In Russia, the fall of the Soviet Union promised the idea of democracy. People had hopes as the Russian national flag replaced the hammer and sickle. But with Putin came a Mafia state with oligarchs, government, and banking as three arms intertwined with Russian intelligence operations. Americans used to make fun of these things and the fact that in Russia the state also had total control of the media. Then came Donald Trump, our first mentally unfit candidate to make it to the White House. With his particular antisocial and narcissistic character structure he envied what Putin had – unlimited wealth and absolute power.
In America the government didn’t control the media so Trump declared the free press the enemy of the people (like Stalin). He promoted Fox because they would broadcast his lies like Russian state television. He courted billionaires with tax cuts, as the Mercers and Koch brothers of the world becoming reasonable facsimiles of Putin’s oligarchs.
Wikileaks had Russian connections. Steve Bannon and Paul Manafort helped Russian interests in Ukraine and Macedonia. The Senate report on Russian interference of our 2016 presidential election gave us myriad connections between Russian oligarchs and Russian intelligence and the Trump family/campaign/administration. Jared Kushner, Mike Flynn and Jeff Sessions actually met or talked with the highest Russian government officials to discuss relief of economic sanctions, imposed by a Republican controlled Congress, as punishment for what Trump obsessively tweeted was a hoax. Roger Stone, Steve Bannon and Paul Manafort’s clandestine coordination with Russian Intelligence operatives led to their convictions for obstructing DOJ’s investigation of an enemy state.
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Russian money financed Kushner/Trump enterprises. Now we find that Trump’s easing of bank regulations for SVB, and other banks who invested in the defense industry, was yet another gift to Putin’s overall strategic objectives. But nothing tops Putin’s victory in co-opting the GOP (through Trump coercion) into dividing the American people through “culture wars.” Putin’s U.S. Radio Sputnik constantly promoted election fraud and “Deep State” conspiracy theories along with ultra nationalist propaganda constantly shedding doubt on the electoral process in America.
Trump could not control our intelligence agencies so he tried to convince the American people that they were the enemy out to topple a sitting president. Since we need these agencies for national security, this was the beginning of his betrayal later confirmed in Helsinki when he told the world that Putin denied election interference we had already proven – we indicted 12 Russian Army intelligence officers for that exact espionage. His treason was complete on January 6, 2021, when he attempted to overthrow the government of the United States.
Now Trump’s media platform “Truth Social” is being investigated for possible money laundering and Russian ties. People ask whether Donald Trump is a Russian agent – the answer is YES – not because he was recruited as a spy, but because for the first time in American history a Personality Disordered individual made it to the White House. Unfortunately, since it is the least known mental illness, people don’t know what they are witnessing (including GOP leadership).
Only a pathological narcissist could be the leader of the free world yet give a dictator like Putin gifts like our withdrawal from Syria, refusing to arm Ukraine, and praising Putin as a genius for mass murder of civilians in an allied nation. Everyone should read the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to see how Trump meets all the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder and almost all the criteria for antisocial; but here is a shortcut – antisocial and narcissistic character structure feel no sympathy, they are not capable of empathy, they are pathological liars, and they do not favor right over wrong. Right is (literally) whatever favors them and wrong is whatever hurts them. We cannot have this in the White House or we will lose the Republic. We would have the equivalent of Putin, where one man decides everything and creates whatever narrative suits his lust for wealth and power.
