IF PUTIN WANTED TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES FROM WITHIN

If I was Vladimir Putin, and the POTUS was my asset (we are trying to ascertain if he might be), and undermining the US was my objective (which it has always been), then… I would get my asset to engender mistrust between the American people and their government; I would undermine the effectiveness of America’s intelligence community; I would decimated America’s international reputation by reducing foreign aid, disabling its foreign service and driving its allies away (Germany goes first). To sow discord in American society, I would tell my asset to exacerbate divisions along race, gender and economic lines. To strengthen my position at home, I would push to make America look like a warmongering belligerent nation with designs on war by telling my asset to massively increase America’s military budget and start saber rattling in Asia while alienating Arab allies by maligning their religion and issuing ill-conceived travel bans. Finally, I would tell my asset to put forward a budget that hurts the American economy by killing the dollar (a symbol of American strength), making American company’s weaker through an unnecessary trade war, and send the American economy through an inflationary period that will raise interest rates to make Americans poorer. To ensure that my scheme isn’t undermined, I would tell my asset to make sure the American press was rendered impotent by suggesting all news is politically biased opinion and fake news. Oh! And I’d make them all think it was Making America Great Again. It might just work…

With thanks and attribution to my brother Vincent.