"In the intelligence business, we would say that Mr. Putin had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation." -- Former top CIA official Michael J. Morrell in today's New York Times, endorsing Hillary Clinton and warning of the national security threat posed by neo- fascist useful idiot Donald "Rump" Trump. The entire op/ ed is worth a read.
"Coincidentally," the Clinton campaign also released this today, including a number of Republicans asking about the Putin- Trump connection:
BONUS: The New Yorker's David Remnick has a thoroughly chilling article on Putin and his belief that Rump would advance Russia's strategic interest. Excerpts:
"The fellow-feeling between the two is complex, but it is not hard to see who gets the better of whom. Trump sees strength and cynicism in Putin and hopes to emulate him. Putin sees in Trump a grand opportunity. He sees in Trump weakness and ignorance, a confused mind. He has every hope of exploiting him." (emphasis added)Remnick concludes with:
"Vladimir Putin is a cunning and cynical reader of his adversaries. He notices that Trump does not know the difference between the Quds Force and the Kurds, or what the “nuclear triad” is; that his analysis of Brexit was based in part on what might be good for his golf courses in Britain; that his knowledge of world affairs is roughly that of someone who subscribes to a daily newspaper but doesn’t always have time to get to it. Overwhelmed with his own problems at home, Putin sees the ready benefit in having the United States led by an unlettered narcissist who believes that geostrategic questions are as easy to resolve as a real-estate closing. Putin knows a chump when he sees one." (emphasis added)
