Here I thought most of the Russians living in Los Angeles were nice enough but definitely crazy. Turns out that is pretty much normal for where they came from.
6
Don't you think if Russia wanted these two asylum seekers either dead or put out of commission, they would be already? I think they are plants for more meddling over her. If they are ignored, they will probably slink back to Russia and wait for their next gig.
12
Its becoming more and more difficult to discern fact from fiction. Reality TV star becomes president. The president who makes up his own "facts". TV (Homeland) plays like a documentary...
Russia/Putin is Trump's reality, reality is getting scarier & scarier.
26
Donald Trump's 'fixer,' Michael 'Sez Who' Cohen, is drawing up the nondisclosure agreement and withdrawing $130,000 in thoroughly scrubbed money out of bank accounts in the Bahamas to ensure this latest Trumpian peccadillo is never aired out in public.
Is this a great country or what?
25
I have absolutely no qualms about believing this entire story. Give me a reason not to.
38
Degrading. You hit the nail on the head.
6
Certainly Trump won't send a rescue team to get her out... but it sure would be interesting! Maybe some wealthy private citizen with the best interest of this nation at heart goes there, bribes some local officials and gets her out on the last flight out of Thailand... What a plot.
25
If one hundredth of the incriminating evidence accumulating every day around Trump were aimed at HC as President, there would be Faux-inspired riots in the streets. There would be an attempted coup d’etat, with the NRA militia leading the charge, the crazies finally getting to put their toys to use. It would tear our nation apart. So leave us be, as we try to endure this absurd, dangerous Presidency. Mueller can not finish soon enough.
43
With all of the craziness that has gone on since the election , anything seems possible
If the American Embassy decides to give protection to these two characters they could be in for one heck of a ride
All and all, this would make a great movie.
7
Someone needs to keep track of what happens to this girl in the months and years after this story fades to the background.
19
I want to turn to the last page of this sordid absurd novel and hope to find that somehow all the bad guys are vanquished, good guys win and order is restoted. Then I wake up and read the Times or watch MSM and realize that the plot is thicker and the book is still being writte. Please Mr. Mueller, how does this end? When will this end?
19
If you are thinking that this story is a fantastic bit disinformation, you might be right. But, a good investigator knows that sometimes there is a kernel of truth in even a crazy person's story. So, you go and interview. In the end, its not really costly and lies are often easy to prove as such. If you ignore the story you do so at your peril for there might be something there. It may be bull but you can't say so until you go out and investigate it and declare it bull based on evidence which doesn't lie. Mueller is an investigator of excellent repute as is his team. I would bet that there are two agents from the Bangkok FBI Legat office which have been detailed to locate and interview. Again, it could be nothing....
13
might be me, but doesn't this read like the Profumo Affair? Is history repeating itself...
7
I see no problem with American intelligence questioning this woman, then offering asylum if what she has seems legitimate. There's no question that Oleg Deripaska is a key link between Manafort and Putin, and therefore Trump and Putin. We don't have to get ahead of our skis and assume anything, but what's wrong with some due diligence?
18
I still like the story of a small girl, born in Soviet Slovenia, beautiful, who was recruited by the KGB to become an agent - then is sent to America to marry a successful businessman and convince him to run to be president. Meanwhile, each night, she whispers into his ear the instructions from Mother Russia...
51
Vashukevich's strategy here may be to raise her profile so that Putin and his mob cronies may be less likely to make her "disappear." Kinda like hiding in plain sight? Although given their usual brazen behavior and gaslighting (remember the "little green men" in Ukraine?), Putin and his cronies probably don't care.
5
Love this column, Michelle. LOL'd at this one, brilliant piece of it...
"After all, one thing we’ve learned from this whole affair is that Deripaska maintains relationships with sex workers who participate in gonzo political theater. (That itself is useful knowledge in evaluating the more salacious claims in the infamous dossier compiled by the British former spy Christopher Steele.)"
