# Any theories on why Trump wants to buddy up with the Russians? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 29, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164 "2017-06-29T21:56:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/61 "2017-07-10T01:33:25Z")
As I said in this thread [**Are we at war with Russia?**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=830475): > [@Are we at war with Russia?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-at-war-with-russia/790716/29): > > … > As to Trump’s relationship w Putin … > > IMO it’s pretty straightforward. > > Russia is a kleptocracy ruled by an inner circle of insanely wealthy plutocrats. Many of whom came from the ranks of the secret police, but not all. Trump would love to become the Putin of the US, arriving at the same place - Kleptocratic Leader for Life - via a different route: tycoon, not secret policeman. And Trump would love to set up an inner circle of plutocrats running the whole show from their respective corporate HQs. Each paying tribute to the Supreme Leader. Trump doesn’t \*like \*Putin or \*work for \*Putin. He wants to \*be \*Putin. > > Putin of course would equally enjoy a US that was run that way. That’s an entity he & his pals could easily do business with. Government of, by, and for, a small coterie of oligarchs in both countries. So Putin is working to assist Trump in emulating Putin’s model. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/62 "2017-07-10T03:23:38Z")
I finished reading this interesting, and terrifying, book earlier this evening. TL : DR - Alexander Litvinenko was murdered with a piece of polonium-210 that was smaller than a grain of sand (and left trails all over, among other cities, London) and Putin is more dangerous than any of us can comprehend. The book was published in 2016 and doesn’t mention Trump or the then-upcoming election at all. > **[A Very Expensive Poison: The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's...](https://www.amazon.com/Very-Expensive-Poison-Assassination-Litvinenko/dp/1101973994)** > > A Very Expensive Poison: The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West \[Harding, Luke\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. A Very Expensive Poison: The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War... ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/63 "2017-07-10T05:18:49Z")
Yeah, that’s an old story…I remember the reporting on it. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/64 "2017-07-10T21:05:18Z")
Richard Engel (journalist for NBC and MSNBC) did a succinct run-down of suspicious deaths that have benefited Putin–this is about three minutes: > **[Alarming pattern of Russian political deaths](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/alarming-pattern-of-mysterious-political-deaths-in-russia-986653763811)** > > Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, looks at some of what one report counts as over forty mysterious political deaths in Russia in just the past three years. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/65 "2017-07-10T21:34:49Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > 1. Trump claims to be a billionaire, but makes most of his money hosting on daytime TV. How are you claiming one the one hand that no one has access to Trump’s financials and then on the other stating relative amounts and sources of his income? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/66 "2017-07-10T21:42:52Z")
Still, it’s hard to forgive how he treated such an American icon as Gary Busey. The man is a poster child for…whatever the hell happened to him. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/67 "2017-07-10T21:52:11Z")
> [@Mr.Nylock](#): > > How are you claiming one the one hand that no one has access to Trump’s financials and then on the other stating relative amounts and sources of his income? It’s clearly of value for him to bother appearing on daytime TV, otherwise he’d do something less like a day job and more like a rich man investing. The key difference between an average man’s finances and a business tycoon’s finances is that one is looking for a bigger paycheck, the other is looking for a way to grow money. A person who was successful at the latter would have no interest in a regular paycheck. The year that he would have gotten his biggest payout from his TV work was the year he selected to leak a 20k foot view of his finances to the press. Forbes estimated his capital holdings (indirect and otherwise) as possibly amounting to $1 billion, but given that he feels that it’s more valuable to spend his time filming and editing The Apprentice than to manage his business, it’s reasonable to say that whatever income he’s actually making from his real estate holdings is insufficient to be worth his full attention. ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/68 "2017-07-10T22:57:27Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Forbes estimated his capital holdings (indirect and otherwise) as possibly amounting to $1 billion, but given that he feels that it’s more valuable to spend his time filming and editing The Apprentice than to manage his business, it’s reasonable to say that whatever income he’s actually making from his real estate holdings is insufficient to be worth his full attention. Where did you get the “possibly amounting to $1 billion” from Forbes? > **[Here’s How Much Donald Trump Is Worth](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/article/the-definitive-networth-of-donaldtrump/)** > > What’s Donald Trump really worth? People have been asking the question for decades, though never with as much urgency as they are today. As of Feb 2017: New York City Real Estate $1.7 B valuation Non-New York City Real Estate $630 M valuation Golf Courses & Clubs $620 M valuation Brand Businesses $230 M valuation Cash & Personal Assets $270 M valuation ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/69 "2017-07-12T03:43:48Z")
