Manafort Offered To Work For Free, Donald Trump Didn’t Find That Suspicious
A person with deep ties to Russia offered to work for free on his presidential campaign and Donald Trump didn’t find anything suspicious about that. According to a new report in the New York Times, Paul Manafort convinced Donald Trump to hire him in part because he was offering to work for free.
Much has been said about the possibility that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians in stealing the 2016 election. There is plenty of evidence that Trump has connections in Russia. And there is even more evidence that Donald Trump is clearly hiding evidence about his connections to Russia.
But it’s worth considering a scenario that is just as bad, or possibly worse, than the idea that Donald Trump worked with Russia to steal the election.
What if Donald Trump’s campaign was infiltrated by Russian agents without Trump having any idea?
Here is the thing, that is just as bad or worse. Donald Trump is constantly bragging about his great judgment. There is nothing worse than lacking the judgment to keep Russian agents out of your presidential campaign.
The New York Times report notes that “Mr. Manafort, the former lobbyist and Republican operative who now sits at the nexus of investigations into Russia’s meddling in the presidential election” aggressively courted Trump (you know, the way a Russian agent might).
Trump was reportedly impressed with “Mr. Manafort’s tanned, no-hair-out-of-place appearance — telling staffers that his new associate looked much younger than a man in his late 60s.”
“In five single-spaced pages of punchy talking points, Mr. Manafort showed how as a onetime lobbyist he had adeptly won over rich and powerful business and political leaders, many of them oligarchs or dictators, in Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines and Pakistan,” the Times also noted.
It is very likely that when the Russia investigation is completed people close to Trump will be connected to the crime but Donald Trump will try to say he had no idea. We cannot have a President of the United States who doesn’t have the judgment to not hire Russian agents.
