Dr. Jim EllsworthI've been pondering this "WindowFriday" thing since my arrival here on Mastodon--and I'm thinking that given my profession, I should start posting a weekly #RussianWindowFriday feature, profiling one of the many influential Russians to have succumbed to the dreaded #RussianWindowCancer over the years.... 😅
The only thing that Fiona misses here is that what Putin has on Trump IS THE ONE THING HE CARES ABOUT: the only reason he still got to cosplay as a billionaire after he squandered all his family's money through #TheArtOfTheBadDeal WAS HIS BAILOUT BY THE KREMLIN/RUSSIAN MOB (same/same) when the world's banks wouldn't touch him anymore. The one thing Donald J. Trump is legitimately TERRIFIED of--and which no amount of MAGA adoration could impact--IS RUNNING OUT OF MONEY and having to live like the hoi polloi (a.k.a., We, the People). He would do LITERALLY ANYTHING--even run for President, when he only wanted to run out the clock living as a dissolute pedophile playboy--to avoid that.
Crucially, this is also why we're starting to see a little bit of independent action from our #MafiaDon this term, even some LIKE Iran & Venezuela that run counter to Russia's traditional interests--because he's succeeded in his one core competency: grifting off his puffed-up pretense of power (and harnessing bespoke Trump-branded #craptocurrency to the U.S. Treasury) to make the #TrumpCrimeFamily ACTUAL billionaires, even if the Kremlin called in its chips.
The one thing keeping him MORE-OR-LESS in the fold NOW is his (quite legitimate) fear of developing #RussianWindowCancer. Vlad doesn't TAKE WELL to signs of independence from his vassals.
Susan Davis 🇨🇦