XPost: alt.christnet.second-coming.real-soon-now, sac.general, a   
   t.politics.democrats   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc   
   From: hannity_is_gay@fox.net   
      
   Hunting and exterminating Trump supporters will be a national sport by the   
   time this fiasco ends.   
      
   'A plausible theory of mind-boggling collusion': Jonathan Chait tests the   
   case for Trump as Russian asset   
   What if Donald Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987?..   
      
   Donald Trump has admired Vladimir Putin, and his tweets can attest to   
   that.   
      
      
   Donald J. Trump   
   ?   
   @realDonaldTrump   
    Putin has become a big hero in Russia with an all time high popularity.   
   Obama, on the other hand, has fallen to his lowest ever numbers. SAD   
   10:00 PM - Mar 21, 2014   
   979   
   2,385 people are talking about this   
   Twitter Ads info and privacy   
   But, a recent article by Jonathan Chait suggests that the Trump-Putin   
   relationship goes far deeper than mere admiration. Coupled with Trump's   
   ties to Russia and the indictments people close to him have received,   
   Chait suggests the question to ask is: What if Trump has been a Russian   
   intelligence asset since 1987?   
      
   Trump and Putin are set to meet in Finland on Monday for a summit, which   
   may shed light on the nature of the relationship — or not.   
      
   Jonathan Chait put it all into perspective speaking with Day 6 host Brent   
   Bambury.   
      
      
   Cars pass by a billboard showing then-U.S. president-elect Donald Trump   
   and Russian President Vladimir Putin placed by pro-Serbian movement in   
   Danilovgrad in November 2016. (Savo Prelevic/AFP/Getty Images)   
   Brent Bambury: You've written that Monday's summit meeting should not be   
   seen as a negotiation between two world leaders, but rather as a meeting   
   between a Russian intelligence asset and his handler. Are you arguing that   
   Donald Trump, president of the United States, is knowingly and willingly   
   an intelligence asset for Vladimir Putin?   
      
   Jonathan Chait: I don't know. What I'm trying to argue is that we've been   
   assuming all along that the Russia scandal goes just a little bit further   
   than what we can see at any given time. And what we can see at any given   
   time has gotten deeper and deeper. Initially, when the news of Russia   
   hacking the Democratic emails broke, the news stories asserted either that   
   Russia was doing nothing in the election at all or ignored that   
   possibility altogether and assumed they just wanted to gain information   
   about the candidates.   
      
   I'm arguing that we're erring if we assume that it's only going a little   
   further. It may well, in fact, and that's probably the most likely   
   possibility. But to ignore the minority of outcomes that are sort of on   
   the ends of the extreme can be an analytic error. We should look at what   
   the information we have tells us about Trump, what we don't know, and   
   where it could be leading us.   
      
   I don't know how far it goes. I don't think Trump is controlled — like   
   he's not a Russian spy, but is he being influenced and manipulated?   
   Figures like John Brennan, the head of the CIA, said, 'Yes, Vladimir Putin   
   has something over Donald Trump, he has some secret blackmail leverage.'   
   That's someone who would be in a position to know something like this so I   
   think we should take that seriously.   
      
   He's [not] speaking Russian with Vladimir Putin. He doesn't hum the   
   Russian national anthem to himself at night before he goes to sleep.   
   - Jonathan Chait   
   BB: You quote CIA Director John Brennan, saying that people who have been   
   cultivated by Russia might not even realize it. Why do you think that's   
   significant in this case?   
      
   JC: [Brennan] said that, and he also said more directly that Vladimir   
   Putin has something over on Donald Trump. It's significant because, on at   
   least two occasions, European intelligence agencies overheard Russians   
   talking about the Trump campaign in what they felt [were] private   
   conversations and briefed Brennan on what they had learned. We don't know   
   exactly what they said and we don't know how credible these sources are.   
   But clearly, Brennan was alarmed by what he heard. That's one of the many   
   pieces of information I assemble in this story that I think presents the   
   possibility of a much darker picture than has been discussed.   
      
   BB: Well, I mean, Brennan believes that Trump is afraid of Vladimir Putin   
   and that seems to be such an odd dynamic. How could the most powerful   
   person in the world, the president of the United States, be afraid of   
   somebody else? How would that evidence ever be leveraged against him if   
   there is something that he has over him?   
      
   JC: That's a very good question. Russia's economy is the size of Italy's.   
   Trump shouldn't be afraid. It could be financial leverage. Trump is   
   obviously very reluctant to disclose his financial information. Every   
   presidential candidate for 40 years has published his tax returns. Trump   
   has refused to do that. So, obviously, he's got something to hide about   
   his finances and Russia has a lot to do with his finances.   
      
   Trump is also very private about his sexual information. He's paid non-   
   disclosure agreements to women. He has sexual secrets that he wants to   
   keep and Russia is in the business of gathering [sexually] compromising   
   information on foreign dignitaries. They spring honey traps on people who   
   visit Russia — that's what Russia does. We don't know that Trump did that.   
   But that's a very lively possibility for what could be happening.   
      
      
   Trump and Putin shake hands during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany in   
   2017. (Marcellus Stein/Associated Press)   
   BB: In your article, you are critical of American media for not being more   
   open to this possibility. But you don't have evidence that confirms the   
   theory. So, why do you think this kind of speculation —   
      
   JC: I would say I have evidence, but I don't have proof. There's a big   
   difference between those two things.   
      
   BB: OK, you don't have proof that closes the circle here.   
      
   JC: Right.   
      
   BB: So, why do you think it's useful to bring this forward now?   
      
   JC: You know, I don't want to necessarily criticize the media. I think the   
   media's doing a pretty good job. There's been just an absolute blizzard of   
   scoops in individual bombshells that have come along for about two years   
   now and sometimes it's just very difficult to keep track of all these   
   things.   
      
   I've been filing them away the entire time for this story. As I've gone   
   through to find them, I discovered some of the stories that came out six   
   months or a year ago. It's a revelation to me even though I was stunned   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)