Josh Marshall on Putin and Trump

[Koinos]

I know this has been posted before, but in case anyone missed it:

"Trump & Putin. Yes, It's Really a Thing," by Josh Marshall

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing

Here are just a few points he makes, but the whole article deserves to be read:

1. All the other discussions of Trump's finances aside, his debt load has grown dramatically over the last year, from $350 million to $630 million. This is in just one year while his liquid assets have also decreased. Trump has been blackballed by all major US banks.

2. Post-bankruptcy Trump has been highly reliant on money from Russia, most of which has over the years become increasingly concentrated among oligarchs and sub-garchs close to Vladimir Putin. Here's a good overview from The Washington Post, with one morsel for illustration ...

To put this all into perspective, if Vladimir Putin were simply the CEO of a major American corporation and there was this much money flowing in Trump's direction, combined with this much solicitousness of Putin's policy agenda, it would set off alarm bells galore. That is not hyperbole or exaggeration. And yet Putin is not the CEO of an American corporation. He's the autocrat who rules a foreign state, with an increasingly hostile posture towards the United States and a substantial stockpile of nuclear weapons. The stakes involved in finding out 'what's going on' as Trump might put it are quite a bit higher.

There is something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of circumstantial evidence for a financial relationship between Trump and Putin or a non-tacit alliance between the two men. Even if you draw no adverse conclusions, Trump's financial empire is heavily leveraged and has a deep reliance on capital infusions from oligarchs and other sources of wealth aligned with Putin. That's simply not something that can be waved off or ignored.

[FSogol]

1. K & R. I can picture the Trump kids calling another meeting....

[2naSalit]

6. To shift any

remaining assets and I bet they aren't lax about making sure they have updated passports like they were about registering to vote. Then again, perhaps their passports are not from the US..?

[world wide wally]

2. And THAT is the likely reason he won't release his tax returns, he is trying to undo NATO, and now

The Geneva Convention. (Torture will come in handy when he and Putin seize absolute power)

[kskiska]

3. "There's something going on."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Trump is too doorknob-stupid to realize he is being used by Putin. . . . . nt

[mrmpa]

11. and Paul Manafort...........eom

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Manafort intelligent, but may have sold his soul. Oh, he's working to elect Trump. Case closed. nt

[Koinos]

16. Is it possible that Manafort is working for both sides?

Just speculation, I know.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. Sure. Manafort will land sunnyside up however the election turns out. . . nt

[Koinos]

13. Good point.

He is wading into deep water, and he doesn't realize how dangerous it is.

There is ample evidence that he has cheated college students, contractors, businesses, and others who took him at his word.

But if he ends up on the foul side of Russian lenders, that could be another story altogether.

He is a psychopath, whose ego fools him into thinking he is invulnerable.

[Politicub]

19. I think he likes it

His supporters are getting excited about the prospect of punishing their political enemies.

So for them, the spectacle of Trump licking Putin's pooter is the most excitement they've had in years.

[sheshe2]

4. K&R

[Koinos]

5. Senator Chris Murphy called Trump's statement treason.

I don't have the quote, but Senator Murphy was just interviewed on CNN, I believe.

[Stonepounder]

7. Something's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear. n/t

[Augiedog]

8. Time for Trump to be handcuffed and do the perp walk. He MUST NOT be allowed to occupy the

Presidency. That the RNC and the GOP in general seem not to care or are in active agreement with this traitor; they need to pay the price at election time. If the RNC continues to support this traitor they mark themselves as a clear and present danger to this nation.

[4lbs]

10. Of course Trump has been backballed by US lenders and banks.

Every time a person or business declares bankruptcy, it makes it harder to get lending and investment money for future purchases and ventures.

For those of us who have ever declared bankruptcy, how difficult would it be to get a car or house loan? Quite difficult.

Now, imagine having SIX bankruptcies on your financial history.

If you run a bank or are a rich venture capitalist, how good would you feel about giving $30 to $100 million to a guy that has gone through SIX bankruptcies?


That's why Trump's only source of money for his Miss USA, Miss Universe, and golf courses is to take foreign (ahem, Russian, Ukrainian) money.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Buds

[Koinos]

17. Looks like the horse has more than one ass.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. DUzy ! (3 asses?)

[red dog 1]

20. lol

[red dog 1]

15. Perhaps it's time for us Dems to do to Trump what Trump-lovers like to do to HRC?

Go to his rallies, or wherever else he goes, and yell:
LOCK HIM UP!...LOCK HIM UP!...LOCK HIM UP!....LOCK HIM UP!....LOCK HIM UP!

[leftieNanner]

21. I still think Trump's Candidacy is an art project

But it has gone on WAAAY to long and he has gotten far too close to the White House. He has said and done so very many things that would have automatically eliminated any other "normal" candidate. Sometimes it feels like he says these things in order to get himself thrown out of town. But the red state lunatics just eat it up. The republican party has brought this on themselves. They have had many opportunities to step forward and tell this asshole to sit down and shut up.

I am convinced that he does NOT want the job, just "the winning" and the prestige. He told John Kasich that he could be the de-facto president if he would be his running mate.

GOTV People! Let's put Hillary in the White House, take back the Senate, and put a serious dent in the republican House majority for an eventual 2018 Dem majority. Let's get our local governments in the hands of Progressives! Get to Work!

[sarcasmo]

22. Kick for the truth

[kentuck]

23. Forget Benghazi and emails...

the biggest security threat to our country is the hu-u-uge mouth of Donald Trump.

[TeamPooka]

24. Deadbeat Trump wants to stiff the Russians and the only way he can skip out on the bill

is by getting elected president.
My new theory because he stiffs everyone so why not Putin and his cronies?.

[Koinos]

26. Stiffing Russian oligarchs might get complicated.

It's much easier to stiff college students and contractors.

[PearliePoo2]

28. Radioactive isotopes delivered via a needle prick.

It's a nasty way to go as foes of Pooty know.

[TeamPooka]

30. That's why he needs the Secret Service to help him.

[Koinos]

32. But, but...

According to Trump, Putin is better than Obama or Clinton.

[TeamPooka]

31. Scorpion and the frog. he's a scorpion, he can't help himself.

it's what he does.
Money only goes one way with that guy.
I've met many like him. They don't like to pay out or pay back.

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. K&R for more exposure!!!

[Koinos]

29. The Latest from Talking Points Memo

Panetta Slams Trump's Russia Comments: 'It's Deadly Serious'

The Ironclad Case for Trump Releasing Tax Returns Yesterday

And many more articles on Josh Marshall's site:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/

He is really pursuing these leads.