6
She would not make this up out of whole cloth. There’s evidence she hung around with Deripaska so she will know something about the salacious side of the dossier. Crazy as it sounds, she’s likely telling some truth if not the truth, which is more than we can say about Trump or his associates like Manafort. Manafort appears to be scared for his family’s lives and thus will not snitch on the Russians. I guess he’s hoping for a Trump pardon. Maybe Trump is equally scared of the Russians, not only for his reputation, such as it is, but for the physical safety of his family. Thus he’s Putin’s lackey.
12
On the Access Hollywood tape, Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women. More than a dozen women came forward to confirm that he treated them in exactly the manner he described.
Trump's attorney has admitted paying $130,000 to get a confidentiality agreement signed by a porn star who had a sexual relationship with Trump.
Another friend of Trump's, the owner of The National Enquirer, paid another of Trump's sex partners a huge sum of money to buy her silence.
When it comes to Trump, no behavior is too depraved and no transgression is too extreme to be believable.
31
Trump either never watched Bullwinkle growing up or failed to understand the message of staying away from Natasha Fatale. Loser, big time! Sad.
15
Who cares if it's true, it would be a good show - starring himself.
1
Yet another unfathomable, therefore probably true, Trump/Russia connection.
No doubt Mueller has been on this long before we're hearing about it.
The Steele dossier was met with skepticism, yet was in the hands of investigators for months until we got to see it.
Access Hollywood, Stormy Daniels, Steele dossier, Miss Universe, women accusers are all probably just the prologue to the book we will be reading in the months and years to come.
Move over, Philip Roth.
8
Doesn't strike you 'funny' (stretching it a bit) that in this day and age, in the digital marvel of prolific information by way of Social Media, we have less and less knowledge, even less understanding, of what's going on? When the public, instead of being hungry for real culture, is so avid for entertainment, credulous to no end in the false promises of political demagogues in our midst? Is the dumbing down of a decadent society, complacent with a government so incompetent and corrupt, a fact? Tribal instead of an open mind, no solidarity with the least among us? Intolerant, unwilling to compromise? What's going on?
4
The best way to improve her safety is to publish as much of her story as can be obtained.
I originally dismissed her as running a scam to get out of jail. But there would be no reason for her to put herself in danger like this if she weren't already in significant danger. I think she represents a significant threat to Deripaska, a very dangerous man, and maybe to Trump.
Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, but those laws are not enforced. Their only reason for arresting Vashukevich, I suspect, is prompting from Deripaska.
14
When Mueller and the investigative reporters are done we are going to see epic dereliction by a president who is really a man without a country. Right now people are more or less in shock and coping day to day with how bizarre the Trump administration is; who can believe their eyes when their eyes are telling them that the president is an international gangster? When the money trail is filled in, it will still be bizarre, but also criminal in ways no one has ever imagined. That doesn't mean, of course, that our feckless GOP congress will impeach him - if they are still in power. If you are reading this, you know what to do in November.
23
Mr. Mueller would not be doing his job if he had not already sent an agent to Thailand to interview Ms. Vashukevich, whether or not it is a long shot.
Given the nature of Putin's regime and the nature of our president, it would be surprising if Mueller's investigation did not include folks like Vashukevich.
It is wrong for Trump's supporters to attack Vashukevich. Poverty, household abuse, and other factors are the most common explanations for young women doing sex work.
She surely understands the great danger she is in. Putin knows she has been talking to his opposition. No doubt that danger has pushed her to take a great risk in order to save herself.
Many westerners work in Thailand off the books. Tens of thousands are caught and detained. This routine detainment is, in and of itself, almost certainly not Vashukevich's principal worry.
2
If Trump hadn't become president, none of this would matter. And THAT is the saving grace. THAT is why there are little loose ends all over the place. There were enough people who were sloppy in their dealings, never thinking that they'd ever have to account for it. But then Trump became president. At first, I imagine some people were a little nervous. They'd have nothing to worry about, as long as Trump played things carefully. But he didn't... his highly flawed personality has caused so many unforced errors. And now, all the pieces are able to be assembled together by our master investigator and litigator, Robert Mueller. Little by little, it'll all come together. Hopefully Vashukevich will live to contribute another useful piece to help complete the picture of Trump's historic fraudulence and criminality.
