In July of 2016, at a campaign rally in sunny Florida, Donald Trump said the following:


“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing…I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” (Parker & Sanger, 2016)

Essentially, Donald Trump asked Russia to intercede in the U.S. presidential election on his behalf.




Fast forward to December 9th, 2016 and the following headline:


Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House

Dropped into the news cycle late yesterday evening, the Post article says:

“The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.” (Entous, Nakashima, & Miller, 2016). It is becoming increasingly clear that, if not a willing accomplice in this effort, Trump was, at the very least, a “useful idiot” in Russian efforts to throw the election to him. But this latter seems unlikely given the information revealed thus far.


The CIA briefed Senators, Republican and Democrat last September in a bid by President Obama to build bi-partisan support for a response to this unprecedented meddling in U.S. politics. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), had other thoughts on the matter. McConnell, apparently “raised doubts about the underlying intelligence”, going on to view any efforts by the Obama administration to confront Russia on the issue would be “an act of partisan politics” (Entous et al., 2016). It’s worth noting that Trump has tapped Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, for Secretary of Transportation (Peters & Haberman, 2016). Can you say “Quid pro quo…Clarice”?





Speaking of “quid pro quo”, key Trump appointees to his administration baced the Trump campaign and the GOP to the tune of nearly $12 million (Gold; Narayanswamy, 2016). The list is as follows:


· Education secretary: Betsy DeVos, $1.8 million (contributed by the DeVos family)

· Deputy Commerce secretary: Todd Ricketts, $1.3 million (contributed by his parents)

· Treasury secretary: Steven Mnuchin, $425,000

· Labor secretary: Andrew Puzder, $332,000

· Commerce secretary: Wilbur Ross, $200,000

· Small Business Administration: Linda McMahon, $7.5 million


(Gold; Narayanswamy, 2016)


The take-away here is that Trump is rewarding those contributed to his campaign and/or have demonstrated the moral bankruptcy necessary to enable Trump’s narcissistic tendencies by telling him only what he wants to hear.

With Trump already using his prospective office to benefit his and his children’s corporate interests; the appointment of big money donors and sycophants to his administration, and possible collusion with Russian intelligence assets in the Russian disinformation campaign that aided in his election, the Trump kleptocracy is well underway.
References

Entous, A., Nakashima, E., ; Miller, G. (2016, December 9). Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.42720d204928


Gold, M., & Narayanswamy, A. (2016, December 9). Six donors that Trump appointed gave almost $12 million with their families to back his campaign and the party. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/12/09/the-six-donors-trump-appointed-to-his-administration-gave-almost-12-million-with-their-families-to-his-campaign-and-the-party/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.fdde9cf80f41

Parker, A., & Sanger, D. E. (2016, July 27). Donald Trump Calls on Russia to Find Hillary Clinton’s Missing Emails. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-clinton-emails.html?_r=0

Peters, J. W., & Haberman, M. (2016, November 29). Trump Picks Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/us/politics/elaine-chao-transportation-trump.html