‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years.

This really doesn’t surprise anyone, right? It shouldn’t — most of us have been talking about it on Twitter for at least four years. 1/X https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/29/trump-russia-asset-claims-former-kgb-spy-new-book

“Then, in 1987, Trump visited Moscow and St Petersburg for the first time. Shvets said he was fed KGB talking points and flattered by KGB operatives who floated the idea that he should go into politics.” 2/X

Shortly after, Trump began considering running for POTUS one day.

“For the KGB, it was a charm offensive. They had collected a lot of information on his personality so they knew who he was personally. The feeling was that he was extremely vulnerable intellectually, and psychologically, and he was prone to flattery.” 3/X

I’ve often discussed how Trump was vulnerable to world leaders and intelligence agencies due to the fact that it’s so easy to get inside his bubble — you just have to satiate his ego and his personal sense of grandiosity.

Say nice things and spend money at his properties. 4/X

“This is what they exploited. They played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality and believed this is the guy who should be the president of the United States one day”

Putin is a master at this. 5/X

He got Trump to spend four years parroting Russian talking points, actively advancing Russian interests, and never saying a negative thing about Russia simply by stroking his ego. 6/X

Russia plays the long game.

Asset cultivation often takes years — sometimes decades — and it’s not as exciting as what you see in the movies. It usually involves painstakingly developing a cover, slowly getting to know a target, and then building on that relationship. 7/X

There’s a lot of speculation whether or not Trump is a witting or unwitting asset, but it really doesn’t matter — either way, Russia managed to coach (or coax) an asset all the way to the highest level of our government, and they spent four years profiting off of it.

8/X

There’s no doubt that it was one of the most successful intelligence ops in history.

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