TRUMP - ”RUSSIA,RUSSIA.RUSSIA”

Donald J. Trump, 47th President of the United States, (Blog: Trump, The Loser,11/03), has opened a can of worms with his widespread involvement and backing of Russia in their imperialist war against Ukraine. In the face of bipartisan US Congress opposition he has reopened the controversy surrounding his association with that dictatorship. Adding to his perverse decision is the fact that Russia is openly supporting Iran, a country that the USA is technically at war with. Furthermore he is calling for the axing of Ukrainian President Zelensky who is the universally celebrated David fighting an evil Goliath.

Trump’s relationship with Russia is a long and complicated story which began in the 1980’s. It has involved a cosy collaboration with shady individuals, a company that fed him money, money which originated from a Russian oligarch and Kazakhstan, repeated attempts to establish a Moscow Trump Tower and with Putin somehow always in the shadows.

The Russian saga had fallen out of view because Trump had been ostensibly exonerated in 2019 by the Mueller Investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election. As a result he has coped with any criticism by mockingly screaming “Russia, Russia, Russia” dismissing it as a “hoax”, literally hundreds of times since. 

But to begin what has Trump done to Ukraine to favor Putin’s Russia?

TRUMP’S INTERFERENCE IN UKRAINE CONFLICT IN FAVOR OF RUSSIA.

Trump has made decisive moves to buttress Russia’s aggression in the past few weeks that have shocked even his punch drunk party. He has given life support to their failing economy by offering to buy diesel fuel over the next year. More significantly he has signed an Executive Order nullifying the comprehensive Sanctions Act against Russia that was overwhelmingly passed by Congress. The latter is named after his closest ally the late Senator Lindsey Graham who, recently, passed away thereby evoking criticism from his sister the Senatorial candidate in South Carolina.

Trump has made his bias blatant by calling for the replacement of Ukraine’s remarkable President, Voldomyr Zelensky. On top of that Musk withdrew Starlink from Ukraine after a long conversation with Trump making them totally vulnerable to missiles and drones. In fact Trump has provided no assistance whatsoever to the beleaguered East European country. He has not even delivered all the munitions that other NATO countries have bought to hand over to the victims of naked aggression. In so doing he has put his heavy thumb on the scale against Ukraine in their defense against Russia’s drawn out bloody imperialist grab of their country. 

A measure of the opposition to his actions is that even his sycophantic Speaker of The House of Representatives, Mike Johnson has publicly voiced his disagreement, as well as a bipartisan group of legislators. The outcome was that Starlink was switched on again but the issue is far from over. The media is awash with supposed deals he and his cronies are making with Putin’s Russian oligarchs.

Trump however feels emboldened by being allegedly being free to do what ever he likes because in a major investigation by a Special Counsel he was supposedly “exonerated” of involvement with Russia.

TRUMP “EXONERATED” IN RUSSIA INVESTIGATION

Ostensibly anything untoward between Donald J. and the Russians was resolved favorably by Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation between 2017 and 2019 into Russian interference into the 2016 Presidential election. His Attorney General Bill Barr whitewashed the findings under protest from Mueller who said that he had not conveyed the outcome accurately. The Special Counsel asked that his Executive Summary be released to the public. Barr refused. What Mueller had not proved beyond a “reasonable doubt” was that Trump and Russia had acted together“in criminal collusion”. 

However Mueller had conclusively showed that Russia had conducted a widespread ongoing operation in support of Presidential candidate Trump, thereby interfering in the election. The latter included  Russian operatives meeting with the highest Trump campaign officials “to get dirt on Hilary Clinton”.That meeting was brokered by Arav Agalarof who had hosted Trump’s 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow. Agalarof had close connections to Putin. Trump further, had drafted a false report as to the reason of the meeting.  

Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, had passed on sensitive information to Russia which amounted to intelligence. He and several other members of Trump’s campaign team were convicted as a result of Mueller’s investigation for lying under oath and obstruction of justice. Mueller also indicted 12 Russian Military Intelligence Officers. Trump had publicly called “Russia” to release his opponent Hilary Clinton’s emails whereupon they promptly hacked them. The infamous “Russia if your’e listening” appeal played to the world. 

