by Jay Chambers
There are a lot of theories surrounding Trump and Russia. Moreover, there’s also a full-fledged FBI investigation regarding the 2016 campaign that basically made Trump president.
On the other hand, there are sources that are wondering whether Trump isn’t actually a Russian asset – and has been so since roughly 1987. In short, the world has a lot to talk about Trump and his connections and relationships with Russia and with Russia’s important people.
As such, today we’ll be taking a look into some recent events that may or may have not made the paranoia caused by these two important factors pass without having too much of an influence on the American people.
White House Meetings
When it comes to White House meetings, anyone would be excited to have one, so to say. However, we all know that there’s more to this kind of meeting than it meets the eye.
For example, just a couple of days ago, Trump allowed the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to join a meeting in the White House, where the latter discussed the relations between the US and Russia with Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State.
- Ukraine’s Refusal
The interesting bit is that Ukraine, after being pressured by Trump to interfere in the next year’s following election, didn’t get a visit to the White House – after Ukraine, obviously, chose not to interfere.
Trump’s plan was to, apparently, make Ukraine investigate the family of Joe Biden and, in return, a presidential White House meeting for Ukraine would be set up.
As mentioned, Ukraine refused and didn’t get its hands on that meeting. However, Russia did – and, as we all know, Russia did interfere in a US presidential election in the past.
True Rumors
Trump’s scheme eventually became public and the US had to release Ukraine money. Moreover, while Ukraine’s president is still in Ukraine, rumors tell that the Foreign Minister of Russia pals around with the US leader, all of this while Moscow keeps on trying to influence the next election.
All that can be said about this situation may be only rumors. However, if you are to really think about it, there’s only a couple of reasons that can justify the better treatment that Russia is currently receiving from Trump.
It appears that, when it comes to building versus buying relations, Trump would rather buy them with a simple visit to the White House.
Soft Treatment for Russia
Leaving behind the White House visits, we can also find quite enough evidence showing that Trump was, in fact, soft on Russia in several instances.
For example:
- The continuous praise Putin received from Trump
- The fact that Manafort ran Trump’s campaign – Manafort worked for pro-Russian politicians for more than 10 years.
- Trump’s suggestion that Russia can keep Crimea
- Trump’s denial that Russia interfered in the elections from 2016
- He also reportedly gave Russia classified intelligence
- Pro-Russian European leaders were praised by Trump
- That moment when Trump froze US aid for Ukraine.
For many American citizens, it goes without saying that something is happening between the two countries and the two leaders. On the other hand, it might be that Trump doesn’t want to upset Putin, so to speak.
After all, there are a few to no countries on Earth that would start a conflict with Russia – Russia is almost as powerful as the US in terms of military. However, let’s not forget that the US is mostly known for spending a lot of money on its military.
The FBI Investigation
On the other hand, we cannot ignore the FBI investigation that was apparently dismissed only a couple of days ago.
As you may know, the FBI was currently investigating Trump and Russia, claiming that Trump colluded with Moscow in 2016, during the election. This investigation was dismissed on the 10th of December as a travesty.
Moreover, Trump’s law enforcement officers even rejected the findings of a watchdog from his own department – findings that cleared the investigation of political bias.
Now, given that Willian Barr managed to dismiss an FBI investigation says a lot about the relation between Trump and Russia, as well as about the paranoia currently felt by the American people. For example, there were several observers who expected Barr to push back against the conspiracy theories and lies that referred to Trump and Russia.
- Investigation Dismissed – but the Lies Not
As mentioned before, Barr was not quick to try and deny the conspiracy theories that surround Trump, the 2016 election, and the years of talks and rumors that followed.
He also said that the current US president was a victim of bogus narrative and that nothing from the FBI investigation has been substantiated and proved collusion or any similar actions.
Moreover, Barr also blamed the press for the conspiracy theories and, ultimately, for the investigation that he had just dismissed. He talked of gross abuses that were supposed to be intolerable in the FBI.
Important Facts
However, the inspector general of this investigation, M. Horowitz, pointed out that the monitoring of Carter Page, one of Trump’s aides that were linked with Moscow, came with a lot of serious performance failures.
It was shown that roughly 17 omissions/inaccuracies were found in the applications for a warrant meant to facilitate the monitoring of Paige’s communications – as if someone did their best to avoid getting that warrant, some would say.
Last but not least, Trump claimed that the FBI is broken and that its current director won’t be able to fix it. The interesting fact is that the president – and not only – seems to play on the 17 omissions and throw them in the FBI’s head, making the latter organization look unreliable.
The Bottom Line
So, can we say that the paranoia caused by Russia and Trump finally passed?
Well, most anti-Trump supporters wouldn’t say so, especially given that the FBI investigation mentioned above was simply dismissed and not concluded, so to speak.
The current status of things seems to imply that the paranoia, while not at full strength, is still there and trying to affect as many people as possible – but is this paranoia a bad thing? What can we expect more from Russia, from Trump, and from the relations between the two countries?
Well, as they say, only time will tell.