6
It all reminds me of Napoleon's chief of police who used professional ladies to keep informed on what was going on. Information bought them cover.
No doubt the FSB operates in similar fashion. These days компромат is collected on video.
That said, I suspect that Vlad is quite happy to have compromised his major rival with Trump's election.
Having Hillary out of the picture is the cherry on top.
3
What do all these people jumping from this sinking ship know about these things especially Hope Hicks. Mr. Mueller I am sure will not let them off the hook. Will one of them make a bundle off of the tell all memoir and movie rights?
Trump and friends make the escapades of Bill Clinton look like antics in a play pen. But it does explain a lot about Putin's bare chested horse back rides.
During the German 1920's the country drowned its sufferings and began to prepare for the next war by just such depraved antics as described here. What will the future bring as the rot of the Trump presidency continues? And why must we all hear about this happening at all except for the Trumpster hijacking our highest office and turning it into failed casino with all that brings.
The tawdry has become our new normal.
7
By making this claim she exposes herself to danger from Putin and his cronies, so it does not make a lot of sense to me that it is all made up to get out of a Thai prison for a visa violation. What it seems she fears most is being deported back to Russia.
At first I was not quite sure there was anything to this but let's say I'm interested, if she gets deported back to Russia and quickly disappears, I hope she leaves a digital trail of what she knows.
2
She make be a missing link, but there's also yet another link that confirms the ties to dirty money aspect of this administration.
This just broke on The Guardian:
"Ex-Trump adviser sold $31m in shares days before president announced steel tariffs:Carl Icahn sold $31.3m of shares in a company dependent on steel imports days before the commerce department mooted stiff tariffs on imports"
Wouldn't it be nice to be one of this man's pals? Icahn's haul, in a single day, is $31,000,000 And Sam Walton just confessed that his tax return thanks to this wonderful new "tax" bill is $29,000,000,000. Yes. Billion with a "B." Most of us would be in prison for the scams and stunts our 1% play.
Every trail leads back to either dirty money dealing or Russia or both for a reason. This inept, criminal fool thought he'd take this country for a ride and make a fast buck. He did. It will be to our lasting shame --and this one is going down in the history books in bold print--that we ever allowed anyone so patently and grotesquely unfit for the office anywhere near it.
Anastasia Vashukevich may or may not have anything to do with it, but everything is on the table when the country's on the floor. The loonier it sounds the more apt it is to be true of this White House.
11
Hmm. I guess the Russians produce with the mix of propaganda and entertainment, what our churches, preachers, bloggers, and a vast army of lunatics on AM radio and Fox do.
So one group has stripes, the other spots. What both have done, quite effectively, is destroy the core fabric of our civic society by sowing serious doubt into our institutions. The bad guys are winning here, Putin is taking a victory lap, and it is enough for me to break down and weep.
This was not supposed to happen. We were supposed to be better than this.
6
If Vashukevich and Kirillov are lying, I think they're gimmick ranks among the most dangerous deception attempts of all times. Your life is not made safe by lying about Russian conspiracies and appealing to the US for intervention in Thailand. Transferring obscure Taiwanese prisoners to US authorities is much more easily accomplished when done quietly. To me, this suggests honesty first but also desperation.
A social media post helps prevent Vashukevich and Kirillov from getting quietly "disappeared" by Russian interests and/or Taiwanese avoidance. Their deaths might happen anyway but they are certainly trying to stay alive. I feel sorry for the poor diplomatic officer on whose desk this task fell in the inbox. Even if the US wants to rescue these individuals, the task will not be easy.
4
Might it be some kind of terrible clue that, at the very moment that this sordid story breaks - a story not good for Trump and involving, at its very center, the ALUMINIUM baron Deripaska - Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, imposes an ALUMINIUM (and steel) TARIFF? Who does this tarriff help, other than Deripaska (whose products presumably complete with American ones and are now cheaper in comparison)...and/or Trump, if he is beholden to the oligarch? Is Trump sending a helpful signal to those who own him? (Manafort, in particular, is indebted to Deripaska for tens of millions of dollars.)
