Trump was recruited as Russian spy codenamed "Krasnov" in 1987

Politics & Elections
41

So, agree with pretty much everyone. This story isn’t nearly enough to convince me he’s an asset.

I also agree that Russia seems to have power over him, but at this point demanding loan repayment (back to a heavily sanctioned nation that probably isn’t even legal to repay) doesn’t seem like much of a threat. Pay us back- or what?

I’ve said this elsewhere: I actually think Trump looks at how Putin and the Oligarchs run Russia and consolidate wealth and power, and I think that Trump wants to do that here.

Can he? Will he succeed? I don’t know. But my bet is on Trump seeing Putin as a mentor, not a master.

42

“This is something that could possibly happen” does not equal “this is something that actually happened”.

If the only evidence for this is a post on Facebook with no evidence that the person’s even who they say they are; or even if there is some evidence that they are who they say they are; I don’t put any faith at all in the whole thing. Anybody can make noises on Facebook about anything at all.

I think what’s a whole lot more important is that Trump’s acting like he’s in cahoots with Putin right now. And if he can’t be stopped on those grounds, then he can’t be stopped for possibly having done so sooner.

43

There’s no proof, but there is evidence. Yeah, the Facebook thing is a bit too much of a “just so story”, but looking at all his pro-Russian actions? Have any of them benefited the US, or its allies? Have any of them clearly benefited Trump, even at the expense of the US? Nope, the only one who clearly benefis is Putin. The simplest explanation is that Putin has some kind of hook in Trump, even if we can’t prove it.

44

He might. But I think an equally simple, and equally likely, explanation is simply that Trump admires totalitarian heads of government. He thinks that’s what the Realest of Real Men™ is, and he wants to be one, and that’s who he wants to hang out with. He wants to be buddies with Putin and to be accepted by Putin as his equal (or better yet as his better). He doesn’t care if the heads of state who aren’t totalitarians are friends with him, because he doesn’t think they’re as strong as the totalitarians; they have to respect and sometimes obey other people. And Trump doesn’t want to have to respect or obey anybody.

Putin, I’m sure, thinks Trump is a useful fool. But while I suppose it’s possible Putin’s paid Trump, I doubt that he needed to.

45

While he likes other dictators, you don’t see him selling out US and allied interests to them. Has he told North Korea that it’s okay to invade South Korea? Has he told China that Taiwan is all theirs? He likes Orban, but hasn’t given him anything of substance. Nope, Putin gets all the goodies, for some reason beyond wanting dictators to like him.

46

Not yet.

47

Now that’s Science!

48

Novichock in his Nutter Butters? Polonium in his pancakes? Taking out a sitting President is probably too reckless even for Putin, but that doesn’t mean he can’t deliver a credible enough threat to convince trump to do his bidding.

It’s also possible Putin has some Kompromat on trump as well. At this point trump seems to be immune to scandal, having politically survived stuff like 26 allegations of sexual assault and paying off a porn star he had sex with. But who knows, there could be even worse stuff out there that hasn’t been revealed yet (*cough Epstein files cough*).

And yes, it’s also possible that the simple, Occam’s Razor explanation for his close alignment with Putin and Putin’s wishes is the fact that trump just loves and admires strongmen. But that alone doesn’t feel like, to me, to be enough of an explanation for trump’s constant support of, and capitulation to, Putin.

49

I honestly don’t think that would be enough to ruin him.

He literally, and unequivocally, obstructed justice. In the documents case, even if we give to him that all those documents were allowed to be there, when they were subpoenaed he hid them. I’m perfectly entitled to my cell phone, but if it were subpoenaed and I threw it in the lake, or gave it to a friend, I’d be arrested. You talk to ANY Trump supporter about that and they have some excuse why not complying with the subpoena was different.

You yourself mentioned the pornstar.

At this point I don’t think a dead girl AND a live boy would be enough.

50

The evidence against that would be Trump’s body language at the Helsinki meeting with Putin.

The two of them came out from some room, where they’d been together. Putin comes out looking like a million bucks. Trump comes out looking like he’d been bullied, quickly puts on a half-hearted smile, but then proceeds to tell the world that his own, personally selected intelligence organizations are all bad and wrong and that Russia is better.

Looking up to someone is one thing. If they’re bullying you in private and you’re willing to mock yourself for their amusement, in public, there’s more to it than that.

51

The last quotes (I could find) from Trump on Taiwan were “China knows what I’ll do” (a not-so veiled threat about taking Taiwan) yet that and this quote seem to be from late last year:

Donald Trump has recently signaled that Taiwan could receive less support from Washington should he win the US presidential election on November 5. The Republican candidate has stated that Taiwan should eventually raise its defense budget to 10 percent of its gross domestic product – three times the US rate – given that a Chinese attack was one day inevitable. Trump compared US defense support for Taiwan to an “insurance company,” suggesting that Taiwan should pay the US for its protection.

And other statements are Taiwan seeing how Trump turned on Ukraine and what that means for them. I am sure the next words about Taiwan will be from Hegseth, sound really stupid (increase military spending to 200% of your GDP) and let Taiwan know the US Navy has other things to do somewhere else, like Brisbane, Australia.

52

But that’s probably how Trump thinks real strongmen – real strong men – behave.

