The Scales Are Tipping Against Trump and Toward "Puppet"

The scales are tipping against Donald Trump on the important issue of whether he is a "Manchurian candidate", i.e. a Russian puppet, though not by the brain washing used in the iconic film. (His brain doesn't stay focused long enough to be washed, I would guess.) 

He is possibly controlled by leverage Putin has over him. Readers of ex-spy novelist John Le Carre know whereof I speak. Readers of actual WWII and Cold War espionage also know what I'm talking about. 

Or he is just such an idiot as to believe he should go along with strong-man Putin, a real life model for a school yard bully. 

We need to know which it is.

This week the report on Trump and his Russian ties worked its way into the media via the New York Times  and BuzzFeed. Trump Received Unsubstantiated Report That Russia Had ... ; BuzzFeed link is full document. 

After my initial shouting of "smoking gun", I backed off, becoming more cautious about whether the report's provenance makes it an actual "smoking gun" as to Trump being a Russian puppet in collusion with the Russian's hacking of the 2016 campaign. Or is the report a piece of disinformation from the Russians or even just a bunch of nothing but rumors. Having backed off for a day I then remembered how long it took for the smoking gun to emerge in Watergate. A year!

Now I'm just watching and waiting for the chickens to come home to roost. And they seem to be.

In the last two days, four items have joined together that seem to support the original "unsubstantiated" report of Trump being a Russian "puppet". 

First, I remember he boasted last year of business deals in Russia, but yesterday he denied them
though "his dealings there go back decades."   donald-trump-a-modern-manchurian-candidate.html

Second, he refused at yesterday's press conference to answer whether he or his people had been in touch with the Russians during the campaign. Mr. Trump, We Need an Answer  (My recollection is that there were reports at the time of such visits to Russia.)

Third, as Lawrence O'Donnell has noted, Trump attacks everybody but never attacks Russia. "The Last Word", MSNBC, 1-11-17. No cite yet available.

Fourth,Trump won't release his income taxes, which might show Russian investments. His lame excuse is that he's under IRS audit. When I studied tax in law school, an audit did not preclude a taxpayer from releasing his own returns.

Lots of unanswered questions about Trump aren't there?

Maybe the best one is Jimmy Fallon's last night: "Can you impeach someone before they're sworn in?"