Russia, Trumpsters and Greed

   


     What you see is what you get.
                                      Flip Wilson

     Follow the dollar.
                  Axiom of investigative reporting

     As a retiree from the pundit corps, I view with some dismay the plight of colleagues who remain active in the trade. Their obligation to watch and comment on the behavior of the Trump administration has occasioned head-scratching, confusion and an occasional collective sigh that might best be summarized: What the hell is going on there?
     I would venture that what is going on is exactly what appears to be going on.  Before his election, the president lived a life of comprehensive greed and connivance. It is therefore fair to conclude that his personal values are grounded in greed and connivance.  This would militate against his developing in later life a sudden, high-minded interest in public service.
     Sure enough, Trump relatives are trading on his status to line their pockets. Lobbyists and even foreign governments are directing business toward Trump-owned properties. High appointees are using their power to weaken regulations affecting the private-sector lives from which they came and to which they will eventually return.
     And then we have the Russians, and their tampering with our presidential election.  Notions that the Russian government was not the mover of this endeavor can be left to people who believe in unicorns. Vladimir Putin, of course, claims otherwise. Two observations emerge from his suggestion that the meddling was undertaken by patriotic hobbyists: Like our president, Putin is a bold liar. Unlike our president, Putin is capable of a wry joke.
     Theories vary on the Russians' specific reasons for wanting a fool in the White House.  I like the one that focuses on the so-called Magnitsky Act. The back story --  which is quite complicated -- goes roughly this way. People with Kremlin ties used forged documents to claim ownership of a hedge fund actually owned by an American who had been the largest foreign investor in Russia. The thieves then sued the Russian government, claiming they had overpaid their taxes by $230 million. The courts and the Russian tax system paid them. They invested their take abroad.
     That is, people with Kremlin ties stole  $230 million from their own government. The scheme was uncovered by Russian lawyer and auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who was arrested and died in filth in a Russian jail. Congress responded with the Magnitsky Act. It named a list of Russian figures, froze their assets in America, and barred them from entering this country.
     The Kremlin has vigorously complained ever since. Two of the Russians who famously met with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort are lobbyists against the act. The Kremlin wants the law repealed because Putin's buddies want to regain access to their boodle. Further, they want the American financial system to be available as a haven for tainted money in the future.  Russia is a white-collar gang masquerading as a country, and the gang needs a safe place to stash loot.
     And what is behind the president's visible eagerness to please Russia? My guess is that the reasons are not unrelated to Russian oligarchs' investment in Manhattan real estate, and to the president's zealously hidden tax returns.
     The administration wants to keep a great deal hidden, by all appearances. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has escalated investigation of classified information leaks. Previous efforts of this sort have produced ironically unintended results.  They have highlighted commonplace abuse of the classification system, and examples of that well aged Washington vintage, hypocrisy. One episode showed that some classified FBI files contained newspaper clippings. Another produced a delightfully naughty intimation that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was often himself the source of leaks he angrily denounced.
     The attorney general may wish to be careful about which rocks he flips over in public view.