The aforementioned has to viewed in the light of the fact that during the campaign Trump was pursuing a real estate deal with Russia opening wide the possibility of conflict of interest.

 The damning report went onto document that Trump dismissed the FBI Director investigating Russian interference in the election and the next day in the Oval Office confided to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador that that had taken “great pressure” of him in regard to Russia. He also afforded Minister Lavrov sensitive highly classified material. At a meeting with Putin in Helsinki in 2018 he spent two hours alone with him and publicly contradicted his own Intelligence Officers saying he believed Putin when he denied Russian interference. Putin subsequently admitted  that he wanted Trump to win. A year prior to that Trump had met with Putin in Hamburg and had the interpreter destroy the notes. 

To put the kibosh on this whole Barr subterfuge a bipartisan Senate investigation under the leadership of Marc Rubio, the current Secretary of State, essentially came to the same conclusion of Russian interference in favor of Trump. Their 1000 page report  emphasized the counterintelligence implications of the whole saga maintaining that serious national securities had been exposed. Paul Manafort had relayed this information directly to a Russian Intelligence Officer. The Senate also focussed on the fact that Trump was secretly pursuing a Moscow real estate deal during the 2016 election campaign.The latter required direct Kremlin involvement. All of this withheld from the electorate.

So Mueller far from exonerating Trump had together with the Senate established an elaborate Russian interference operation to assist him in the 2016 election. What’s more there had been inappropriate communication during the campaign and unconventional private meetings between the two Presidents with no public reports.

So to continue with the saga of Trump’s relationship which began in the 1980’s in the good old USSR..

IN THE BEGINNING - FELIX SATER AND BAYROCK

Trump has been investigating possible real estate deals with the Soviet Union since the 1980’s even traipslng there in 1987 in the hope of installing a Trump Tower. This was well prior to his visit in 2013 when he hosted his Beauty Pageant in Moscow. (Incidentally on that occasion the future US President received a gift and a letter from Putin).

Trump is alleged to have most of his company’s conventional real estate dealings with Russians. Eric Trump admitted as much in 2017 while Don Jnr. In 2008 noted that most of their customers were Russian.  Reuters reported in 2017 that 63 purchasers in Trump buildings had paid a combined $100 million. 

On the 24th Floor of Trump Tower a Felix Sater moved in 2001 running a real estate company called Bayrock. That was the beginning of extensive ongoing dealings with Donald J Trump Inc. Sater had been already a convicted felon for $40 million stock fraud and been to prison for assault. He had extensive connections to Russian business and international terrorism.

 It is important to note that the founder of Bayrock was a Mr. Tevfik Arif a Russian businessman who had extensive connections with Kazakhstan. The Arif family acquired a chromium mine in Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union which engendered massive profits. An entity called Mediapart reported that the Arif family transferred $368 million into offshore accounts between 2004 and 2014. Another major investor in Bayrock was Alexander Mashkevich who was one of the owner of Kazakhstan’s metal industry.  A Reuter investigation found a $30 million transfer to Bayrock from a Kazahstan bank.

In 2006 Sater travelled with Donald Trump Jnr. and Ivanka to Moscow to look at possibilities for deals

Former Finance Director of Bayrock, Jody Kriss, explained that the company had received unexplained funds from Russia and Kazakhstan and that financial arrangements concealed the true nature of certain transactions. He also maintained in civil litigation that some of the Russian investors were politically acceptable to Vladimir Putin. In fact other Russians were prepared to offer better terms than the former but the ones more favorable to Mr. Arif and Putin were chosen.

TRUMP, SATER AND BAYROCK

From the word go Trump had a sweetheart deal with Bayrock’s Sater. His real estate company provided no capitol and was given substantial management and licensing fees. Trump could retain moneys even when a project failed. The two companies were involved in several projects. 

