# Trump characterized as 'a turned foreign asset' **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951 "2017-01-12T11:11:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/61 "2017-01-16T18:39:51Z")
Which has left him heartbroken, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/62 "2017-01-16T18:51:59Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Doesn’t mean they aren’t another fake news story, either. Given MSNBC’s history of fawning over Hillary, and their embarrassment at not being able give Hillary the Whitehouse, I have doubt’s about Chris Hayes’s journalistic integrity. Says someone who likes fox news. I just assume this to be true. but if it’s not it must be very lonely out there. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/63 "2017-01-16T20:42:38Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > (post shortened) > > What do you mean “IF”? Are you suggesting that you have doubts about the lack of verified facts? I mean that the sources seem credible, but I require further confirmation. Even Buzz Feed says that it’s unconfirmed. ---
**Author:** ![BrerRobert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@BrerRobert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrerRobert)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/64 "2017-01-24T02:57:50Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I don’t have a transcript of the January 11th show, but I think MSNBC’s Chris Hayes just said something very big. Do US intelligence agencies see Trump as actually [equivalent to]–Hayes’s words–“a turned foreign asset”? > > If so, then Trump’s aggressive and paranoid behavior toward those intelligence agencies tends to encourage that belief. > > This is…exciting. “Turned foreign asset”? Sounds like someone has been binge hate-watching Homeland in anticipation of upcoming new season. Let’s see who this Chris Hayes dweeb is: “attended Brown University for his undergraduate education, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy” ([Chris Hayes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hayes_(journalist))) Ahh yes, clown college. It makes sense now. ---
**Author:** ![gopachok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@gopachok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gopachok)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/65 "2017-01-26T09:21:34Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I don’t have a transcript of the January 11th show, but I think MSNBC’s Chris Hayes just said something very big. Do US intelligence agencies see Trump as actually [equivalent to]–Hayes’s words–“a turned foreign asset”? Is it the same Chris Heyes, who is featured alongside Rachel Maddow in [this video](https://youtu.be/Ut0TaegQ-kw?t=1m7s) talking about Hillary Clinton winning the election with 360 electoral votes in a landslide not seen since Reagan blasted Dukakis? If so, you should not listen to ANYTHING that he says. At all. He’s the very definition of fake-news propagandist. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/66 "2017-01-26T09:48:46Z")
I doubt if the Russians see him as an actual asset, in the sense of someone consciously working for them. His ego would be more than bruised and unpredictable if he thought that’s what they thought of him. I’d guess he is, from their p.o.v., at best a “useful idiot” (as Lenin put it), who can be cast adrift and undermined as soon as he becomes a positive liability. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/67 "2017-01-26T12:43:09Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > You cancelled your subscription. You cancelled your subscription and claim they have a history of solid investigative work and strong journalistic standards. So you cancelled your subscription??? Well, yeah. I don’t see why I should pay for something I don’t enjoy reading. I told you - they’re smug and self-righteous, and their politics are far to the left of my own. That doesn’t change the fact that, as investigative journalists, I respect their professionalism. You can disagree with someone and still think they’re doing a good job, right? ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/68 "2017-01-26T14:18:54Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Certainly, at the least, it’s a frightening prospect that the US intel community would regard themselves as not being subject to the authority of the Executive Branch, and being essentially an autonomous entity that makes their own decisions. > > The above is true regardless of what you think of Trump specifically. I too find that the most troubling aspect of this story. It it’s true then heads need to roll at the CIA. No administration would permit this situation to continue. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/69 "2017-01-26T19:27:03Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I doubt if the Russians see him as an actual asset, in the sense of someone consciously working for them. His ego would be more than bruised and unpredictable if he thought that’s what they thought of him. I’d guess he is, from their p.o.v., at best a “useful idiot” (as Lenin put it), who can be cast adrift and undermined as soon as he becomes a positive liability. Wasn’t it one of our paid-to-post guests who spilled the beans on what he’s called within Russia—the **Unholy Fool**? (Which makes sense only to those with the educational background to be aware of the concept of the “_holy_ fool”–massively important in Russian literature and culture, but also fairly well-known in the West.) ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/70 "2017-01-26T19:37:32Z")
> [@BrerRobert](#): > > “Turned foreign asset”? Sounds like someone has been binge hate-watching Homeland in anticipation of upcoming new season. > > Let’s see who this Chris Hayes dweeb is: “attended Brown University for his undergraduate education, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy” ([Chris Hayes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hayes_(journalist))) > > Ahh yes, clown college. It makes sense now. An Ivy League school = “Clown College” now? ---
