If Trump Is Not a Russian Asset, What Explains His Behavior?

[ffr]

The number of meetings Trump’s team had with Russians during the campaign and transition would be cause for concern. But the fact that everyone involved initially lied about them, coupled with the president’s attempts to obstruct the investigation, are indications that there is something they want to hide.
<snip>

It began when Trump went off script in what was billed as a “Cabinet meeting” and threw out something that even the Wall Street Journal editorial board responded to by saying, “We cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an American President.” Here’s what Trump said that drew their ire: “The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there.”

There is nothing in those two sentences that bears any connection to the truth.
<snip>

What we have are three instances—Afghanistan, Belarus, and Montenegro—when Donald Trump has promoted propaganda embraced by no one in the world except Vladimir Putin. Here is Chuck Rosenberg, former DEA administrator, commenting on what that means:

Link to tweet

"I don’t mean to be an alarmist but...POTUS is echoing directly the line of the Kremlin on a whole bunch of things.... this is something U.S. Intel officials have to understand: why is the Pres. saying what hes saying?"- Chuck Rosenberg w/ @NicolleDWallace - WashingtonMonthly

When it's hard to understand how something can be so complicated, it's very possible that the answer you seek is the simplest one.

What else would explain his secret one-on-one meetings with Putin behind closed doors.

RUSSIAN
ASSET

TRAITOR

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

1. Turncoat Trump...

Dishonoring democracy since the day he was born.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[BigmanPigman]

3. If it looks like a Russian asset, acts like a Russian asset and

talks like a Russian asset than "it" is a Russian asset.

[Harker]

4. Perhaps he'll defect. n/t

[Stuart G]

5. Anything is possible. I wonder if anyone expected it to get this far?