5
As far a the US Embassy granting asylum--Do you think Trump would allow it if Vashukevich really can prove 'collusion'? Another government must give them asylum in the name of protecting democracies across the global. Germany? France? Iceland? There must be some nation that would protect these woman and work to free the United States from the grip of a possible foreign agent or (at least an extremely incompetent leader).
8
It’s certainly worth intervening with the Thai authorities to have her and Kirilov here in the United States to provide information in Mr. Mueller’s investigation. It’s a gamble, but one well worth taking. I certainly hope we take her and Kirilov up on it.
1
This is a very sad story. Was this young woman trafficked into the sex trade? She is asking for help and is in serious danger if theirs sown by the Russian dissident reporter is true; he seems reliable and truthful and his comments that he was originally skeptical but now is willing to explore the allegations fully. Does the life of a young woman mean so little to us that we are willing to turn away from a cy for help?
2
First, I believe Ms. Vashukevich. During Vietnam I was stationed at Utapao Royal Thai Air Field located in Southern Thailand for 18 months, about an hour from Pattaya, the resort city mentioned in this article. Resort city is a alias for sex city, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful city with nice hotels and a very nice beach. I'm sure it's even nicer compared to the time I was there in the mid-60's. However, the main way of earning an above average living was to participate in the sex industry. All of the women I met in the numerous bars always told me I was handsome and very smart. Accordingly, that's why I believe Ms. Vashukevich, but most importantly, I believe every sordid piece of news that is associated with Trump and the Russian "invasion" of our democratic process.
6
Just the fact that someone like this could be entertained as an informational link, shows us where the real problem is.
In which presidency would an individual like require vetting.
The weirdness of the stories out there is a reflection of who sits in the Oval oOfice, please remember that.
3
I pose the question: Is there anyone that is NOT in a position to blackmail Trump? The man who posed as "Mr Independent" because of his wealth- turns out to be the most compromised figure in American history and the worst President by any standard.
It is almost laughable to remember the proposed impeachment of Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The only even remotely plausible grounds would have been conduct unbecoming a President and the potential to be blackmailed. With Trump- the list is virtually endless. And he knows the Intelligence agencies know this- so he attacks them without mercy- daring them to expose the truth- which they and the Mueller investigation are doing- piece by piece- dissecting his Presidency into bite size judicial morsels. If there is one thing Trump and his cronies hate the most- it’s the law.
5
Michelle Goldberg says "We still don’t know the details of Donald Trump’s possible collusion with Russia," but the truth is we don't know any of the details because no evidence that collusion took place has surfaced.
Please, please quit calling it "possible collusion". It already IS collusion. We know there have been multiple meetings by many people in his campaign that are now on his staff, with various Russians. We have record and testimony of those meetings. They are part of the public record for goodness sake. What we do not know is the depth and height and breadth of that collusion.
2
I don't find this hard to believe. It's wild and outrageous and rather fascinating, which fits right into this administration's style. I hope Mueller manages to get her to the table.
38
Sounds like a script for a B rated porn film. Too absurd for normal society but not out of possibilities from a Trump campaign.
67
Nobody from our embassy is going to do anything,--they work for this administration-- but how about Canada? Mexico? Can somebody spring this woman and get her story?
88
Ambassador in Thailand, Davies, was nominated by the last decent president we had, Obama. I imagine if he gives them asylum he will be fired, but he may still do it. Agree Canada may be better.
3
Mr. Mueller has his own brief and his own budget. He would be remiss not to have already sent somebody to Thailand.
1
"But Vashukevich, who goes by the alias Nastya Rybka...."
Would her alias by any chance mean 'Nasty Woman?"
I don't know. What I do know is that Navalny is real--as anyone knows who watched Rachel Maddow present show after show about the state of affairs inside Russia last winter. The famed dissident nearly died, presumably at the hand of Putin's police before surviving to announce his campaign against Putin last year.
