Trump's Admiration For Putin May Be More Complex Than Realized

There is a lot of buzz today about the connections between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and his Russian money. It does appear that the emails about the Democratic National Committee that were leaked apparently came from a Russian source that has been connected to the Russian government in the past in a clear attempt to harm Democrats on the eve of their national convention. In addition, apparently the only issue the Trump campaign actually insisted upon in the GOP platform was making sure that it did not include providing arms and support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian incursion, a position that is totally at odds with the mainstream GOP position. Trump’s statements about NATO have also shown that there is no guarantee that the US will come to the aid of a NATO ally in case of attack as is expressly written in the NATO charter, further encouraging Putin to try to extend his sphere of influence in the Baltics and elsewhere and essentially taking us back to the Cold War. Josh Marshall has also documented how Russian money helped save Trump after his bankruptcy and business failures.

As Dan Drezner correctly points out, none of this is proof of anything but it is all certainly suggestive and would certainly bear further scrutiny. And the press should also do its duty in pressing Trump hard on these questions, especially his NATO comments and the GOP platform re Ukraine. And, politically, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander and the Clinton campaign should do its most to keep increase the visibility of questions around the Trump-Putin relationship.