A major project that was financed by Bayrock was Trump Soho. The money came via an Icelandic Company called FL Group. In return the latter would get 62% of four projects including Soho. While $50 million came from that group, chunks of it went all over the show. Bayrock’s other ventures with Trump included The International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Trump International Hotel and Residences in Phoenix, Arizona. All these projects either went belly up or were never completed. 

The money that Bayrock used ultimately came from Kazakhstan or Russia. Trump was Introduced  to Russian investors by the founder of Bayrock, Mr. Arif Trump knew that those investors poured money into Bayrock. Another wrinkle in the whole saga was that the bank that would finance Trump after all his financial disasters was Deutsche Bank. The latter was found to have laundered Russian money. It is not known who were the guarantors for the Trump Deutsche Bank loans.   

Then came the project that was all over the 2016 Presidential campaign, Trump Tower Moscow.

 TRUMP, COHEN, SATER AND THE MOSCOW TRUMP TOWER CIRCA 2015

In October 2015 Trump, represented by Felix Sater and his personal lawyer Michael Cohen signed a letter of intent with a Russian developer to a build Trump Tower Moscow. That was four months after he descended the Golden Escalator in Trump Tower announcing his candidacy for the Presidency. Sater who was made an advisor to Trump in 2010, subsequently had an office on Trump’s 26th floor rent free and a business card to that effect. 

According to Cohen the deal was halted in July 2016 and contrary to Trump’s statements the latter was continually updated of its progress during the campaign. Much is on the record especially from Sater’s emails. Sater himself never went to Moscow but had an associate as a representative. He also had a contact in the Russian military intelligence who helped him obtain visas for Cohen and himself. The visit was set but cancelled it June/July 2016. 

In November 2015 Sater communicated to Cohen that “our boy could become President” and it was hoped to obtain Putin’s backing. In January 2016 Cohen contacted Peskov, Putin’s Press Secretary and had a detailed discussion about the project. Sater reported that Putin should be offered a $50 million penthouse in the building. The Kremlin at the least knew all about the prospective deal. The Mueller report provided far more detail including that Sater was in contact with Putin. Trump admitted signing the letter of intent in October 2015 but had no recall of Cohen updating him. 

All in all it stinks to high heaven. And Attorney General Barr whitewashed everything. In fact he was appointed to replace Jeff Sessions when he had written his opinion to the WhiteHouse as to what he thought about the Mueller Investigation. Thereafter at any hint of impropriety Trump would sarcastically yell, “Russia, Russia, Russia”.

Trump had one another score to settle and that was his open hatred of Ukraine’s premier Voldomyr Zelensky.

ZELENSKY

It is interesting to note that he has had a rocky relationship with President Zelensky as well bullying him from the word go. Trump 45’s first impeachment was as a result of threatening the newly elected Zelensky that he would withhold Congress approved Ukraine support unless the latter announced an investigation into the Bidens. He has publicly humiliated Voldmyr on a number of occasions including in the Oval Office. In addition to providing life support to Russia he has called for the Ukrainian President’s ouster.  

Zelensky is still in the game and somehow Trump/Musk have turned on the lights again and Starlink is fully functional. Trump has enough on his plate without this open revolt of his support on Ukraine.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Trump has had favorable financial Russian relationships since at least the 2000’s.

Russia intervened in Trump’s favor in the 2016 Presidential election. 

Trump has intervened in favor of the aggressor Russia in it’s war against Ukraine.

Trump should be challenged when he responds, “Russia, Russia, Russia”.

Depending on the outcome of the midterms Trump is realistically at risk for his third impeachment with serious problems in the following trial in the Senate. The major disagreement the traditional Republicans have with him is his support of Russia. They voted overwhelmingly for Russian sanctions which he unceremoniously chucked out. The politician who last time saved Trump from conviction in the Senate in his second impeachment, then leader Senator McConnell, in a lengthy op -ed piece in the Wall Street Journal wrote, inter alia, “…..This is factually wrong, strategically naive and morally bankrupt. His obsequious accommodation of Russia rewarding the aggressor with sanctions relief, won’t persuade Mr. Putin to stop….”.

