# Is Donald Trump a Putin patsy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 25, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875 "2016-07-25T19:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/21 "2016-07-25T22:47:46Z")
Perhaps Ms Clinton ought to keep her e-mails on a private, separate server. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/22 "2016-07-25T22:58:03Z")
Former counterterrorism tsar Richard Clarke [offers his explanation for why Vladimir Putin and ISIS would love for Donald Trump to be President.](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/richard-clarke-america-enemies-influencing-election-article-1.2725718) ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/23 "2016-07-26T00:52:24Z")
> [@orangeapples](#): > > Are you suggesting that we’d be better off if Trump is installed as Putin’s puppet? I’ve read that through a couple of times and that’s my…bemused inference. Well we know he’s not a puppet, patsy or whatever the click bait headlines infer, but I do hope that, if he is elected, he has deep ties to Putin and reasons to leave him alone. Those reasons could be that he is personally compromised, ideologically inclined or otherwise. What matters to me is that the bombs will not be flying. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > So you hope that Trump is a Putin patsy, and that the Russians have hacked into political party servers in the United States in order to influence a presidential election. I couldn’t care less what the Russians do to a political party. I’d be much more concerned if they were hacking into legitimate enterprises. In which case, those enterprises should shoulder the burden the cost of preventing such an attack. > [@](#): > > You are espousing an opinion that is clearly and openly traitorous. Clutching my pearls over here. Is it less traitorous to provoke a conflict with Russia? If so, I’m good with being a traitor. > [@](#): > > I guess you must be one of those “real Americans” we keep hearing about who support Trump. I support Johnson, but prefer a Clinton victory over the three choices. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/24 "2016-07-26T00:59:38Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > A Hint to my countrymen who can’t spell: “Putin” isn’t spelled Y-E-L-T-S-I-N. It’s spelled S-T-A-L-I-N? I can accept it. > [@elucidator](#): > > Perhaps Ms Clinton ought to keep her e-mails on a private, separate server. Just a thought. Oh? You mean one that wasn’t hacked? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/25 "2016-07-26T01:03:43Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > It’s spelled S-T-A-L-I-N? I can accept it. Wouldn’t you know it? YOU get stuck with the KGB leader who ISN’T a falling down drunk. Sucks for You (and by you, I mean me). ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/26 "2016-07-26T01:42:43Z")
Can’t be, I’ve seen pictures of Putin sober. Shirt off, riding a bear and using a wild cat for a riding crop! Oh, wait, that was Pecos Bill. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/27 "2016-07-26T02:02:00Z")
McCarthyism! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/28 "2016-07-26T02:08:09Z")
I think Putin sees Trump for what he is: a blowhard who’s in over his head when it comes to global politics. Putin knows he’ll be able to walk all over Trump. It wouldn’t surprise me if Putin was doing what he can to help Trump get elected. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/29 "2016-07-26T02:23:11Z")
I think it’s more that he sees in Trump a kindred spirit, a Putin for the USA. He figures they’ll be friends and Putin will get a free hand in Eastern Europe. THat alone is enough of a reason to support Clinton. I’m not eager to fight WWIII and a soft policy towards Russia makes that a lot more likely. We need our Thatcher. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/30 "2016-07-26T02:31:13Z")
[http://www.weeklystandard.com/putins-party/article/2003473/?utm\_medium=social&utm\_source=t.co&utm\_campaign=20160724\_TWS-blog-putin-party-2\_twitter&utm\_content=TWS](http://www.weeklystandard.com/putins-party/article/2003473/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=t.co&utm_campaign=20160724_TWS-blog-putin-party-2_twitter&utm_content=TWS) That’s pretty harsh: Bill Kristol accusing Trump of being a traitor. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/31 "2016-07-26T02:45:40Z")
Well if the right didn’t join in it wouldn’t be true McCarthyism, now would it? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/32 "2016-07-26T03:05:07Z")
Joe MacCarthy: Falsely accused innocent people of being communist sympathizers Me: Provided multiple links to actual evidence that Donald Trump is connected financially and sympathetically with an actual Russian oligarch adaher: born wrong and getting wronger ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/33 "2016-07-26T03:08:17Z")
Actually, there were quite a few actual Communists in the State Department. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/34 "2016-07-26T03:13:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Actually, there were quite a few actual Communists in the State Department. Names? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/35 "2016-07-26T03:16:39Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Can’t be, I’ve seen pictures of Putin sober. Shirt off, riding a bear and using a wild cat for a riding crop! Oh, wait, that was Pecos Bill. FTR, have you ever seen a man of his age, with his shirt off, who was sober? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/36 "2016-07-26T03:17:21Z")
Owen Lattimore for starters. About as pro-Soviet and Mao China as anyone could get. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/37 "2016-07-26T03:24:21Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Owen Lattimore for starters. About as pro-Soviet and Mao China as anyone could get. [From Wiki.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Lattimore) > [@](#): > > The accusations led to years of Congressional hearings that did not substantiate the charge that Lattimore had been a spy (and wartime intercepted Venona cables decoded so far did not refer to him as one). The hearings did document Lattimore’s sympathetic statements about Stalin and the Soviet Union, however. Not a spy and not in the State Dept. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/38 "2016-07-26T03:24:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Owen Lattimore for starters. About as pro-Soviet and Mao China as anyone could get. Do you have a cite to back up this claim of yours that Owen Lattimore was an actual Communist who worked for the State Department? And you did say there were “quite a few actual Communists in the State Department”, yet when pressed, you only offer one name. :rolleyes: I eagerly await your cite that Owen Lattimore was an actual Communist who worked for the State Department. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/39 "2016-07-26T03:26:41Z")
[McCarthy says communists are in State Department](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mccarthy-says-communists-are-in-state-department) > [@](#): > > According to the only published newspaper account of the speech, McCarthy said that, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 [State Department employees] that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.” In the next few weeks, the number fluctuated wildly, with McCarthy stating at various times that there were 57, or 81, or 10 communists in the Department of State. **In fact, McCarthy never produced any solid evidence that there was even one communist in the State Department.** ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875/40 "2016-07-26T03:32:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Actually, there were quite a few actual Communists in the State Department. If there were, Joe McCarthy never proved it. Unlike Donald Trump, who has multiple public ties to Vladimir Putin and various Russian banks and politicians (I’m including Ukrainian pro-Russian leader, Viktor Yanukovych, who I’m going to keep mentioning until I figure out how to spell his stupid name.) Given that Trump is just hellbent on destroying NATO it’s hard not to wonder if Putin isn’t pulling the strings on that decision. He might just be profiting from it, the way Edward R. Murrow described McCarthy: > [@Edward Mutherfucking R.](#): > > The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it—and rather successfully. Cassius was right: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. The fault in Donald Trump’s stars: “A beast that wants discourse of reason” to keep the quotations coming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/760875.md?page=3)