General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumshe is happy to keep toying with Trump like a cat plays before he eviscerates his mouse
Art of the Get-Screwed-in-Your-Russian-Quid-Pro-Quo Deal
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/03/09/art-of-the-get-screwed-in-your-russian-quid-pro-quo-deal/
<<snip>>
If you sign up for a deal and take steps to make good on it as Don Jr did on June 9, 2016 and Paul Manafort appears to have done on August 2, 2016 and Mike Flynn appears to have done, on Trumps behalf, on December 29, 2016 then it doesnt matter if the partner to that deal fucks you over later in the process. And, after all, the Russians did continue to supply Trump with a steady supply of dirt on Hillary Clinton all through the election. They got Trump elected, or at least did what they could to help, even if that payoff wasnt the one Trump was most interested in.
Do you think Oleg Deripaska, a key player in both the deal-making and likely in the cover-up of it, gives a shit if Paul Manafort who had screwed Deripaska over years earlier had his life ruined as part of the process of compromising a President and getting sanctions relief? My suspicion is well learn that Deripaska actually magnified Manaforts hurt, once he had gotten him to compromise himself and the campaign.
<<snip>>
Putin doesnt care if Trump benefits from all this though he is happy to keep toying with Trump like a cat plays before he eviscerates his mouse. He cares about whether he and his cronies win. And there are multiple ways for him to get a win out of this, whether or not Trump manages to eke out any kind of real payoff past the election.
And lets be honest, Putin isnt the only one playing this game. Certainly, Mohammed bin Salman feels the same way, even if his record of ruthless dealmaking is shorter and sloppier than Putins. The truth is that Donald Trump and Jared Kushner are easy marks for a whole range of skilled operators willing to stroke their egos and dangle loot, and over and over again theyve let themselves be bested in foreign policy negotiations, to the detriment of the interests of the United States. That they are so bad at deal making in no way disproves their culpability.
There is no Trump Tower in Moscow. But there never had to be. All that was needed was the promise of a ridiculously lucrative narcissism-stroking deal for the Trump family to agree to shit that would hurt this country. And all the evidence suggests that they did, and continue to do so.
Andy823
(11,495 posts)Good article. I really hit on the truth, putin doesn't care about trump, only in destroying out country, any way he can, and trump is simply a tool for putin.
Stuart G
(38,414 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)erronis
(15,222 posts)There are some very good minds contributing and commenting there.
Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)But whatever fucks with trumps head is fine by me