(Full disclosure: Nothing in this blog is original research. It is all part of the record), 

TRUMP, THE LOSER 11/03

 

Donald Trump is staring defeat in the face - not for the first time in his life - In what is being argued as being the most consequential USA midterm elections since 1966. Then President Johnson’s legislative program was stopped dead in it's tracks.by massive Legislative losses paving the way for the eventual Reagan Conservative Revolution in 1980. The 47th President faces his moment of truth on 11/03 - High Noon.

From sibling rivalry, to catastrophic bankruptcies to being restrained in policy making as the 45th President and his defeat in 2020 he has never admitted that he was a  “loser” -to him the worst designation on earth. To this day no one can become a member of his administration if they accept that Biden won the Presidency. War heroes like John McCain and those who died fighting for their country were incomprehensible  - “losers or suckers”. 

He literally doesn’t “get it”. But now it is for real he is going to win or lose as he faces the defining fight of his legacy. The electoral odds are stacked against him and worsening daily. He remains true to his delusional credo that he is omnipotent and America’s greatest President ever. Consequentially he is out on the trail convinced that to retain congressional power the faithful must pretend that “I am on the ballot”. His problem is that they do! He has one comforting thought he can alter the process and rig the elections as long as he appears to be acting within the scope of the Presidency - The Supreme Court absurdly made it constitutional. 

THERE IS NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS

Where he is not a “loser” is being outlandish, boorish, mendacious, narcissistic and amoral enough to be the center of attention in every world he has operated in. As the man about town, as the mom and pop New York property developer and garish Casino owner he has dominated and not really failed on the principle that “all publicity is good publicity”.

Trump finally found the medium where he could play out all his fantasies using his highly honed salesmanship and entertainment skills in the long running TV series “The Apprentice”. He then parlayed his newly won national persona repeating and repeating an unforgivable calumny that President Barak Hussein Obama was not an American. 

With his new national prominence and aforementioned skills he was able to maneuver a cynical deal with the Christian Evangelicals. This thrice married, self confessed adulterer and woman sexual assaulter, committed to being a supporter of anti abortion and would appoint  Supreme Court judges solely on that criterion. He was also emphatically anti immigration, (especially those from “shithole countries”). Starkly implicit in his MAKE AMERICAN GREAT AGAIN mantra was that he would strive to create a white and Christian land. His coalition paradoxically added those who had suffered financially as industry had mechanized and/or transferred their operations to China and Asia. Added to this coalition were the traditional Republicans as he had won the Primaries in 2015.

The Democrats the traditional party of the worker had focussed their attention on groups that had been prejudged against historically and that didn’t include white able bodied men. That led Trump to victory in 2016. In one of those contingency events that dictate history he was running against a woman who an overzealous FBI chief reopened an investigation into a few weeks before the election thereby tanking the then leader. Fast forward to the current moment which itself requires explaining but hey ho…..

Whichever way this is diced and sliced his long running series, “The Apprentice” was central to his national prominence where his spontaneous definitive judgements gave him the aura of a powerful successful leader and businessman a role which he played far better on the screen than in real life.  

FORWARD BACK TO NOW

Donald J. Trump the 47th President of America is not going to accept a crushing defeat that will lay him open to investigation, have the impact of exposing his double dealing, reject his nominees and witness the humiliation of some of the members of his cabinet impeached, let alone his good self. He has tried every trick in the book from getting red states to gerrymander the electoral map, sent in and threatened paramilitary forces into the cities at election time, used every possible legal avenue and presidential power to alter the running of the voting procedures - yet the polls have moved in the opposite direction.

Nevertheless he is in a constant state of denial that he isn’t the problem rather it is his party members. The latter feel the reverse, 61 0f the 72 close races have seen Republican nominees criticize or outright dissociate themselves from the President and his policies. With this reality and with an approval rating as low as 30% he has taken to the road to mobilize the Party as only “he can do ”. He alone can persuade the electorate that they aren’t really experiencing what they are. He can gloss over the fact that he has just broken every pledge he made in 2024, reassure the MAGA faithful that he is the Messiah he depicted, or Natalie did, on his social media company “Truth Social”. (Sic).