Would I necessarily believe this story? Well, the main characters apparently are real, even if the chains linking them a tad fanciful. For a get-of-jail card, Anastasia's plea to the American Embassy in Thailand is certainly creative.
Were I a gambler, I'd assume Robert Mueller is already hot on the trail. As Homeland sure showed last season, it has a way of presaging things to come in Washington, Russian troll and bot farms and all.
So why not investigate? If Trump's tweets get more numerous and strident that might be just the clue needed to tip off Russia watchers this might be for real after all.
76
A comment mentioned Mr. Mueller's whiteboard. We need a manic Carrie Mathison to keep up with all of this!
25
I believe her.
59
Nothing proves Michelle’s major point more entertainingly than the visibility she gives to Anastasia Vashukevich’s claim of being the “missing link” between the Russkies and Trump in our 2016 elections. This is a woman who obviously believes the U.S. will apply pressure on the Thais, apparently not understanding who actually has the whip-hand in our political power reality.
I understand that a lamentably imprisoned former Volkswagen executive in Germany who worked in their software R&D division and is sentenced to 25 years breathing diesel emissions is claiming the same thing. Perhaps we should interview him.
Seems our Manafort problem goes away if we leave Deripaska alone and simply let events proceed naturally.
Seems as well that the dirty tricksters are successful again: the whole cahooting mess DOES appear ridiculous. Mueller take note.
2
First: Why is the former Volkswagen executive "lamentably imprisoned?" US policy was intentionally seeking retribution for VW avoiding US regulation. Germany did us a favor. We can't prosecute a foreign national under US criminal law.
Second: Why wouldn't you want to interview the individual responsible for orchestrating a mass deception of international export law? Policy makers should want to pick his brain. In fact, that executive is probably the best person capable of writing policy to prevent his own deception.
Third: VW is already proven to have committed a crime. If you're professing Trump's innocence, you picked a really bad analogy.
5
Pathetic and sad. This apparently young, stupid woman who thought that havingsex with rich and powerful men would do something for her in the long run. Delusioned... disillusioned.
10
It worked pretty well for Ivana, Marla, and Melania.
9
After reading things like this I keep thinking of Dave Barry's oft-repeated remark, "I swear I'm not making this up."
52
Really give us a break. I think it's pathetic that the NYT is giving Anastasia Vashukevich any credence. My God I know Goldberg hates Trump but lets be a little skeptical. If Vashukevich really was “the missing link in the connection between Russia and the U.S. elections" a thug like Putin would have made sure she disappeared a long,long time ago. He's had no problem eliminating or imprisoning rivals who were infinitely more powerful. This speaks more to Goldberg's desperation to seriously consider ANY link between Trump and Russia no matter how absurd or idiotic. This is the kind of ignominious speculation one would expect to find on Info Wars or Brietbart News not in the finest newspaper in America. Let Mueller do his investigation. He'll get to the bottom of this in due time. In the meantime report the facts not the rumor, not the scams, not the hearsay. Leave tripe like this for the National Enquirer where it belongs.
23
I have to agree with Bill Brown - as amusing as it would be if all this were true, there is no doubt the Russians would have "disappeared" her a long time ago if she was going to be an inconvenience. Prostitutes are not a protected class in Russia.
1
" He's had no problem eliminating or imprisoning rivals who were infinitely more powerful."
Bill,
She's currently in prison.
1
The National Enquirer would buy her story to bury it...as they have already done on Trump's behalf.
2
This reads as nothing more than speculation.
Real investigations of Russia's meddling in our elections belongs in the news section, not Opinion. Baseless speculation does not belong in the New York Times at all. That way lies child-sex rings in the basement of pizza parlors.
14
i'm wondering if there's a country that will grant asylum to american citizens that are too embarrassed to live in the USA anymore......
80
I bet Russia has pictures of the Donald playing S&M sex games - and he's the bottom. Wouldn't that be funny? No wonder he'd giving up our country trying to keep the Russians from releasing them.
