MAGA movement people deny the influence of Russia on their leaders. They have done so since those subjects of the Mueller Special Counsel investigation labeled it a hoax. That investigation returned 37 indictments resulting in seven guilty pleas or convictions despite the label.
The Russia Hoax Was No Hoax
Other results sprang from the non-hoax. Mueller referred fourteen criminal matters to the Department of Justice for further activity.1 The investigation found compelling evidence Trump obstructed justice on multiple occasions. More than 1,000 former federal prosecutors signed a letter stating he should have been prosecuted.
Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.
STATEMENT BY FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTORS
A cornerstone of the MAGA movement is defending Trump and denying any advantage the former president gained through Russian interference. That’s despite compelling evidence of 2016 campaign interference funded by and originating from Russia. That cornerstone requires an embrace of Russian interests and Russian actions, and it’s strengthening.
1987 – Trump In Moscow
Donald Trump had already begun making loud splashes in New York before he married Ivana Zelnickova. Ivana was a twenty-eight-year-old model from Czechoslovakia, a communist country. Czech files declassified in 2016 revealed Czech spies were keeping tabs on the power couple in Manhattan.
Trump’s version of his first Moscow visit begins at a 1986 lunch hosted by the son of Estee Lauder. Seated next to Donald was Soviet ambassador Yuri Dubinin.
One thing led to another, and now I’m talking about building a large luxury hotel, across the street from the Kremlin, in partnership with the Soviet government.
Donald Trump – The Art of the Deal
The ambassador’s daughter said neither the seating arrangement nor the eventual invitation to visit Moscow were accidental2. Verification of the 1987 visit being anything other than a first attempt at a failed project will probably never appear.
The visit definitely sparked political fervor in Donald Trump for some reason. He spent nearly $100,0003 running a full page ad in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe.
A Familiar Trump Tune
The ad ran shortly after a trip where Trump was treated like the royalty he envisions himself. It has a familiar ring. Any social media platform visit will reveal MAGA people using same or similar language. Why is that true? Because it’s Donald Trump’s zero sum language of persecution and the Trump brand IS the MAGA brand.
For decades, Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the United States. The saga continues unabated as we defend the Persian Gulf, an area of only marginal significance to the United States for its oil supplies, but one upon which Japan and others are almost totally dependent.
Why are these nations not paying the United States for the human lives and billions of dollars we are losing to protect their interests?
The world is laughing at America’s politicians as we protect ships we don’t own, carrying oil we don’t need, destined for allies who won’t help.
Trump Ad (select link for image of ad)
Trump’s Russia Connections
Irina Bujor/AP
A promoter representing Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, Rob Goldstone, texted Donald Trump, Jr. in June, 2016. Goldstone stated in that text he could arrange access to “…official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia.2” The text explained it included “very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump,” explicitly stating the interest Russia had in promoting Trump’s presidential campaign.
Son-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort joined Junior for a meeting at Trump Tower shortly after the above text. They met with six Russians connected to the Russian government to discuss the high level sensitive information. Don Jr. dismissed the meeting as inconsequential because no substantive information changed hands. Healthy skepticism of that statement would be prudent.
2013 Miss Universe Moscow
Trump staged a Miss Universe pageant in Moscow in 2013. Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov who reportedly paid Trump $10 million to have the event at his Crocus City Hall. A judge for the pageant was Agalarov’s wife and his son Emin performed. Russian prosecutor-general Yuri Chaika had the purported Clinton information. Chaika passed the information to Aras so he could offer it to Trump..
Agalarov is closely connected to Putin. How close? When the Russian president was unable to attend the pageant, he sent an apology present to Trump via Agalarov’s daughter.5
Trump made further Russian connections in his quest to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. One of those high ranking connections was Vladimir Kozhin, Putin’s head of “property management” for the Russian government. The Obama administration considered Kozhin important and connected enough to be sanctioned for Putin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine.
A month after Putin annexed Crimea, Trump spoke with Fox News host Eric Boling.
[Putin] has done an amazing job of taking the mantle, and he’s taken it away from the president [Obama] and you look at what he’s doing — so smart. When you see the riots in a country [Crimea] because they’re hurting the Russians, okay, we’ll go and take it over. . . You have to give him a lot of credit.
Donald Trump – when asked about Putin – April 12, 2014 – Fox News
That’s Donald Trump admiring a strongman invading a sovereign nation that had recently ousted their Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, a Putin puppet. Remember Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort attending the Trump Tower meeting with Don Jr.? He was formerly a right hand man for Yanukovych. It’s a small world.
Diminishing NATO
Donald Trump told the New York Times if he was elected in 2016 the U.S. would not necessarily defend new North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members in the Baltics in the event of Russian attack.6
You can’t forget the bills. They have an obligation to make payments. Many NATO nations are not making payments, are not making what they’re supposed to make. That’s a big thing. You can’t say forget that.
