Counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance tore into Donald Trump on Saturday, saying his base is “Russia, the Russian oligarchy and Vladimir Putin.”
New reporting from The New York Times indicates that the U.S. intelligence community has similar concerns about Trump’s loyalties as they launched an investigation in 2017 – after he became president – into whether he is working on behalf of the Russians.
“I used to say that [Trump] was treason adjacent,” Nance said. “Now I say that he’s just neck-deep in treachery.”
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.@MalcolmNance explains what makes Donald Trump a perfect target for Russia. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/xPWlCMVvLc
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) January 12, 2019
Nance said:
[Russia] chose him as an asset due to his phenomenal characteristics of just being a blowhard, of being a arrogant narcissistic personality. Which, you know, the famous spy Yuri Bezmenov said those were the characteristics they wanted in an asset. They wanted a person they could manipulate. Donald Trump is like a case officer’s dream. He comes in and when he comes out and does those arrogant pronunciations, a good intelligence staff like, I don’t know, an ex-former KGB officer and his top four staffers who are KGB-FSB retirees, they would be able to manipulate Donald Trump no matter what he said or when he said it. Donald Trump sees Russia, the Russian oligarchy and Vladimir Putin as his base, equal to the red hats that he has in the United States. So he brags to them in, you know, in the face of America. He does not understand what the Constitution is. I used to say that he was treason adjacent. Now I say that he’s just neck-deep in treachery.
Donald Trump’s real base doesn’t wear red hats
We often hear media pundits talk about how Donald Trump cares only about appealing to his base of red-hat-wearing rural voters. But throughout the campaign and his presidency, it’s become clear who his true base is.
Whether it’s repeatedly bowing down to Vladimir Putin on the world stage, casting doubt over the intel community’s conclusion that Russia helped his campaign in 2016, or taking actions to distance America from our NATO allies, Trump’s truest loyalty belongs to Russia.
PoliticusUSA’s Sarah Reese Jones listed these and other ways Trump behaves like a Russian asset:
Trump behaves like #RussianAsset
✔ï¸longest shutdown in U.S. history
✔ï¸undermined America internationally
✔ï¸undermined faith in U.S. democracy
✔ï¸sided w/ Russia over America repeatedly
✔ï¸pulling out of Syria to appease Putin
✔ï¸undermined NATO
✔ï¸ruining stock market
✔ï¸trade wars— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 12, 2019
Trump’s own actions have made it pretty clear who he is working for, and it’s not the thunderous MAGA mobs he has spent his presidency conning. It’s Russia.
As Malcolm Nance said on Saturday, this president has been a dream for Vladimir Putin – so much so that even his own intelligence community, with the help of American allies, is building a case against him.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
