From Craig Unger's "American Kompromat" -- why Trump was such a good sucker for the Russians.

[ificandream]

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[elleng]

1. GROSS,

and HOW can he be 'attractive' to so many???

[BigmanPigman]

4. It really boggles the mind, doesn't it.

[Celerity]

5. lololol

[Pepsidog]

7. Ewww

[SergeStorms]

8. It's been said many times before....

He's a poor person's idea of a rich man

He's a weak person's idea of a powerful man.

He an ignorant person's idea of an intelligent man.

He's a cowardly person's idea of a brave man.

He's a meek person's idea of a confident man.

And the list goes on and on. People see in Trump everything they wished they could be.
What they're ignorant of is Trump's back story.


They believe the "self made man" bullshit, when he was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth, and only got more spoiled as his life progressed. He was never allowed to fail, and when he did it was always upward.

They all build him up in their minds. He's a fantasy to them, and they're incapable of accepting the truth about their fantasy. He's their manifestation of perfection.

These people are seriously fucked up. Most lived small town lives where they were never exposed to actual people of power, faith, strength, success etc. Their idea of a successful man is the guy who scored three touchdowns in the final quarter of the "big game" 20 years ago, and now works at the feed store.

They're rubes. Hayseeds. Totally ignorant wage slaves who reached peak potential at 30 years of age. Dead enders. The dregs of society.

And yes, it is a cult, no matter how often and vehemently they deny it.

[elleng]

9. 'Thanks'

[smirkymonkey]

11. I will never understand it as long as I live.

He is so repulsive to me in every way I can barely stand to look at him even for a few seconds. The man does not have one redeeming quality, inside or out.

[Midnight Writer]

2. 4.99 on Kindle. $4.27 hardback on Amazon right now.

[Blue_Tires]

3. exactly...

[dchill]

6. Doesn't EVERYBODY love a huge, roiling vat of excess?

Admit it, he's the stuff screams are made of.

[anarch]

10. I'd rank the installation of that buffoon into the office of POTUS

as one of the greatest intelligence operations of all time--probably couldn't have been done without Russian organized crime being integrated into their state apparatus.

At this point I wonder if the expectation was maybe that getting him "elected" would finally push the U.S. into a full-on civil war; that combined with Russia's long-time support and funding of the NRA, they were doing everything possible to bring about the collapse of the nation. They underestimated the sturdiness of the "deep state" or something, I guess.

On the other hand, it also seems clear to me in hindsight that the U.S. intelligence agencies pretty much knew what was going on, and decided to just let it happen as the least damaging approach. I have to wonder how much bullshit they fed to the Russians via TFG during his tenure in office, and how much that plays into Putin's apparent miscalculations with respect to the invasion of Ukraine, if we are to believe the preponderance of reports that things aren't going exactly great for the Russian army there. I'd expect the counter-intelligence response from U.S. agencies to be pretty awful to deal with, and likely so insidious that Putin isn't even quite sure where some of his troubles are coming from.

[PCIntern]

12. Excellent points...

A form of political jiu-jitsu-a useful idiot in many directions.

[ificandream]

13. I'm still reading, but Russian intelligence seems to have been a big factor.

It does say they got a lot more than they bargained for when he got elected. Not sure I agree about U.S. intelligence letting it happen. They probably thought, as we all did, Trump was/is a buffoon who wouldn't get anywhere.