Manchurian Candidate?

For those not familiar with the term, Manchurian Candidate has become a phrase to reference individuals in high office controlled by a foreign entity. Coined by the book of the same name by Richard Cordon in 1959 (followed by two films), Cordon described an attempt to overthrow the US Government with the use of a brainwashed, sleeper agent-assassin by the Chinese and far Right-wing US government officials.  American heroics win out in the end (of course).

Such stories make for good thrillers, but reality tends to have fewer thrills and more tendencies to plod through traitorous or witless waters.  Modern history shows that subversive intensions may resemble thriller plotlines, but the means to get there (if ever) end up being just so many rolls of the dice.

Lately it’s beginning to appear that Vladimir Putin has been rolling a lot of dice.

An important thing to remember about Russia (I’m talking to you Lindsey Graham): the ideological cold war is over.  The use of Communism as a means to vilify Russia (or China for that matter) is done – stick a fork in it. It was never truly valid anyway since the USSR or China never trucked out a political or economic system that even bared a resemblance to Marxist Socialism.  However, embracing a bogus ideological conflict certainly worked for stirring up the natives on both sides.

Russia, a nation of 144 million people (40% the size of the US), is not our enemy, any more than we are theirs.  We are in competition with them for resources and influence and it’s weighted immensely in our favor.  It’s just unfortunate that hanging over that competition is enough destructive force to destroy humanity many times over.

Russia has continued to embrace a strong authoritarian central government with severe controls (including violence and terror) over internal dissension.  In Ancient Rome this might have worked pretty well, but in modern times such a political system has had short-term success at best. Nevertheless, it looks like the US has taken a giant step in the same direction, and for Putin that works out just fine.

The US economy is mammoth compared to Russia’s.  Russia’s economy (by GDP) is just slightly bigger than Mexico’s (Russia 13% larger), and considerably smaller than Canada’s. The US economy by comparison is 1700% larger than Russia’s.  Putin has no field on which to compete with the US except perhaps in oil, vodka and caviar…well, maybe just caviar.

So what are the thriller-plot intensions of V. Putin anyway? Internally he personally wants to retain power and make money, both of which he is succeeding to do, often times with KGB style brutality and censorship. It has been reasonably estimated he has amassed personal wealth in the tens of billions of dollars.  His influence is self evident. However, in order to maintain both goals, his external aim would logically be to expand his pie (e.g. Ukraine & Georgia) using his disproportionately large military, and neutralize the West (e.g. USA) from interfering.  This is where he starts rolling the dice.

Now just suppose he obtained compromising information and/or documentation on Donald Trump. Even Mr. Spock would find it logical to believe it would be common practice for the Russians to obtain dirt on any high profile Americans they could, especially those who actually spend time in Russia. What kind of gigantic egos do you think might be susceptible to falling prey to that kind of scrutiny? Let me guess…roll the dice.

Perhaps seeds were planted or it was serendipity for Putin, but you can guess he possibly (likely?) went into a Soviet style happy dance when he saw Trump riding down that escalator.  Like everyone else though (including Trump) he probably didn’t believe Trump could win the Presidency, but what the hell…roll the dice.

Hacking Hillary and getting caught was a reasonable gamble with a limited downside, a good roll of the dice. Still, what other assets has Putin used to advance the possibility of a President Trump?  The flattery was useful and I’m sure it was breaking them up with laughter in the Kremlin as they listened to Trumps comments, but what backdoor efforts might have been made to make the White House a partially owned Russian subsidiary?

As yet we don’t have any hard verification, but the circumstantial evidence continues to mount up.

With Trump’s campaign for the nomination floundering under the amateur management of Lewandowski, how did Trump come up with savvy Paul Manafort who successfully took the Trump campaign through its Mid-Atlantic one-two punch?  Just as mysteriously, when Manafort’s strong connections to Russia started to generate scrutiny he was summarily fired and disappeared (note Lewandowski remained within Trump circles).  Should we wonder who really fired him? Did Trump ever fire The Apprentice who sold the most hotdogs? I think not - roll the dice.

Now when the impossible has became reality and Putin basked in the glow of success (note his response to further US sanctions was to invite American children to his Christmas party), we start to get wind of, perhaps, some of that earlier craps rolled via Britain’s Mi-6 straight into FBI addendums. Did the Russians manage to squirrel away some nasty stuff on The Donald years ago? Why would we think that?

Mike Flinn as the new National Security Advisor is one reason. He was so comfortable in his relationship to the Kremlin that he got on the phone to “do nice” with the Russian ambassador right after sanctions had been levied against them. But even more compelling is the odd-ball choice of non-diplomat, ex-CEO of Exxon Mobil Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, who is so honored by Putin as to receive their highest non-Russian award; the Award of Friendship.  You can just feel the love.  

Note that in any world we all thought existed, Tillerson’s relationship to Russia would have totally disqualified his appointment as head of the State Department.  That Republicans have jumped ship from that world we knew is gut-wrenching.

Do I think that Flinn or Tillerson are sleeper agents worthy of their own episode on The Americans?  Frankly no.  Still, these are men whose opinions regarding the US relationship to Russia will matter more than Trumps, as the TV-schooled, Twitter King makes good on his promise to defer the running of the Nation. When Russia continues to expand its control (e.g. Ukraine), don’t look for Tillerson, as the leader of US foreign policy, to join with European condemnation.

