A SERIOUS ? What is the real nature of the Trump/Putin relationship?

[Funtatlaguy]

It has been danced around by many pundits.
Lots of speculation.
Who knows if we will ever know why Trump reveres him or fears him so much.
But it is the the most important question of Trumps presidency.
So many things have been guided by it.

I don’t think it’s a pee pee tape.
But I do think it’s about humiliation.
I think that Russia/Putin have either given him money or very low interest loans when no American banks would (possibly coordinated through Deutsch bank).
This and his taxes and other financial records would show he was nowhere near as wealthy as he claimed.

That’s my guess.
What’s yours?

[Turbineguy]

1. It's the money

Trump doesn't worry about pee tapes. He has no shame.

[coti]

2. There really shouldn't be so much uncertainty, there are so many examples.

I think Trump looks at Putin like his boss. I don't think there is overt blackmail, like a pee-pee tape, but there probably is a financial power differential between the two, with Trump relying on Putin's goodwill to create his "billionaire businessman" image through loans and money laundering and such. And there's no doubt that they're both criminals, and fascists. Putin is what Trump wants to be.

[SMC22307]

3. Financial. He boasts of killing someone on Fifth Avenue and not losing cultist support...

a pee tape means nothing.

[CanonRay]

4. Trump owes Russian oligarchs (Russian mob) billions borrowed thru Deutschebank

That's it. They either collect or he winds up in pieces. They are ruthless.

[smirkymonkey]

6. That's what I think as well.

Putin owns his fat ass and if Trump doesn't deliver he's as good as dead.

[keithbvadu2]

5. Putting money into Trump was the best investment Putin ever made.

What happens when Trump is out of office when the debts come due?

Does hydroxychloroquine protect against polonium 210?

[Nevilledog]

7. Hero worship

v

[Firestorm49]

8. The fricking Russians own him. He's an asset.

The truly sad part is that the real meat of the story may never come out.

[Thomas Hurt]

9. IMO, Trump sees Putin as a mentor...

The Pig wants to have the power and money Putin has. He wants to be America's strongman. He has spent the last, however long now, trying to suck up and kiss Putin's ass.

The Pig doesn't see it as US interests v. Russian interests.

It is, unsurprisingly, the Pig's interests (getting re-elected, getting his debt forgiven, etc.), and everything else is beside the point.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

10. Banks in the USA stopped loaning Trump money...

... after his many financial disasters, so borrowing money from the Russian mob is my main guess.

A sex tape with an underaged girl wouldn't surprise me either.

[Funtatlaguy]

12. Russian mob, yes.

[NCjack]

11. It has evolved to Master - Slave. nt

[sop]

13. I suspect laundering money from sketchy Russian investors, using real estate sales in NY and Fl,

is another part of this puzzle. Mueller should have investigated this. Trump's financial records and tax returns will probably reveal a lot of seamy business deals with all the wrong people.

[Solly Mack]

14. I think the Trump Org. helped to launder money for the

Russian mob. I think they got involved years ago when Trump first needed cash and the Russians (mob) obliged with the vig being more than simple interest.

I think Trump's ego enjoyed the attention of thugs and he got in deeper and deeper, always telling himself he was the one actually in charge.

Trump has always been delusional.

But he liked how it made him feel. Much like his fawning over autocratic leaders now.

Trump probably got little tidbits of info from Russia and he returned the favor. Trump with his mouth gave much more than he got in terms of intelligence.

Which is still happening but more so and with greater consequence since Trump is now privy to the country's intelligence, both past and present.

Putin is directly connected to Russian organized crime. Wherever they have taken root.

Eric Trump said point blank they get all the money they need from Russia.

Years and years of money laundering, loans, tidbits of info and favors - lots of favors - and here we are now.

Trump is in bed with a hostile foreign government and he sits in the oval office.

That's America now.

[OverBurn]

15. With Trump it may be a snuff film. A pee tape would be mild.

[Funtatlaguy]

17. I had to look this up. Sick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuff_film

[vapor2]

16. I think it is fear of Putin and also think you are right, it is purely financial

AND throw in the Moscow trump tower as part of a deal.

[Archetypist]

18. $$$$$$$$$$

and also: $$$$$$$$$

[moondust]

19. Money, crimes, envy vs. manipulability...

Putin has had experienced Russian intel agencies at his disposal for many years. They may have all kinds of nasty stuff on Dump's involvement with Epstein/Maxwell, other sex scandals like pee tapes, swindling/financial crimes, organized crime issues relating to casinos and properties, whatever. Putin may have gotten interested in Dump way back when he started building hotels in other countries and chasing Slavic women.

Perhaps Putin could destroy him and they both know it so he has to be careful to serve his master. Of course he envies Putin's autocratic power as effectively czar for life. Putin may see such an opportunity to control a U.S. President as unlikely to ever come again.