Having said that: I haven’t seen the body language; I read about what he’s up to, but avoid either watching or listening to him as much as possible. For me, Trump exhibits what I call reverse charisma – a very strong desire to avoid him. I’ve noticed that I sometimes get that for people who seem to have a positive charisma for some others; though with other positive-charisma people I also get the positive effect, or sometimes not much in any direction.

53

How to launder money. Russian oligarch money.
That is a double edged kompromat, but they have proof of (some of) his crimes. It is double edged because they are criminals too and because you don’t slaughter the turkey goose that lays golden orange coloured eggs.
PS: I see dasmoocher has posted along these lines already, but it bears repeating. His cite is valid, there are many others, I am too lazy.

Nitpick: They are not called translators, they a re called interpreters. Translators translate written words at leiure with al the techncal help they need (mainly the internet, dictionaries and colleagues they consult). Intepreters interpret the spoken word on the fly, in real time, alone.
Now for the history of interpreting in Russian - USA relations. I think it is easier and faster to refer to my coments in the Dope in December 2022. It would otherwise be too long, probably a hijack.

54

Here’s one guy’s impression of Trump’s behavior around Putin:

Former Australian PM: Trump acts like 12-year-old boy around Putin

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described former President Trump’s rhetoric around Russian President Vladimir Putin as that of an admiring “12-year-old boy.”

Speaking on Australian ABC’s “Q+A” show, Turnbull spoke about Trump’s interactions with Putin, saying they show the former president in “awe” of Putin.

“When you see Trump with Putin, as I have on a few occasions, he’s like the 12-year-old boy who goes to high school and meets the captain of the football team. ‘My hero,'” Turnbull said Monday. “It’s really creepy.”

55
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The only reason I find it plausible is because Donald Trump has been acting like a Russian stooge for many, many years. He’s not just admiring Putin, he’s bent over backwards to help him. While I find it plausible, it isn’t necessarily true of course.

57

I reckon that pseudo-scandals - if they are orchestrated by any entities - do provide useful information on how much of the “serious” news picks it up as well as a gauge for how much people really care.

In 1992, Trump had improved his image - many still knew him as the non-paying / “go ahead and sue me” / “I will sue you” serial bankruptcy slum-lord to the press (except Spy magazine) would treat him as a real billionaire and there was some fascination by people - his marriage and divorce to Ivana and purchase of the Plaza Hotel which he made one of his famous “deals” with the film director Chris Columbus to film a cameo scene in the Plaza itself for “Home Alone 2”. Columbus said Trump made lots of demands on him and the crew besides demanding he be in the movie.

When Obama was running for President, Trump was at the head of those calling for Obama’s birth certificate - the so-called “birther conspiracy theory” which was almost a scandal till Obama released his “long form birth certificate” which was reluctantly (if at all) accepted by Trump. He also had his reality TV show “The Apprentice”. He was invited to the 2001 White House Correspondent’s Dinner where he was highly mocked by both Obama and Seth Myers:

Obama: “No one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald. And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter—like, did we fake the moon landing?”

Meyers: “Donald Trump said he’s running as a Republican, which is surprising—because I just assumed he was running as a joke.”

It’s speculated that this embarrassment influenced his run for President.

All this was well after his 1987 visit to the Soviet Union in 1987. He says it was to look into building a luxury hotel in Moscow and it’s speculated by some that the KGB may have been trying to influence or groom Trump. What is known is that upon his return he paid for full-page newspaper ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe criticizing U.S. foreign policy, particularly regarding Japan and NATO allies.

So he had fake-billionaire, TV reality star, 6-7 bankruptcies (depending on how you count some), a visit to the Soviet Union (no Trump Moscow Hotel has yet been built), this statement in January 2016:

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible.”

and the “grab 'em by the pussy” quote yet none of that mattered. He was running against Hillary Clinton who has yet to be locked up. If Bill was and is still liked, she carried none of that and Trump is really good at attacking women (he is certainly not done with Maine Governor Janet T Mills - once he has a few sexist epithets and whataver he can dig up from her past he will tweet some garbage).

He said to her, “I’m – We are the federal law,” and she replied, “See you in court” which to the best of my googling is the first time anyone has said that in person to a President.

I was certain I’d heard what Trump said (or really meant to say) said by a French King / Emperor.

Thanks to Gyrate for his reply: you’re probably thinking of “L’État, c’est moi”, attributed to Louis XIV. “La loi, c’est moi” is just a French translation of Judge Dredd’s catchphrase.

“I am the State” and “I am the law” respectively.

So, tldr; Trump could have won in 2016 even if a “dead girl, live boy” scenario happened and now pretty much nobody cares if he was or is an asset of Putin. Either he’s on Putin’s payrolll or Putin is getting it for free. Two impeachments and he can withstand several more, even after he doesn’t allow elections in 2028 or relinquish the White House. More than half the country wants that and you liberals can keep bringing on the fakiest fake news you can fake and he is absolutely impervious.

58

Question: This was in The Guardian in 2016 (I think). Why is it popping up again now?

[I searched and the earliest post by me that shares the article was January 2021.]

59

This is a new claim which stems from a Facebook post, supposedly by Alnur Mussayev.

60

Could you link to the article, please?