The latest bit of news about Manafort’s likely providing personal polling date to a Russian leading up to the November 2016 presidential election should be hitting the headlines like a shock wave. The information, finally turns on its head the Trump claim that “There was no collusion.” It shows that yes, collusion did occur – at least by Manafort and we still don’t how many others.
Still legible redactions in documents submitted by Manafort’s defense team indicate that Manafort shared polling data with Russian Constantine Kilimnik along with assertions that he he may have discussed U.S. sanctions with Kilimnik but couldn’t quite remember for sure.
This stunning connection between sanctions and polling data fits squarely into the definition of quid pro quo – you do something for me, and I will do something for you. Manafort purportedly shared polling data with the Russians which presumably allowed them to fine tune their social media propaganda with just those voters in states where it would benefit Trump the most. In return, Trump was required to eliminate the sanctions and play nice with the Russians.
With the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel, the Russians fed scurrilous information about Hillary precisely to those voters who were shown by the data to be susceptible and likely to forward the propaganda on to friends and family. Some of those voters resided in rust belt states like Michigan and Pennsyvania which ultimately went for Trump.
Resistance voters and Independents received some of this Hillary dirt in emails or on social media and were shocked at the coarseness and egregiousness of the messages. They were baffled by the question of where these lies were coming from never dreaming that they were emanating from Russia.
And now, after two years of denials by Trump and his cronies, the American people have the answer. Personal polling data handed off to the Russians helped get Trump elected to the White House. He has been doing his best to pander to the Russians since the election to return the favor and because they have kompromat on him for engaging in this conspiracy he has no other choice.
After this Manafort collusion news was revealed, the reality of it’s existence still has the power to shock. Like something our of a John La Carre novel, we now know that Trump captured the White House by nefarious means. Through intrigue, malevolence and greed a few criminal Americans engaged in an international plot to throw the election to Trump by conspiring with an enemy state.
But we have Mueller on our side., And one has the feeling that Mueller will not quit until he has tracked down every single one of the conspirators. In the end, it will be so gratifying to see them all doing the perp walk in their orange jump suits – especially the one with orange hair.
Here is the article from Slate discussing the redacted information which still could be read – a real oxymoron.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/manafort-filing-redacted-collusion-evidence.html