repeatedly, that he had “nothing to do with Russia.” Further, Sater’s logic — that Putin’s buy-in on a real estate deal would result in Trump’s election — was bizarre, suggesting that some part of the proposed collaboration was left unsaid.
But three months feels like three decades in Trump years, and I mostly forgot about these reports until I read Luke Harding’s new book, “Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win.” One uncanny aspect of the investigations into Trump’s Russia connections is that instead of too little evidence there’s too much. It’s impossible to keep it straight without the kind of chaotic wall charts that Carrie Mathison of “Homeland” assembled during her manic episodes. Incidents that would be major scandals in a normal administration — like the mere fact of Trump’s connection to Sater — become minor subplots in this one.
That’s why “Collusion” is so essential, and why I wish everyone who is skeptical that Russia has leverage over Trump would read it. This country — at least the parts not wholly under the sway of right-wing propaganda — needs to come to terms with substantial evidence that the president is in thrall to a foreign power.
Harding, the former Moscow bureau chief of The Guardian, has been reporting on shady characters like Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who was indicted last month, long before Trump announced his candidacy. He was able to interview Christopher Steele, the former British spy who wrote the dossier attempting to detail Trump’s relationship with the Kremlin, and who describes the conspiracy between the American president and the Russians as “massive — absolutely massive.”
“Collusion” doesn’t purport to solve all the mysteries of this alleged conspiracy. There’s no longer any serious question that there was cooperation between Trump’s campaign and Russia, but the extent of the cooperation, and the precise nature of it, remains opaque. Harding makes a strong case for Steele’s credibility, but Steele reportedly said that the raw intelligence in his dossier is only 70 percent to 90 percent accurate, so it’s hard to know which parts of it to believe.
But Harding’s book is invaluable in collating the overwhelming evidence of a web of relationships between the Kremlin, Trump and members of Trump’s circle. He suggests, convincingly, that Russia may have been cultivating Trump since the 1980s. At that time, Harding writes, the K.G.B. was working to draw “prominent figures in the West” — as the K.G.B. described them — into collaboration. According to Harding, a form for evaluating targets asked, “Are pride, arrogance, egoism, ambition or vanity among subject’s natural characteristics?”
Last week, The Times reported that many Russian critics of Putin deplore America’s fixation on Moscow’s role in the election, since it reinforces Putin’s image of himself as an “ever-victorious master strategist” controlling world affairs. The article quoted Ivan Kurilla, a Russian historian and America expert: “American liberals are so upset about Trump that they cannot believe he is a real product of American life. They try to portray him as something created by Russia.”
As one of those American liberals, I don’t think this is quite right. Trump, the gaudy huckster who treats closing a sale as the height of human endeavor, is a quintessentially American figure. His campaign of racial and religious grievance drew on the darkest currents of American history. At most, Putin appears to have recognized an opportunity that American political dysfunction created.
It’s a sign of how deep that dysfunction goes that the substantial evidence that the president is not a patriot hasn’t caused more of a political earthquake. America, stunned and divided, appears incapable of metabolizing all we’re learning about the man in the White House. Yes, we have investigations, but the business of government plods on; right now the Senate is working on the Roy Moore of tax bills, a piece of legislation that magnifies right-wing pathologies into a cartoonish grotesque.
It wasn’t Putin who fashioned a Republican Party willing to tolerate something close to treason if it’s the price of corporate tax cuts. Even if all the Republicans in Congress read Harding’s book, they probably wouldn’t act. But at least they’d know what they’re abetting.
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OK... So Putin owns Trump. So? That changes nothing in Trump's domestic politics. Trump would have been an authoritarian, plutocratic liar anyway. And being owned by Putin won't make Trump any more aware of international affairs, either.
Trump knows only one thing: getting more money for the ultra-rich. Being owned by Putin is irrelevant.
"suggests, convincingly" [shakes head] "may have been"
I love an invaluable conspiracy that can be followed through to the end, one full of speculations and innuendo, that ties together the loose ends by providing an opinion .. she suggests, convincingly, that it must be GW Bush's fault for looking into Putin's eyes and seeing his soul.
Nothing brings home the 'truth' quite like the events of a TV program..
I do not need to throw mud at the wall Bob. this opinion piece did plenty of that on its own. All this "too much" evidence still is leading to the conclusion the left desires - not the truth that needs to be found -- if one can be found. "Too much" evidence keeps branching out, yet always returns to where everything began, with NO proof in hand.
Interesting ...
Just think these investigations may take years - Trump may complete his first term without Mueller reaching a conclusion on collusion .. then what?
Remember:
Also interesting...
Peace Bob... not trying to be a smart ass, yet it appears that I am being one. It would be nice to put the Russia collusion / influencing the election talk to bed once and for all .. yet I do not see it happening do you?
Hell Russian bots purchased a 100k in advertisements on Facebook and were able to accomplish what MILLIONS of dollars worth of ads by the Clinton campaign could not do? I do not believe that Russia rigged the election in Trump's favor ... as to the rest of the claims on collusion, something 'close' to treason - I am waiting for the proof ....... perhaps in Flynn's attempt to 'save' his son - he will provide some much needed truth/proof?
No. I kinda sorta hope that collusion with a hostile foreign power to alter an election and win the Presidency... won't just go away...
