Year old article from the Guardian about how trump has been a Russian asset for many years.

[captain queeg]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book

This may have already been posted in the past. It talks about how his narcissism made him such an easy mark. The Russians never dreamed he’d be president, they got a real bargain.

[elleng]

1. *Then, in 1987, Trump and Ivana visited Moscow and St Petersburg for the first time.

Shvets said he was fed KGB talking points and flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea that he should go into politics.

The ex-major recalled: “For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery.

“This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day: it is people like him who could change the world. They fed him these so-called active measures soundbites and it happened. So it was a big achievement for the KGB active measures at the time.”

Soon after he returned to the US, Trump began exploring a run for the Republican nomination for president and even held a campaign rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On 1 September, he took out a full-page advert in the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe headlined: “There’s nothing wrong with America’s Foreign Defense Policy that a little backbone can’t cure.”

The ad offered some highly unorthodox opinions in Ronald Reagan’s cold war America, accusing ally Japan of exploiting the US and expressing scepticism about US participation in Nato. It took the form of an open letter to the American people “on why America should stop paying to defend countries that can afford to defend themselves”.

The bizarre intervention was cause for astonishment and jubilation in Russia. A few days later Shvets, who had returned home by now, was at the headquarters of the KGB’s first chief directorate in Yasenevo when he received a cable celebrating the ad as a successful “active measure” executed by a new KGB asset.'

[I_UndergroundPanther]

2. Never elect narcissists

To any political office,they are a danger to national security.

So are psychopaths and authoritarians. These people threaten our democracy and undermine trust in our government.

They should be automatically disqualified
For running in any political office. Period.

[captain queeg]

3. And easily manipulated. I hadn't known much about TFG but as soon as he was elected I could see how

Easily someone could manipulate him with his vanity. I suppose their are degrees, TFG is so obvious, and coupled with being an idiot, a terrible combination. I think there've been politicians who were susceptible to flattery but could still look beyond it.