Putin and Trump (Kremlin)

As I said in a previous column, Donald Trump’s scandals are always much deeper than you think. Although the president has spent the last two years bleating and tweeting, “no collusion,” there is a mountain of evidence showing that his 2016 presidential campaign had extensive help from the Russian government.

Russians have been funding Trump for several years, he’s also been using real estate to launder Russian money pilfered from government coffers and Russian emigres use his hotels to come to America on birth tours. It was also revealed that he was working on a deal to build a Trump property in Moscow during the presidential campaign. This is something he neglected to tell the American people.

In the last few days, it was revealed that Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort, who owed Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska $20 million, shared campaign polling data with another Russian, Konstantin Kilimnik, who formerly worked in military intelligence. And Russian lawyer Natalya Veselnitskaya, who met with Donald Trump Jr. to share dirt on Hillary Clinton, was charged with obstruction of justice in a money laundering scheme. The indictment also revealed she had ties to the Kremlin.

According to the Center for American Progress’ Russia Project, the Trump campaign had more than 100 contacts with Russian officials. Trump’s ridiculous border wall national address was designed to deflect media attention away from these revelations.

So let’s put this in perspective. Manfort owed money to a Russian, Trump’s National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn also took Russian money, and Trump has been propped up by Russian money for decades. This looks a lot like the entire Trump campaign was a Russian subsidiary.

And to top all of that shocking information, last week the president started reciting Russian propaganda. In a rant that seemed to bemoan the fall of the Soviet Union, Trump blamed the Afghanistan war. He claimed Russia went into Afghanistan to stop terrorism, went broke and that led to the fall of the Soviet Union.

However, the Russians pulled out of Afghanistan in 1988 and the reason why the war took such a toll on the Soviet military is because the Afghan rebels were backed by American arms. (So Trump literally took the anti-American position!) Also, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 because of internal pressure from regions who wanted to regain their independence.

Putin has stated that he wanted to reduce the United States’ power and he’s using his puppet, Trump, to do it.

In addition, former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly revealed that Trump wanted to pull out of NATO. (Another long-term Putin goal is to weaken the European military alliance.)

Is it any wonder that the U.S. government is in chaos? The government has shut down, human waste and trash are piling up in national parks, 800,0000 government workers haven’t been paid, cabinet-level positions are left unfilled and the U.S. has been made to look like a joke in the international community.

This is by design. Putin has stated that he wanted to reduce the United States’ power and he’s using his puppet, Trump, to do it.

“Thank God, this situation of a unipolar world, of a monopoly, is coming to an end. It’s practically already over,” said Putin, according to ABC News.

Putin took over the U.S. government without having to fire a shot. All he needed was a mountain of money, an army of computer hackers and trolls, and a few Americans willing to sell out their country. Remember when Trump wanted to invite Putin to the White House? That was intended to be his victory parade over his new domain.

Many of these issues have already been covered by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and former NSA officer Malcolm Nance. Nance has written two books on Trump’s ties to Russia. In “The Plot to Hack Democracy,” Nance described Putin as the “first Russian president of the United States.” In an appearance on the Stephanie Miller show, he said Trump has surpassed Benedict Arnold in treachery.

However, at this stage, all we can do is hope that Robert Mueller’s investigation reveals enough damning evidence to force Trump from office and end his nightmarish presidency. If that doesn’t succeed, the Democrats must work with some patriotic Republicans to remove Trump from the White House, because as veteran journalist Carl Berstein said, “he is the national emergency.”