It’s Obvious: Without Access To Laundered Russian Money, The Trump Organization Would Collapse

Filed in Featured, National by on July 19, 2017

It’s my Eureka moment.  Everything is explained and explainable once we realize that my headline is correct. Everything.

I’ll start, but I encourage everyone to contribute to this post.

First, this breaking news from the NYTimes. Deutsche Bank, the only bank that will lend to Trump, has been fined over $600 million for laundering Russian money.

Then, there’s Eric Trump bragging about access to Russian money. He says they get all the money they need from there.

Then, there’s what Freedon said. Same as Eric. Which one is the dumb one again?

Then, there’s the 8th person at the meeting who Fredo forgot to mention. Accused of laundering $1.4 billion in Russian money. He was there by coincidence?

Then, there’s that Florida mansion Trump sold to a Russian spy.  $60 mill in profit, just like that.

This list is a work in progress. Please add your own examples.  I had to write this before I went to bed b/c I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

But I’ll bet’cha that this is what drives Trump every moment of every day. His entire business empire as well as his presidency hang in the balance.

BTW, did’ja see where Paul Manafort is $17 mill in debt to the Russians? Gee, of all the people in the United States, can it be coincidence that this is who Trump chose to be his campaign manager? I don’t think so.

Now, I can go to sleep.

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  1. Paul Hayes says:

    Trump Tower itself. Apartments sold to a Russian agent for far more than their asking price in order that the Russian money come out clean as a whistle when the apartments sold for a higher price than they paid. Wash, rinse and dry. And this was in the 80’s when Trump declared bankruptcy. Didn’t you ever wonder who bailed him out? I did, back in the 80s I did, but not with the urgency I wonder about all this now.

  2. jason330 says:

    I just hope we have an FBI up to the task of pulling these threads.

  3. RE Vanella says:

    I read somewhere over the weekend that Mueller’s team is stacked with financial forensic experts. People on Trump’s team will face serious charges. Of course they will all be pardoned, but politically they’re done. It’ll take at least another 6-12 months for it to shake out.

    In the meantime let’s focus on stuff we can oppose and resist today.

  4. alby says:

    It’s always been about the financial ties, which go back to the early W Bush years. That’s why, through all of this, I have said that the crimes were financial, they occurred years before this election cycle, and proper government investigation would have rendered him a felon ineligible to run. At the time, I was just interested in pointing out to people that, far from being a billionaire, Trump and his businesses were probably “under water,” that is, he owed more than his entire “empire” is worth.

    And Rob, with all due respect, any work we do is undermined if our votes don’t matter. We can’t undo what Congress does (if it ever does anything) until we regain power in the 2018 elections. If they’re rigged, we’re fucked.

  5. RE Vanella says:

    I hear you. I actually don’t mind all the heat and pressure caused by the Russia story. I just have an issue with the definition of “rigged.”

    Russian propaganda had an impact on the 2016 election. Russian had an interest because of mobster/oligarch/ international money laundering ties to Trump. Not sure that adds up to “rigged” – like changing votes. I just don’t think it’s productive to get too bogged down in the semantics of ‘rigged’ or ‘collusion’ because it’s not necessary.

    The press and Mueller’s team will keep slowing tightening the vice. I feel like we need to ensure the policy damage done is minimized in the meantime.

  6. alby says:

    Not sure how we can do that. Most of the damage is being carried out in agencies, which we can’t do much about. Pressure on electeds is doing wonders on health care, but that’s really the only issue that moves the needle for the majority of Americans. My worry is that if Trumpcare finally dies, the resistance loses its biggest recruitment tool.

    If most Americans care about immigration policies that are ripping families apart, I see no sign of it.

  7. RE Vanella says:

    I kind of agree with you. You must fight where you can because there’s not much to be done on other scores.

    However….

    Just this morning NPR did a long story on ICE tracking people down in Texas. Maybe it’ll get some traction on the immigration issue.

    Also, the next big Congressional thing (if Obamacare repeal is well and truly dead) is so-called tax reform. When the stories of tax cuts for the super rich start flowing you’ll have plenty to recruit on.

  8. alby says:

    “Just this morning NPR did a long story on ICE tracking people down in Texas. Maybe it’ll get some traction on the immigration issue.”

    Not likely. Trump fans, and even mainstream GOPers, actually cheer that on.