Donald Trump – June 21, 2016 – New York Times
Note Trump specifically said Russian attack. Trump’s idea of how NATO maintains equity between NATO members is as transactional as a taxi ride and it’s far from that. Offering to sacrifice NATO members to Putin if they don’t “pay up” is like a common mob threat in the protection business.
The NATO alliance is perhaps the strongest in world history and bipartisan, unflinching support from the United States contributes greatly to that strength. Following up on his threat once elected, Trump threatened to cut the U.S. direct monetary contribution to the NATO operational budget. Trump also withdrew a third of U.S. troops stationed in Germany all while continuing to praise Putin every time an opportunity presented itself.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty specifies an attack on one NATO member will be defended as an attack on all. It’s been called upon only once… after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States that the former president swears he witnessed close up.
To safeguard NATO from Presidential fiat, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) wrote a bipartisan bill passed in December, 2023 to prohibit any President from withdrawing from NATO without a two-thirds Senate vote or an Act of Congress.
Putin Still Gets A Pass
Fast forwarding to a campaign stop in South Carolina, Trump makes it clear he has not changed his mind.
One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said “Sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?”
Donald Trump – February 10, 2024 – South Carolina campaign stop
I said, “You didn’t pay, you’re delinquent?”
He said, “Yes, let’s say that happened.”
I said, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want, you gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills!”
The irony of those words from a man infamous for stiffing contractors and lawyers being so insistent on paying bills hits you in the face doesn’t it?
The substance of the above clip of his speech rippled through Europe as did his initial revelations of his attitude toward NATO. Russia is again the nation to receive carte blanche from a Trump administration for aggression against a NATO member.
MAGA Embraces Russia
Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn received $45,000 to speak at a December, 2015 gala in Moscow. At the time, Flynn was advising the Trump presidential campaign and later was Trump’s national security adviser. Flynn sat at the head table next to Putin. The other seats were filled by perennial presidential candidate Jill Stein and high ranking Russian officials.
Flynn pleaded guilty of lying to the FBI during the Mueller investigation before being pardoned by his boss.
Tucker Carlson recently interviewed Putin on Putin’s turf and terms. By most accounts it was a boring recitation of Russian history with a lot of fantasy built in. One of the more interesting very debatable facts was Putin blaming Poland for being invaded by Germany to start World War II. It mirrors Putin’s narrative of his invasion of Ukraine being a simple border dispute, a claim that’s a mandatory talking point in the MAGA culture to explain their nationalist tendencies.
Senators and Congressman Join
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Louisiana Republicans managed to gather tens of thousands of Russian dollars7 into their 2018 campaigns through Texas-based gas company American Ethane. 88 percent of that company was owned by three Russian nationals; Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Direct donations from foreign nationals are prohibited by the Federal Election Commission.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) and seven other Republicans spent their 2018 July 4th holiday touring St. Petersburg and Moscow. While there, they had meetings with the Kremlin foreign minister among others. They had originally said the purpose of the trip was to warn Russia interference in upcoming mid-term elections would be met with stern measures. Once in Russia, Shelby stressed to his Russian hosts their intent was to was to “strive for a better relationship” with Moscow, not “accuse Russia of this or that or so forth.”
This or that or so forth uncovered in 2016 as election interference, probably.
MAGA Mind Acceptance
Rank and file MAGA troops follow the trail of their leaders with little deviation and no questions. This includes narratives eliminating Russia as a nation with enmity towards the country they call home. Considering Russia friendly to the United State ignores decades of proof to the contrary.
The same people wrap themselves in the American flag and call themselves patriots.
Defending our country means not blindly following a charismatic leader ignoring that his statements literally have fascist coloring. Watching documentaries peppered easily debunked conspiracy theories and redistributing those theories to like-minded individuals is not flag waving.
Russia is not our ally. Neither the current Russian Ukraine invasion nor the prior one were border disputes. Vladimir Putin sanctions murders in his own country and abroad.
Until those facts and more are accepted by and become important to MAGA individuals, there’s no path forward narrow the widening divide.
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- The Special Counsel investigation uncovered extensive criminal activity ↩︎
- The Hidden History of Trump’s First Trip to Moscow ↩︎
- AP Story about Trump’s ad buy in three major American newspapers ↩︎
- Donald Trump Jr.’s Emails About Meeting With Russian Lawyer, Annotated ↩︎
- At The 2013 Miss Universe Contest, Trump Met Some Of Russia’s Rich And Powerful ↩︎
- Donald Trump Sets Conditions for Defending NATO Allies Against Attack ↩︎
- Mike Johnson’s Campaign Contributions From Company Tied to Russia ↩︎