“I have to get something off my chest,” announced The Prof, intriguing the congregation of convivial conversationalists – The Prof being a man of few, albeit erudite, words. Luke the Dude spoke for us all: “The floor is yours, Prof!”
“Thank you,” nodded The Prof, “This has nothing to do with our local kakistocracy – the ‘achievements’ of the ANC are too depressing for words, except Minister Modise’s ‘fokol’.
“In the past several years I have had a growing sense that much of what Donald Trump does and says covertly promotes the interests of Russia, often against the interests of America. Quick examples: undermining the professional free media, tariff wars, attempts to break up Nato, sabotaging Americans’ trust in their security services and courts, polluting American democracy all the way to the treacherous invasion of The Capitol – I can
go on.
“Of course one is loath to ask the question, ‘Could the president of the United States be a Russian asset?’ Even after we saw Trump deferring to Putin’s lie over solid US intelligence.
“Then I saw Thom Hartmann, in an opinion piece for Raw Story, confronting readers with exactly that. Briefly, here it is, with my take: “In 1987 Trump visited Moscow and came back a changed man. Imagine he was groomed by the then KGB to run for president, wrote Hartmann.
“My first thought – unlikely. But the Russian intelligence service is very thorough. They would have known about his infatuation with money and sexy women, his disdain for honesty, paying contractors or loyalty (only to himself), his vanity, ambition, arrogance and his narcissism. And then, he’s not very bright. They would have known exactly how to play him.
“There is also kompromat, involving a spicy spy tape of Trump with Moscow’s sexiest – but, being kompromat, it won’t be shown around. Thus, no evidence. Yet, Trump’s timely and untimely (detailed) denials are suspicious.
The lady doth protest too much.
“On his return from Moscow Trump blew $100’000 on full-page ads in three major newspapers ‘urging America to abandon and leave defenceless its allies in Europe and Asia’. This was celebrated in Moscow, reported US intelligence.
“A month later Trump held a rally in New Hampshire to test the waters. No luck, so he set out to raise his profile, notably with attacks on Democrats – like Obama’s birth certificate craziness and Hillary Clinton’s emails. By 2016 he was ready.
“Trump chose Paul Manafort as his campaign manager – a man with long-standing links to the Kremlin and Russian intelligence. One example of Manafort’s achievements was supplying Russian intelligence with insider information on six US states that could swing the election in the Electoral College. The Russians (successfully) used it to reach 26 million targeted Americans in social media campaigns to glorify Trump and demonise Clinton.
“In a press conference Trump looked heavenwards and asked, ‘Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30’000 emails that are missing.’ Russia launched its first attack on emails in Clinton’s personal office later that same day.
“Manafort was investigated by US intelligence and the Mueller probe, charged and sent to prison, where he stayed until he was pardoned by Trump.
Clinton won by 3 million votes but lost the 2016 election to Trump in the Electoral College.
“And there’s so much more,” lamented The Prof as The Governor called time.
Email: noag@hermanus.co.za
