ICYMI, it looks like critical mass has been reached on the multiple connections between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. There have been multiple diaries at Kos (including my own) on the financial and other ties between Trump and the oligarchs around Putin. To put it briefly, Trump’s open admiration for Putin isn’t just about respecting the ‘strength’ of a fellow authoritarian. It’s also about Trump having to rely on money coming out of the former Soviet empire to prop up his own empire.
To add more fuel to the fire, it looks like Putin is deliberately doing what he can to aid Trump in disrupting American politics, including an attempt to blow up the Democratic National Convention with leaked emails hacked from DNC servers. The timing is intended to set Sanders supporters against Clinton and the DNC establishment at the convention.
I’m going to list the relevant posts at Kos here; let me know if I missed any. This story has been building for months it appears — check out the links in the posts. In no particular order:
• He's Putin's candidate By joan reports Thursday Jul 21, 2016 · 10:13 PM EDT
• Russia's Attempt to Influence the U.S. Presidential Election By se portland Saturday Jul 23, 2016 · 2:54 PM EDT
• Hillary Campaign Manager Mook: Russian State Actors Hacked DNC and Released Emails to Sway Election By igualdad Sunday Jul 24, 2016 · 9:56 AM EDT
In another time, this would all look like tinfoil hat stuff. Not any more. It will be interesting to see if the mainstream media gives as much attention to this as they’ve spent on Benghazi, emailgate, the Clinton Foundation, etc. etc. In a sane world, Trump’s campaign would be over at this point.
This election is going to make history one way or another. Hope we’re still around afterwards.