On the heels of the Helsinki Summit, even some on the right are publicly saying “Trump is compromised,” meaning Putin/Russia have compromising info on Trump and are blackmailing him to make him do what Putin wants (make NATO weaker, cause economic and political havoc, let Russia have free reign in Syria, etc). This is entirely possible; there is a lot of smoke in the “collusion” area, and many questionable financial dealings between Trump companies and Russians Trump has tried hard to hide. And, of course, rumors of videos of Trump being his normal sleazy self with Russian women.
However, I think it is much simpler than that (as is normally the case with Trump). Trump is driven by four things. Every action he takes comes from satisfying one of the four drivers of his entire life – to get more money, to get more power, to get more adoration, or to get revenge.
Trump’s own appointed intel and FBI chiefs ALL say Russia attacked our elections WITH THE GOAL OF HELPING ELECT DONALD TRUMP.
He lost the popular vote by 3M, and in the three states that gave him the electoral college vote, he won by less than 80,000 votes. 80,000 VOTES! He knows his hold on the sort of power and attention he has always craved is at risk, and he will do anything to keep it.
So he denies the Russian attack, denies they tried to help him, denies that Putin and Russia are enemies of America, undermines our intelligence agencies, and calls the ongoing investigation a “witch hunt.” Maybe because they have something compromising on him, but more likely it is simply Trump doing what he always has done – fight to gain and keep all the power and wealth he can. In short, by putting #TrumpFirst – his avarice above ALL else. This really isn’t any different than hundreds of other times he has destroyed people, businesses, evidence, etc. In order to take and keep whatever he wants, except…
Russia is a dangerous enemy, Putin a clever and dangerous authoritarian dictator, and America’s stability and democracy are at risk by Trump being Trump by putting #TrumpFirst.
(330 Words)
Patrick On Politics 