Was Donald Trump a Manchurian Candidate? Not in a Hollywood sense, except perhaps if you could inject a Manchurian Candidate into a Three Stooges movie. However, to the extent Russia is holding some filthy dirt on The Donald (which I personally believe is likely) and, of course, has the evidence of their relationship, it may make Trump as close to a Manchurian Candidate as Putin could hope for.

Incredulous?

I am dumbfounded by the media response to the beginning of the Trump administration. As much as I wanted to continue a hiatus from writing about anything Trump, I am drawn to express the obvious. Am I alone in my observations? Let me know.

One might think it a Republican strategy to cloud the news of the far Right-Wing executive actions and hiring by the President in these first days by his making irrational pronouncements on such things as crowd size and the election results. I think that is only coincidental. The policies that Trump is signing or the people he is nominating are likely not generated by him. He simply doesn’t have the knowledge to do so, a reality he demonstrated repeatedly over the past year and a half.

His comments about factual circumstances that directly affect the perception he has of himself do, however, come directly from him, probably to the consternation of those looking to control the White House.

I have listened to media reporting and subsequent discussions about his off-handed, Tweeted, and official explanations (from Sean Spicer) stating his “belief” that the crowd size at his inauguration was the largest ever and the true popular vote count exceeded Clinton’s.  They (the media) express themselves as if it were a point of wonderment. “Why is he doing this (?)” is a constant remark, as if it were a departure from everything we have experienced to date.

The remarks (from the media) are framed in a way to make it appear that Trump has some kind of rational, self-interested purpose in taking simply odd-ball positions on these facts of little consequence.  Opponents of Trump want to frame the observations as displaying his diabolical desire to lie in order to achieve his own ends. Both conclusions are as off-balance as the Trump pronouncements themselves.

For reasons having nothing to do with Trump, I have spent considerable time trying to learn what I could about the condition known as a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).  I concluded well before the tragic election that Trump has this disorder, and it is not as simple or innocuous as people may casually believe.

Narcissistic behavior is as common as running water. It affects, to some degree, virtually everyone (barring the occasional Mother Teresa).  However a NPD is relatively rare, existing at the far end of narcissistic behavior spectrum.  It is considered to exist when the patient is controlled by the condition in such a way as to conflict with reason or rationality.

No media organization wants to suggest it, but it is reasonable by the public evidence to conclude that the man just made President of the United States is mentally ill.  He has a condition which can only be managed with the combination of his acceptance of the condition and professional medical treatment. It is hard to imagine either taking place.

What does this mean? What are the possible consequences?

Donald Trump does not arrive at the bizarre conclusions that he does because, as many recognize, he has a colossal ego. He disputes obvious facts, such as number counts, because he does not recognize that he could be the cause or reason for what appears, on the surface, to be a failure. He cannot help this. If he cannot find a specific individual to blame (real or imaginary) then his only recourse is to shoot the messenger.

The consequences of a person with a NPD in such a powerful position, to my mind, range from muddled to truly frightening governance.

The American Presidency is simply a hot caldron of events for which some, if not substantial, conflict of opinion always exists.  The fact that we can see a President virtually age dramatically before our eyes is no accident.  Trump’s future reaction to critical opinion should be predictable, as should the subsequent reactions of his handlers. The first and most obvious will be the opaqueness of his administration.  This is already happening and we’re only days into his term.

The Trump administration will implode into a black hole of non-information provided to the public. We see this already with gag orders being disseminated throughout the agencies under his control. The reason why is due to the most scary aspect of his NPD – paranoia.  You must understand that in his attempt to deflect blame for anything that reflects poorly on himself he actually believes what he says. He believes that he won the popular vote; he believes more people turned out for his inauguration than ever in history.  Evidence is meaningless.

Additionally, Mr. Trump’s condition, with its associated fears, makes him susceptible to conspiracies; however, the real danger is that once he has put his “credibility” behind a conspiracy he cannot back off without admitting failure.  Do you remember the tens of thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating 9/11? If you think he now believes Obama was born in the USA you’re kidding yourself.  His condition doesn’t allow it. The most damaging conspiracy he currently embraces involves an entire industry: the American media lining up against him with dishonesty.

What is going to be less noticeable due to the lack of transparency is how that paranoia will affect the individuals working for him and even the military.

The people around him will begin to understand the risk they take in being out front on an issue that goes bad. Low profile will be the new standard. Disillusionment will be rampant. As he is clueless on the initiatives and/or Bills Republican leadership gets him to sign, he will blame them for every wrinkle that takes place as a result. There will be no joint mea culpa in the Trump Administration.

When a likely external terrorist attack occurs for the first time since 2001 (and on “his watch”), expect wholesale bloodshed of government officials and agencies and, unfortunately, a manic response by law enforcement and/or the military.

I feel the Nation would be better served by the Media beginning to question the rationality of Trump’s assertions instead of just questioning, with their incredulity, his motives. A President with a NPD either needs to leave office or have the condition treated. The latter would at least let the next four years fall into a holding pattern of inactivity or until Congress can be readjusted in 2018. The alternative is to release on the Nation and the World potential chaos.