**Author:** ![BrerRobert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@BrerRobert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrerRobert)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/71 "2017-01-27T08:25:38Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > An Ivy League school = “Clown College” now? Not the entire university, just many of the departments and sub departments such as philosophy, cultural anthropology, gender studies, cultural geography. ect. Brown is the place that set up a [“safe space” complete with “cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies”](https://boards.straightdope.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/judith-shulevitz-hiding-from-scary-ideas.html?_r=0) to help students deal with the horror of a debate occurring on campus, a debate in which the notion that American college campuses are overrun with “rape culture” was questioned. It is where the student body president personally delivered tampons to men’s restrooms because of course “not all people who menstruate are women.” However, the comparison of these programs is not really fair to clown colleges, who train people in a useful skill, instead of spewing miserable intersectional intellectual shallowness upon humanities departments across the nation. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/72 "2017-01-29T15:45:29Z")
A theory that could explain several things – maybe Melania’s pre-nup has an adultery clause. If Donald is proven to being fucking around, then her post-marriage payout jumps from trivial (a few million) to a major, painful percentage. That would give Putin the leverage to make Donald jump through his hoops. That’s the kind of blackmail Trump would fear – moreso than just being revealed to have some minor sexual kinks. And the theory helps explain Melania’s seeming misery – she’s getting all the humilition of being married to an abusive asshole (just my guess about their private interactions), but the money is still just out of reach. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/73 "2017-01-29T18:46:47Z")
> [@BrerRobert](#): > > Brown is the place that set up … Blah blah blah. Which university did you graduate from? With proof, please. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/74 "2017-01-30T00:45:09Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > A theory that could explain several things – maybe Melania’s pre-nup has an adultery clause. If Donald is proven to being fucking around, then her post-marriage payout jumps from trivial (a few million) to a major, painful percentage. > > That would give Putin the leverage to make Donald jump through his hoops. Okay, the US Presidential election is the plot of a John le Carré novel. Canada or Mexico? I don’t speak Spanish, but Mrs. Plant (v.3.0) does. Neither of us speaks French. Of course, it could be very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/75 "2017-01-30T02:38:42Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#): > > Blah blah blah. > > Which university did you graduate from? With proof, please. Clearly not one where they teach how to copy urls. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/76 "2017-01-30T02:48:58Z")
Trump.isn’t dumb enough to put an adultery payout in Melania’s prenup. That’s the only baseless wild eyed speculation in this thread that I can’t beleive. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/77 "2017-01-30T11:08:16Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Trump.isn’t dumb enough to put an adultery payout in Melania’s prenup. That’s the only baseless wild eyed speculation in this thread that I can’t beleive. Heh. But it makes a great narrative. It’s simple enough to make a good Enquirer headline. It makes the First Lady a sympathetic, almost tragic, figure. It’s specific and commonplace in a way the other other blackmail stories aren’t (yet). Since your response begins, “Trump isn’t dumb enough…”, your objection is invalid. And many things he is too stupid to do are made possible by weird, self-destructive, pride. Unfortunately, there is a problem. Unlike Trump’s tax returns, his prenup probably does includes a “do not reveal” clause. I don’t believe any specific speculation about Trump’s Russin involvement, but something is weird as hell when a president prefers Putin to NATO. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/78 "2017-02-05T03:04:49Z")
> **[Bill O'Reilly | Mediaite](https://www.mediaite.com/tag/bill-oreilly/)** > > William James O’Reilly is an American journalist and former T.V. host. He hosted Inside Edition from 1989 to 1995 and later The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News until 2017. The show was the highest-rated cable news show for 16 years. He was fired from FOX... Yeah, I’d say he’s owned by Putin and the Russians. There can be no other reason for this kind of garbage. Remove from office ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/79 "2017-02-05T03:13:39Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > [Bill O'Reilly | Mediaite](http://www.mediaite.com/online/oreilly-vladimir-putin-is-a-killer-trump-what-do-you-think-our-countrys-so-innocent/) > > Yeah, I’d say he’s owned by Putin and the Russians. There can be no other reason for this kind of garbage. Remove from office ASAP. If he equates murdering political opposition with military action, does that mean he’s ok with murdering his political opposition? ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951/80 "2017-02-05T03:21:17Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > If he equates murdering political opposition with military action, does that mean he’s ok with murdering his political opposition? He can be president of Russia, then. Not here. Time to go. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-characterized-as-a-turned-foreign-asset/776951.md?page=5)