44
It is said that fish rot from the head down. Our society is now staring to rot. We're all getting dragged down to the Trump cesspool by having to even think about such nonsense as this.
49
As a former sex worker we know we know too much and could pay with our lives. That's part of the payment package - get lost and say nothing. It's nothing personal.
She knows she's dead already for what she knows. Hope she is not 'disappeared' like so many in the biz.
64
On the other hand, if she survives any length of time, that may be evidence (not proof, mind you) that this is a Russian attempt to distract from the real evidence elsewhere. Like you say, alone in a Thai prison, if her story were true she probably wouldn't have survived this long.
My thought exactly. Will the NYT follow what happens to her as much as possible, and publish it as a follow-up of this piece?
3
We have to be very cautious going down rabbit holes. I think this Oped should have been held back.
17
So that is what the collusion story has become?
The Times has never accepted the legitimacy of Trump's election. So even before the election results were certified, the newspaper has waged a relentless campaign of personal destruction aimed at Trump. Now the collusion story has run out of steam. Indeed, it is looking more and more like the Times was suckered by a Clinton campaign dirty trick.
So where to go next? Trust Goldberg to lead the way -- when the Times goes low, she goes even lower. No collusion? That's OK, the new game plan is to spread salacious tidbits and scurrilous insinuations.
8
The collusion investigation is only now entering it's prime. It doesn't matter that Trump supporters like yourself fail to see how much momentum is building, because Mueller is a professional and he WILL get to the bottom of it.
4
The collusion story has run out of steam? Mueller's investigation has been systematically digging out rats in a preplanned order. With multiple GUILTY PLEAS, people lying to yhe FBI about hundreds of millions of dollars in money laundering and their meeting with various Russian agents, how can you say "out of steam"?!? This train is just getting up to speed.
6
Will this story be told, or will the Enquirer buy it for immediate burial?
21
With all this smoke. there must be a fire around here somewhere.
14
Oh for God's sake, get this woman out and at least interview her! Surely our relations with Thailand are still good enough to managa that tiny trick.
35
Is this for real? How come no one else is reporting about this? A Russian sex therapist arrested in Thailand with links to Russian oligarchs and POTUS? In any other time, I would have assumed this was incredible and (dare I say it) fake news. But in this administration, the bar for what can be considered possible or believable is... I was going to say, pretty low, but by now we know, there is no bar.
40
I'm sure the Trump State Department will rush in to help this woman.
9
Bill Clinton's dirty linen, underwear and bed sheets were put on display by our moralizing Republican Congress, semen stains and all. and our children were subject to some pretty sexually explicit conversations. I remember having to make sure the television news shows were not on when my young children were in the room. Now that whole charade seems almost quaint.
So where do you think those same Republicans are today? No outrage. Just a few smirks by those fine Christians Ryan and Pence and some blather about this is a "different Presidency, get used to it." I am hoping what is really different about it though, is that when the financial corruption is proven, obstruction of justice as well, and possibly even collusion with an enemy, this President become the first to go to jail. That will set Trump and his gang apart from every other administration and guarantee them an appropriate place in American history.
So yeah, some assistant to an assistant of one of Mueller's assistants should be on the plane right now so that this can be discounted or counted in. Considering the accuracy of much of the Steele dossier, it would be negligent to ignore someone claiming to be a participant in that past drama just because she is a sex worker; part of the claims to begin with.
69
It seems crazy, but everything about these times is crazy. Just in case she really can connect the dots, someone in Congress or Mueller's investigation should go talk to her. You never know.
23
Honestly, I haven't trusted the so-called socialist propaganda, especially the sexually scandalous pieces. Ironically, I have also personally witnessed some tragic downfalls of several Vietnamese officers during the wars, such as the death of Lieutenant Colonel Le Van Dan, former battalion commander of the 44th Ranger in the IV Corps in 1966, or the desertion of a captain after the 1954 Geneva accords because of their relations to the Communist female cadres. Manafort secret links to Nastya Rybka or Oleg Deripaska might not be fictious as someone assumed.
