04 May 2021
Russia Confidently Played Trump
Trump’s people didn’t even know that the Biden/Ukraine story was a Russian made-up conspiracy theory. Putin loves to take advantage of anyone stupid enough to believe those kinds of things.
Belief in conspiracy theories is a common weakness of a would-be despot’s followers. A psychologist may be able to explain the inclination of people who willingly accept the frequently overblown or false claims of an autocrat. I suspect that these symptoms evidence their self-doubt and low self-esteem
Trump himself believes the world is nothing more than a figment of imagination. In his mind, all others might as well also live in their own worlds. Therefore it doesn’t matter what he or anyone else do. He didn’t feel compelled to use his last-minute pardoning power to protect people like Rudi Giuliani or Matt Gaetz, It is a mystery why he used it at all. Trump must believe that Roger Stone could be uiseful in a future election campaign, Despite the adulation of Rudi Giuliani and Matt Gaetz they didn’t get last-minute presidential pardons.
In any case, Vladimir Putin probably thinks that a foreign adversary is more pliable under the leadership of someone like Trump than of either Hilary Clinton or Joe Biden. And Donald Trump must believe that a vigorous investigation of Russian interference in either the 2016 or 2020 presidential elections could only uncover his campaign’s grateful acceptance of their help.