    “When the stories of tax cuts for the super rich start flowing you’ll have plenty to recruit on.”

    Sadly, no. For hundreds of years philosophers have noted that people would prefer to be able to dream of being rich than eliminate obscene wealth.

  9. RE Vanella says:

    Those “mainstream GOPers” use to loath “socialized medicine.” Now it seems they don’t and it looks like we’re going to win that one (maybe).

    We have to fight these policy fights. If you want to keep hammering on the Russia stuff I’m good with it because Trump’s entire organization is a vile menace, but we all run the risk of looking like foolish if it doesn’t pan out completely.

  10. alby says:

    If looking foolish hurt those who look foolish, we wouldn’t be where we are now.

    No, they still hate socialized medicine. They just like their jobs even more. Unfortunately, it seems that until you threaten their own bank accounts, Americans have no interest in your problem, and are likely to deny it’s even a problem if it doesn’t directly affect them. Even health care anxiety really boils down to economic anxiety. They’re not afraid of being sick, they’re afraid of going broke.

  11. RE Vanella says:

    It’s an uphill battle and the mountain is quite steep, yes. Most people are selfish and dim and easily fall for confidence scams.

    On Russiagate, I don’t disagree. Even on weak/circumstantial evidence I don’t mind people piling on Trump. It’s does have a whiff of Alex Jonesian conspiracy. But fuck it. If it’s effective I have no real problem with it like the Glenn Greenwalds of the world do. When in a street fight you need to do whatever needs to be done.

  12. alby says:

    “Most people are selfish and dim and easily fall for confidence scams.”

    Not most people. Most people are too busy with their own lives (and Game of Thrones or whatever mind-number is popular this week) to worry about people worse off than themselves.

    “It does have a whiff of Alex Jonesian conspiracy.”

    The Glenn Greenwald brigade can’t accept the idea that anything good would ever come out of the intelligence agencies. The enemy of their enemy is their friend.

    My rejoinder to these people, who criticize people like me for believing the intelligence agencies, is that even the CIA is more credible than Trump. I’d rather have to wash off the stink of the CIA than the stink of Trump.

    The reason I think there’s something there has to do with Trump’s finances, not his political goals. Remember, the Master Lie, the one from which all other Trumpian lies flows, is that he’s a “billionaire.” He’s not and never has been.

  13. RE Vanella says:

    I think we more or less agree. The GG brigade live on some other planet. I understand their position and I’m somewhat sympathetic to it, but you’re correct. It’s either rely on the so-call “Deep State” or else live under authoritarian oligarchy at this point. While Greenwald and Co. make very important (valid) points about the security state and journalism in general they are all incredibly naïve. In Western Europe and Australia and Canada the security state exists along side social democracy. Both dangerous but one far more than the other.

  14. Elaine Smith says:

    Alby & RE, Interview link following-did you think any of Joshua’s statements were wrong/false/incorrect? I listened to most and thought it very informative, and am believing the validity.

    http://www.npr.org/2017/07/18/537885042/inside-the-shakespearean-irony-of-trump-and-bannons-relationship

  15. RE Vanella says:

    Not sure what you are asking me. Do I think Green’s reporting on Bannon for this book is accurate? Yes, I do. I have no reason not to. (Disclosure: I haven’t read it yet.) Green has a good reputation, was at the Atlantic a long time. This doesn’t seem to me like some fly by night hit piece…

    Most interesting is the reason Bannon believes conservatives never beat Bill Clinton in the 1990s. Rumor over facts. Too fringy. Impeachment blew up in their faces.

    Not this time round. The book Clinton Cash fueled the message and the info in there was more or less true. Plus he didn’t mind exploiting rubes and racists (in other words not regular Republican voters).

    This is my beef with all this analysis about “how it’s done.” Experts want to tell us how elections are won… That’s over. Finished. You need to find non-votes/unaffiliates… or what Green called “double haters.” Either never voted or hate both but will vote for someone. The game as it was played about until November 2016 is over.

  16. alby says:

    Sounds right to me, but I didn’t hear the interview, just read the transcript. I’m not sure I’d call it Shakespearian. I think it’s more Swiftian.

  17. RE Vanella says:

    Washington Post reporting that the Trump legal team is already researching the breadth of executive pardon power.