Here's my pet conspiracy theory, about how & why Putin helped Trump get elected, and why Trump is playing out Putin's agenda.
I'm reading into things here and I don't necessarily believe this is exactly what happened/is happening, but I feel it creates a plausible explanation based on what we know so far.
First, Putin's agenda: Weaken the US as much and as broadly as possible. This includes damaging alliances, crashing the economy, and destroying American's faith in its form of government, making it unlikely it can regain its former role in the world. This also includes simultaneously elevating Russia's perception in the world, reducing sanctions, and creating new alliances for defense and trade, in an effort to revive the Russian economy.
Now, the theory.
Some assumptions:
- Trump is not actually a billionaire, but is massively in debt and desperate for a way out. This is why he's refused to release tax returns, and funnels gov't money into his own businesses.
- Said debt involves money owed to Russian oligarchs, organized crime, and other shady individuals.
- Trump's businesses have been involved in money laundering as a condition of continuing their financing arrangements
Over the last several years (possibly as far back as 1987) Trump has been working with the Russians to finance his ventures (business and gov't aren't really separate things there). At some point prior to the 2016 campaign, Putin approached Trump (indirectly, most likely) with a proposal:
Putin:
I'll help you get elected President, if you do what I say after you're elected. I know you are in debt to my oligarchs, and I could call those debts at any time. I also have dirt on you, but I won't use that -- unless I have to. You want to President anyway, right? And the stuff I want you to do aligns with what you want, as well. Trump:
No way, rooskie, I can get elected myself! It's all my idea and I can pay off those debts from all the money I'll make through my businesses after I divert spending to myself and make deals that I can only make as President. Plus, I'll change taxes so that they favor real estate, and most of my problems will go away.Putin:
Don't forget, I have dirt. And you essentially owe ME billions. I can use that now -- your plan takes years.
Trump:
Ok, so what do you want me to do? Why would it be what I want?
Putin:
Because, my little orange one, it will not only get you out of debt, but it will make you truly rich! And nearly 40% of Americans will think you are the greatest!Trump:
Tell me more!Putin:
It's simple really. I just need to you to crash the US economy in such a way that it triggers runaway inflation. As a real estate guy, that's exactly what you need -- your highly-leveraged assets will suddenly be worth 10x what they are worth today, and your rents will go up in the same way! But your debt stays the same.Trump:
I think I get it -- that building I paid $100 million for will be worth a billion, but I will still only owe $90 million on it?Putin:
Exactly. It won't be hard to do this, either -- the cracks are already there in your system. All you need to do is raise the national debt, increase interest rates, mess up your trade relationships, etc. -- I'll outline the whole plan later. Your followers will go for it because it sounds "tough." By the time the process is underway it'll be too late to do anything, and the government won't be trusted any more anyway. It'll be great!Trump:
Ok, where do I sign up? This was all my idea, but the way.Putin:
Sure, sure. There's some other stuff I need done, but we'll get to that later. This is just the beginning, my little friend!I think Putin was surprised that Trump actually won -- and he barely won, remember. Putin just wanted Hillary to lose, or at least win without a clear mandate, meanwhile sowing discord (racial, class, etc) in the US. If Trump had lost, the battle would have continued -- he'd be on twitter as much as he is now, if not more, possibly trying to start a civil war. This all plays directly into Putin's plan, and if it continues as the GOP is allowing it to, Putin wins, we lose, Europe loses, and oh -- China also wins.