WHY CAN'T HIS SHOW JUST GO ON?

First time round he didn’t have the supporting team to push him across the line. His Attorney General resigned, his Security detail refused to take him to the Capital, his Defense Secretaries wouldn’t play ball and he was losing support of the Republican Congress leaders who were looking to the next election and revolted at the storming of The Capital. Now he fully controls the Speaker of the House, the Vice President and a collection of yahobs which would make the Queen in Alice in Wonderland look sane. So he has a cabal who will do nothing to stop any trick he will try and pull from declaring an Emergency, grabbing poll boxes, axing screeds of voters and on and on. 

 Trump acts within the knowledge that the Supreme Court manufactured Constitutional law by obscenely absolutely immunizing him against the law for any decision made in arenas where he has exclusive powers. That includes the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs and as it turns out controlling membership of expert Statutory Institutions such as the EPA - bodies that were enacted by the Legislative body. He was given “presumptive” immunity in matters that were not constitutionally afforded to him which thus far appears to include destroying half the White House to build a ballroom, accepting money from donors who then receive government contracts, deals with cryptocurrency as none of these actions pose any danger to his  presidential authority. The President has no immunity for “private acts” which presumably cover behaviors such as rape. He also knows that there is no way that his Justice Department will attempt to prosecute him for anything and he has absolute immunity for pardoning power and that doesn’t exclude himself.

So why is he bothering to even try not to be a loser when he can just “bring on the clowns”? Because he still needs the worship, adoration and acceptance of his cult and to prove he is not a loser. There are also practical matters such as the concurrent State elections.

WHY THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

The midterm elections involve the State Officials such as Governor, Attorney General and Election Officers. More often than not citizens vote down ballot of their Congressional Candidate. Those are the office bearers that ultimately certify election results and were one of Trump's his central targets in 2020 when he refused to be a loser.

Trump must be of the mind set that if his candidates could win the Primaries he just needs the his cult to come out once more. There are many indicators as to why they won’t, several pointers that literally “his” party is going to lose one or both Houses and overwhelming evidence that he is the reason. He is turning the election into a referendum on him so it makes sense that he carries on the one man act.  Of course if this fails which it will he has to continue with a reprise of “2020".

WHY HIS SHOW WILL CLOSE

 Frank Sinatra didn’t have as many comebacks as Trump. Even he called it a day. Trump even in his one smash hit “The Apprentice” had to eventually close down. Enough was enough as it was the same old same old. This 2024 Presidential encore, after a very short run, by public demand needs to “face the final curtain”.  Each day the outlook gets worse. With a month to go his approval rating is 30%. The distinguished pollster Nate Silver rates the chance of the Democrats winning the House at 94% and the Senate at 74%. The Cook Report, considered the golden standard has confirmed the crescenderIng downward movement. 

Trump ever ready with a fresh reason for the mess he has created placed the blame on the Prime Minister of Ukraine for the fuel crisis. As the Middle East war extends to the Gulf States, in particular Saudi Arabia, he has yet to accept responsibility for his ignoring his own intelligence service's advice that his rationale for going to war with Iran to effect regime change was delusional. So it is about to be all Netanyahu’s fault. 

He does not address the reasons why his supporters are falling over each other in the rush to the door. The abandonment of his promises, the protection of the Epstein elitists, the initiation of wars, the total sell out of the working class by causing their economic crisis in addition to taking away their health care, the callous barbarity of his paramilitary ICE, his desire to be a dictator and naked corruption  - apparently AMERICA HAS BEEN MADE GREAT AGAIN. There is even going to be a public execution just to bring us back to the glorious good old days. 

The numbers worsen even more as Obama, the most popular politician in America takes charge as the leader of the opposition. So it is time to open a new show or at least a rerun of 2020.

