Trump goes out of his way to attack virtually everyone. There is virtually no one that is immune. We are talking of an individual, who can say “You are fired!” and not lose sleep or think of the consequences that the action would take. One wonders, if he would ever fire himself or hold himself to his own standards. Of course, he will not.
For all his attacks, there has never been a single attack on Russia or on Putin. Now, I can imagine that he would not attack Russia. Maybe, he is fond of the place or views Russia and Putin differently. I, for one, still remember the movie Dr. Zhivago starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie. I also remember studying Russia’s Weimar Republic and their fledgling attempt at democracy. Maybe, I just do not have a hardnosed outlook on country, even Germany, but rather look towards individuals. As such, I can imagine someone not wanting to bad mouth a specific country, however Trump is definitely not this type of person and we are talking Putin, the man, who invaded an independent country, took actions against the United States, tries to manipulate our allies, and has worked tirelessly to rebuild the former Soviet Union. He is also a KGB agent, an intelligence officer, which is someone that one would think Trump would hate, but he does not. There is also the small evidence that Putin stole information on Trump, not just Hillary, which is a point Allen forgot to make. I should write an entire article on Trump and Russia, but for now, back to the thesis of this article.
Trump is definitely not as rich as he claims. That is reality. Where would he have received poorer than he advertises. He greatly exaggerates his wealth. He is obviously not poor. The election greatly helped him in this respect, but he is not a huge billionaire either.
For example, however long ago, Trump gave Charlie Sheen a watch, which he claimed is “very, very expensive”. Charlie Sheen had an appraisal friend over at his house for some other reason, nothing to do with the watch, and he decided to ask the value of the watch. The response is that the watch was a knockoff, a fake. Trump lied, nothing new there. In addition to Trump fabricating the value of the watch, he over estimated his wealth, nothing new there too.
If Trump was so rich, he would not behave financially like he does. He outsources everything. Uses cons to get rich, such as his university. His companies go bankrupt, and he was no longer employed on a television show. Couple that with his high burn rate and high probability to become irrelevant, as younger actors become more the rage, and there is a recipe for going broke, at least by his standards.
Another thought that comes to mind is his penchant for fake gold. Everything around him uses fake gold. A person, who proudly does that, probably fakes other things.
There is also the matter during his presidential run, when he stiffed some in his campaign staff. The office space for his campaign looked like a dump, when I saw published pictures of them.
One can write a novel on why Trump did not release his tax returns and his actions regarding them. I can only imagine what Trump would have said to Clinton, if the situation was reversed.
One thing by itself does not paint a picture, however like Russia, there are many small things that add up to something profound.
On the Russia front, I would not be surprised, as Barrie points out, that Putin and other oil barrens bailed him out, and that is the cause for his treasonous acts.
Just a side thought, I am not sure whether to think his game makes him look innocent or guilty. If Trump were guilty, most people would not raise red flags and just go along as business as usual torturing Putin, so as to make it look like he is not lovers with Putin. That is not the case. His actions make him look guilty, which could be a sign that he is innocent or a sign that everyone would think that he is innocent, as a guilty person would not do that, but is actually guilty.
In the end, Trump is Trump and is transparent, always has been and still is. I am beginning to like Trump. He is great for the Democratic Party and causes, like nobody else. Besides, he has a great side show. He made the Presidency into a reality show.