LOL, remember when Forbes banned Trump from their Rich Dude List (forget the actual name) because he was so blatantly lying about his fortune? (Forbes relied on the proposed listees to make the wealth calculations.) It was an online article I read last summer that listed all Trump’s international projects (not construction of course, branding and management contracts) in India, Canada and the Middle East. It was a long list of failures. My favorite was the one in Azerbijan that Ivanka brag-blogged about. The worst location and still unfinished but TrumpCo did get to mingle funds with a corrupt government minister _and_ a front for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/70 "2017-07-12T04:34:19Z")
Is the one in Azerbijan the one that has no access road leading to the hotel? Its like “The Producers”, isn’t it, take all this dirty money and sink it into an absolutely sure to fail real estate thing, then the money is gone, but now its _clean_! OK, I see the problem with that… ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/71 "2017-07-12T04:36:33Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Is the one in Azerbijan the one that has no access road leading to the hotel? And looks like a giant metal vagina? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/72 "2017-07-12T05:31:08Z")
> [@Okrahoma](#): > > Where did you get the “possibly amounting to $1 billion” from Forbes? > > [Here’s How Much Donald Trump Is Worth](https://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/#50c5f94d2899) > > As of Feb 2017: > > New York City Real Estate $1.7 B valuation > Non-New York City Real Estate $630 M valuation > Golf Courses & Clubs $620 M valuation > Brand Businesses $230 M valuation > Cash & Personal Assets $270 M valuation I misremembered or saw an older article, I guess. Either way, the exact number doesn’t impact what I wrote terribly much. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/73 "2017-07-13T00:45:18Z")
that’s right. It was a pale imitation of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai and the taxi driver couldn’t figure out how to get to it. New Yorker has the scoop: [Donald Trump’s Worst Deal](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/74 "2017-07-13T01:06:08Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > And looks like a giant metal vagina? Plenty of grabbing goodness. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/75 "2017-07-20T21:02:24Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > It’s about the money. Interesting read: [“Set aside Putin and follow the money”: a Russia expert’s theory of the Trump scandal Why the collusion story begins with money, not politics.](https://www.vox.com/2017/7/18/15983910/donald-trump-russia-putin-natalia-veselnitskaya-collusion) > [@](#): > > “To understand the roots of the collusion, set aside Putin and follow the money.” > > That’s what Seva Gunitsky, a politics professor at the University of Toronto and the author of Aftershocks, told me in a recent interview. I reached out to Gunitsky on Monday after he posted a short but incisive thread on Twitter about the financial roots of the Trump-Russia collusion case. > … > The financial connections between Trump and various Russian banks and oligarchs (business elites with ties to the Kremlin) stretch back decades, which is likely a big reason why Trump won’t release his tax returns. Trump’s election, Gunitsky contends, presented Russian oligarchs with an opportunity to recoup losses and leverage Trump’s debts for political gain. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/76 "2017-07-21T10:19:12Z")
I heard Trump order that only Russian Salad dressing to be used in the White House from now on. The nerve of the guy !! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/77 "2017-07-21T11:06:52Z")
He’s been buddies with the Russians for a decade+. Just continuing old habits. ---
**Author:** ![epolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@epolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epolo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164/78 "2017-07-21T14:03:10Z")
Could it be that the bias toward Russia is simply more visible than what passes for “policy” under this administration because it’s one of the few places where the Bannon (ideological) and Kushner (business) factions align? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-theories-on-why-trump-wants-to-buddy-up-with-the-russians/790164.md?page=3)