If we can't use the 25th amendment now, why do we even have it?
actually.. the real odds are the left is full of crap. (of this there is no doubt)
the only russian collusion is with the clintons and the dems who paid for the russian propoganda against trump to influence our elections/
That's some serious bass ackwards thinking right there. Dozens of ties between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives but it's all the Democrats fault for some legal deal made years ago between 9 different agencies but must somehow connect Democrats to collusion with Russia. Why do you continue to reject the findings of our intelligence apparatus who confirmed Russia hacked the DNC and released illegally obtained emails in an effort to aid their preferred candidate Donald Trump who has numerous ties to Russian oligarchs and Putin himself? Why keep denying the obvious trail that leads right to Trumps doorstep? The only people who do that must be complicit with the Russians actions and thus are also traitors to the US constitution.
You'll find this behavior in many RWHW posts. For lack of any original thinking, they have nothing to offer but flipping ideas from those they detest.
Shamelessly...
it was putin who fashioned a democrat (clinton) party willing to tolerate actual treason if the price is over 150 million for our uranium
That's pretty lazy!
You could at least make up NEW lies when the old ones have been debunked a hundred times.
Oh wait... RWHWs believe that if a lie is repeated often enough it becomes true...
debunked? by dems investigating themselves? and then saying everything was legal? too funny.
Trump is a cross between Huey Long the megalomaniac autocratic populist politician from Louisiana in the 30's, the slimy lead characters from the tv show Mad Men, and PT Barnum.
The events of yesterday demonstrated how crassly he is using his base fans loyalty to him. Deep in troubles political and legal, Trump is retreating to his Fortress Deplorable , throwing reassuring red meat signals to his 35% of supporters. Once again we hear that the fearless leader believes Obama is not an American, Muslims are all bad and hate America, and there is a conspiracy to "get him" that faked his voice on the pussy grab tapes.
The country is experiencing what can only be best described as a real life version of a political black comedy from Hollywood. It the damndest thing we have ever seen in politics.
If you want to see how a President who is in the pocket of Russia acts, look at Barack Obama.
Review his record and ask how he could have been any more accommodating to Putin.
As usual, Sean, when I read one of your lapidary posts... I wonder if you actually believe it yourself, or if it is an intellectual exercise: how to invert reality in the most absurd manner, and in the fewest words.
Sean is a good soldier for the political right.
I'm not sure. His stuff can be so-o-o far over the top that I have a hard time imagining that he actually believes it. His stuff often feels contrived... a stylistic exercise in dog-whistling.
I guess you forgot how obama begged for more time to do putins business until after his reelection bid was complete.
RWHW "thinking" is fun!
If I say "Trump"... regardless of context, they reply with "obama" (no capitalizing, of course) and "Hillary" and "Bill".
RWHWs make up BS -- the lowest kind of behavior they can imagine -- and declare that Obama/Hillary/Bill/Warren/Pelosi/whoever did it, and evidence be damned. And then they claim that since Obama/Hillary/Bill/Warren/Pelosi/whoever did it... it's OK for Trump to do it.
It doesn't occur to them that if they believe it was wrong for Obama/Hillary/Bill/Warren/Pelosi/whoever... that it is still wrong, and therefore Trump should not do it. Oh, no!
The Unthinking Faithful TM set the ethics bar as low as they can imagine, and beam with pride that Trump goes no lower than that...
Bravo!
That describes the left to a T.
I guess how you forget how the left found every excuse in the book any anyone else they could find to shove the blame for Obama's screwups. They blamed George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, the Greeks, ATM systems, the Japanese tsunami, low level government employees, the insurance companies just to name a few of those accused.
You've supplied an excellent example of another characteristic of RWHW "thinking".
For lack of original ideas, RWHWs simply steal others' work/words, and then flip them. That's all we get in 90% of RWHW posts on NT: pale inversions of what they detest.
I see that you are not denying that the left blame anyone and everyone else but obama for his screw ups. In fact not only are you not denying it you have confirmed it.
BTW. They are doing the same for clinton.
Nor do I waste my time denying that the Earth is flat.
So you agree, the democrats and the liberals gabe obama a pass on all his screwups for eight years by attempting to place blame on others and they do the sam for clinton.
Finally a liberal comes clean and tells the truth amost their actions in the obama years and for hillary.
Who are gabe and sam?
You know exactly what they mean
Now quit trying to defect and admit that I am right and obama and clinton are given a pass by you for their screw ups and you are perfectly fine with them blaming everyone else but themselves for their errors.
You have no idea what my opinions of Obama (proper names are capitalized in English) or Clinton... but they are irrelevant here.
Why are you always deflecting? Why can you not defend Trump on his own merits? Does he have none?
I capitalize the names only of those I respect and I respect neither obama nor clinton.
I see you still will not admit the obvious. Afraid they will revoke your membership in the democrat party if you start telling the truth?
Bob, most of these Trumpers here are incapable of getting past Fox News and Breitbart talking points slogans.
You aren't going to get anywhere asking them for more.
And all you spout is the BS propaganda put out thru your Borg implant. Original independent thinking is not something valued by liberal or progressives or leftists or democrats.
... and they don't know English...