Let's hope that the NYT, CNN, and the other mainstream medium closely follow Nastya Rybka's appeal to the world press.
17
Don't change that channel folks. Nastya needs to get in touch with Stormy to compare notes. A simultaneous release of salacious videos just before Trump and Melania head off the Mar-a-Lago, again, should hold our attention to this W.H. reality show for another week at least.
10
If this sex trainer has a fatal accident in the Thai jail, we might wish to assume that she had useful information.
20
This is the only way to protect herself is to speak out. Otherwise, for certain, she is killed silently. Where's the kickstarter to get a journo out there to get her freed??
10
Is this film script proposal ?
2
Well, no scandal involving Trump could occasion much surprise these days. But some Russian sex worker pleading for American asylum in exchange for dirt on the president stretches credulity to the breaking point. Trump, of course, can blame no one but himself if people believe this outlandish story. His chronic lying and bizarre behavior have made him vulnerable to any charges, as indicated by the fact that this story appears in the sober pages of the NYT, rather than jostling for space in the "National Enquirer" with exposes about alien abductions of earth women.
If only some alien would abduct Trump, himself.
13
If Ms. Vashukevich said she had something on Hillary she would be already in the US.
37
That she didn't take that route is reason enough to do what needs to be done to get here here.
1
Upon hearing that the Russian ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian empire had died the Foreign Minister, Metternich, supposedly asked, "I wonder what his motive might be?"
Joseph Conrads "The Secret Agent" portrays a sly and manipulative Ambassador to Britain from an unnamed country, which one will soon conclude must be Russia.
Goldberg works hard to accurately portray a modern Russia, but one is invited to consider whether modern Russia is much different from Russia as it has been for hundreds of years. It's modus operandi has always been to disrupt and mislead it's neighbors in order to keep them off-balance. Putins Russia is simply the Russia that has always existed; sly, cunning, deceptive....with nukes.
13
"Peter Pomerantsev describes modern Russia as a decadently surreal place where the ruling regime fuses propaganda with over-the-top entertainment to systematically distort and recreate reality."
Isn't this Trumpism? I mean we have an entertainer in the White House creating his own truths. Conspiracies and accusations have run amuck. The DOJ cannot do its job without them rooting out all liberals, shaming dissenters and castigating the leadership...
13
Looking to read more about American oligarchs and it doesn't even have to include sex, just their election interference.
12
Since Citizens United that interference is legal. In most other Western democracies it’s called corruption...
1
If this woman is waiting for the US govt to save her in exchange for evidence that the worst part of the Dossier is true, she’d better get comfy in her cell. However, I’d be more than happy to kick into a crowdfunder for her legal fees, if it leads to the same thing.
11
If there are photos, something is likely there.
3
Congratulations to the photographer who took this picture.
If I were a spy master and I were targeting foolish rich men, or any straight man on earth, I would use this woman.
And after that moment of near-understanding for the men who have shamed my country so deeply ... "Go, Bob, Go".
10
To some of us outside the US, Ms Vashukevich's plea to "Americans" for help confirms our understanding that, while Trump is a dangerous buffoon, there is still (some) hope for the country as a whole.
For her sake, I hope one of the many govts/countries who oppose Trumpism will step in and get her out of harm's way a.s.a.p.
9
Endless sordid bacchanalia keep showing up around this administration , true or untrue, who knows ?
It’s getting nauseating to see all this burlesque going on around the occupants of the White House , smearing the institution of the presidency, removing what little trust we can still have about this White House .
Robert Muller and FBI have a complicated task trying to untangle this mess , to bring back credibility and trust, so meaningful to most of us .
7
Every time I read an article like this I wish I had a time machine to go forward 18 months to see what the author (and most of those commenting on this article) have to say about their preposterous conspiracy theories involving President Trump and the Russians after they have been shown to be just that,
preposterous fantasies.
2
Nothing is too bizarre, too outside norms, too disgusting, to be discounted when considering Trump, his spawn and the "people" he associates with, who have been showing they are covered in the fungus of Trump rot.