“2020” THE SEQUEL

With the failure to persuade that his incoherent claim that America is in a Golden Age an intensified repeat update version of “2020” must follow. He has suggested to “cheat” in the elections. The opening moves of intimidation have been massive crackdowns in big cities like LA, Minnesota and Chicago where in spite a couple of homicides the paramilitary were unceremoniously kicked out by protestors. The protests are national, spreading to the rural strongholds where added to the farmers woes are increased diesel costs and incomprehensible tariffs. There are nationwide uprisings against Trump’s MAGA allies allowing the erection of Data Centers which gobble up the resources of the small communities. The "No King's" movement has expanded and expanded and once again a massive whole country effort is scheduled for October 17. 

So it is left to take over the system through the courts and/or grab the ballot boxes, elect people who won’t declare Democrats winners - seen the movie before. The Supreme Court have not given him the right to control elections but have helped out by allowing States to Gerrymander seats to decrease black representation for example and allowed unlimited money into the elections.  

But as seen in “2020 - The Original”, when he loses he certainly isn’t going to call Barak, Hakeem and Chuck concede defeat and offer to work together. He is going to take them on. It will be showdown at High Noon.

 HIGH NOON(11/03)

High Noon, the movie was conceived as an allegory to the  infamous Senator McCarthy witch-hunt which labelled a wide range of the opposition as Communists and ruined their lives. Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn was the Chief Counsel. So history sometimes rhymes. High Noon the movie is when good ultimately confronts evil. When the upholder of law faces a life or death struggle against evil. It was one of the first 25 Films to be named by Congress as being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

Trump will accelerate evil as the clock strikes, High Noon.There will be pressure on election officials, there will be alternate slates of those “elected” that the sitting Congress will have to choose from. There will be attempts at intimidation but it is difficult to stop a tidal wave. But he will try. Maybe the pardoned Oath Keepers, Proud Boys or Three Percenters, the unofficial paramilitary will move in again. However there is legally constituted group that thus far have been involved in all manner of “law enforcement”, ICE.

 

 Trump’s big big move will be try to nominate different winners of elections claiming fraud tra la la. He will try and have election results not certified. Ironically there is a majority of Democrats remaining in the Senate and they will undoubtedly accept the voters’ choices. House Speaker Johnson will have a hard time holding onto his slim majority to refuse the incoming majority as the writing is on the wall that Trump is on the outs. He can declare an Insurrection or an Emergency there are after all a number of ongoing wars that he is involved in. In all probability Trump will have his Justice Department investigate and take as much revenge as he can.

 

But somehow this blue wave and more significantly the abandonment of the Trump experiment by enough Republicans means like Frank Miller and his henchmen in High Noon, when the dust clears, he will be lying on the floor. He has lost support from the electorate and many of the candidates. Maybe even The Supreme Court will take an emergency motion to see that The Constitution which they took an oath to protect is protected. Under less dire circumstances they rushed to defy the intent of the Constitution to hurry George W. Bush's victory against Al Gore overruling the State's domain.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

The Supreme Court decision on immunity was judicially outrageous at worst and incompetent at best. Their job definition includes what the scope of their rulings could encompass. 

Trump's pandering and supporting Putin is unconscionable at best and treasonous at worst. 

This time round Trump’s Party has literally billions of dollars more. Good old Elon has already  poured in over $300 million. Not bad for an immigrant from a shithole country.

It is interesting to note that the turnaround against President Johnson in 1966 was mainly because of cost of living issues, especially the cost of milk. Suppose it is a parameter of an unfair distribution of resources.

The real fight for American democracy will be in 2028.  The Dems need to start to get their act together. Republican states, N. Carolina, Georgia, Alaska, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Florida, S.Carolina are not trending their way under Bernie Sander’s lead. In fact two off his acolytes in Maine and Michigan are underperforming the general trend. They need to build a consensus platform to run on. A big tent is all very well but can leak in a storm but there needs to a manifesto that they all run on.