Is this Putin’s cunning plan?
Lawrence Tribe makes some connections for us:
CNN now reports Russia believes it can shape US policy thru derogatory info it has on Trump's financial relationships in & with Russia!
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 30, 2017
This = a nightmare scenario the Emoluments Clause was written to avoid. @NormEisen @RWPUSA @deepakguptalaw @JoshuaMatz8 @JoeNBC @chrislhayes
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 30, 2017
Avoiding foreign financial leverage over US policy = a central aim of Foreign Emoluments Clause that Trump violates constantly. Ask @RWPUSA!
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 30, 2017
Foreign Emoluments Cl. holds foreign blackmailers at bay. T's defiance of the Clause endangers US sovereignty and security. Reality bites.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 30, 2017
Is the US President doing Putin's bidding in weakening NATO? Question of the day: How else is T recklessly betraying our national security?
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 30, 2017
Russia may knows things about Trump’s business dealings it can use to blackmail him. The point of the Emoluments Clause was precisely to prevent that. It could be that the reason Trump carried on like such an authoritarian nightmare at NATO and the G7 is because Putin told him to. The sudden crumbling of our relationship with liberal democratic Europe may be all because Trump has sleazy and/or criminal secrets that Putin is holding over him.
Meanwhile Republicans in Congress are looking fixedly in the other direction.
It could hardly be any more disgusting.
If this scenario is anywhere near true, Putin must have some really scary shit on Trump. That Putin could have anything more damaging to Trump than all and everything that Trump himself has done would in itself be remarkable. Also the idea that Trump could be controlled by Putin when Trump cannot control himself is also pretty amazing to contemplate. Relying on an undisciplined and unpredictable “agent” like Trump who can’t focus, stay on message or keep his excuses/lies straight would be a bold and risky move. Republican congressional complicity does make for a great opportunity. A perfect storm.
At this point, however, anything is possible and there is little that could surprise me.
I’d be inclined to discount this a lot more if deferring to Putin weren’t the only consistent thing Trump has done since he started campaigning.
Never underestimate the ability for collective ignorance, greed, self-interest and stupidity to appear indistinguishable from a conspiracy when viewed from outside.
That said, Trump, his family, associates and allies could easily be talking to the Russians and doing deals for the former reasons.
Back when I was young, and even middle aged, the Republicans accused the Democrats and the left especially of being soft on Russia. Just goes to show, all they ever wanted was power and they pulled whatever lever was available to achieve power. Usually by trying to make people afraid of the ‘other’. Now they’ve found a better bogey man they’re prepared to line their pockets with Russian money, even though Putin actually represents a far greater danger to western democratic civilisation than Islamic fundamentalism (not that that is a cuddly toy by any means).
YNNB @ 1,
Not necessarily. It’s entirely possible that Putin is “pushing on an open door” with Trump. After all, Trump’s natural inclination is to like and respect the rich and powerful.
I don’t imagine that Trump is thinking to himself “they want me to betray my country! But what choice do I have? They have the pee tape!” or anything like that. It’s more like “Putin’s not asking me to disavow NATO; he just wants me not to explicitly commit to Article V. No big deal — I don’t want to threaten war over some stupid Eastern European country anyway. I’ll take a little bit of crap from the #fakenews, but that’s ok. I owe him that much.”