But the Trump fungus has spread beyond those close to him. The spores have been growing in the Republican Party even before the White House was infected by Trump.
This horror is not a movie, not a TV show, not a book of fiction. This is reality. Much scarier and also extremely depressing. Who new America and the hope it once offered would flame out this way!
11
Ian Fleming's work pales to this.
10
If she disappears, the glove of conspiracy and collusion between Trump and the Russians fits.
13
Hopefully, someone from the Justice department is winging over the ocean to interview her before she is snuffed.
14
I would not dismiss the claims of this young woman simply as just a person who is trying to seek attention. That kind of false rational was part of the reason that led to the #MeToo movement.
This young lady needs to be heard and her claims investigated.
199
Sad to say, I don't even care if this story has substance or not. I love it when trump, the purveyor of fake news, has negative, possibly damaging, press like this. Is there a GoFundMe set up to get this woman out of prison, so that she can tell her story far and wide?
6
Are you sure we aren't in the middle of an old Twilight Zone episode?
6
Maybe THE TIMES should have a special section or a seperate publication of "more" speculative , "more" stretched , "more" farfetched ,"more" National Inquiry content? I was uncomfortble reading this op-ed in a paper that MUST remain one of the finist ,most reliable roads to "the real".
4
Let's see "rationality was tuned out, and Kremlin-friendly cults and hatemongers were put on prime time to keep the nation entranced, distracted..." sounds like FoxNews to me.
7
OK. But I'm missing something. It's not exactly clear to me how Ms. Vashukevich linked to the Trump campaign? Your article only mentions that she has Instagram video of Deripaska complaining about Obama's deputy secretary of state. That's not a link.
Or are you implying, that the link is to the (parenthetical) "salacious claims in the infamous dossier...?" Are you implying that Ms. Vashukevich was involved in the alleged golden showers mentioned in the dossier or some other sexual act that was recorded and hence being used as leverage by Putin/Kremlin to control Donald J. Trump?
1
There is something about this story that doesn't sit right with me. It reminds me of FOX news stories and Glen Beck's chalk arrows trying to show connections. Hopefully, the NYT won't stoop to their level and will wait for more proof rather than innuendo before going any further with this story.
3
Assuming an asylum request has been presented to the American embassy in Thailand, and the American ambassador acts independently of Washington, D.C., and Trump, to grant the asylum request for Kirillov and Vashukevich, we may never hear again from either of them.
Is it possible for Mueller's team to intervene to request an interview with Vashukevich and Kirillov? Perhaps that's how we might learn what 'missing pieces' the woman has and can provide evidence about.
All of this sounds bizarre, but not beyond the realm of possible. Let's not blow even the slim likelihood of its possibility and give Vashukevich and Kirillov at least temporary American protection.
7
As the comic Steven Wright has observed: "This morning I woke up and realized that someone had stolen everything I owned and replaced it with exact duplicates". There is a Russian asset in the White House. From there, things begin to get extremely weird. The critical problem or Americans is that the thing on the table that disappears with a 'shazzam' is our democracy.
9
When you take a man that has absolutely no scruples , is is a neurotic narcissist and one who thinks they can get away with anything , then combine it with Russians who are as cagey as the day as long , you have the makings of a real life spy thriller .
This sounds credible to me . Please pass this on to the FBI /- NOW !! Our only chance at survival here is Mueller .
6
What are the chances that an Anastasia Vashukevich Instagram movie would make a bigger difference (i.e. "the missing link") than the Access Hollywood tape or the Stormy Daniels payoff?
Instead of distracting us with the salacious, please give us something substantial that would actually "prove" something bigger than a possible threat of blackmail. Is this really news that is fit to print?
1
We elected the 'reality tv' showman. That's a real-time sin of America. We are the worst citizens. We have corrupted or allowed corruption to destroy the ideals of a civilized, democratic nation. We the People did it.
Trump is the spoiled, boy-that-cried-wolf. 'I'm great. I'm the only one. I am so good. They're horrible. They're losers. Lock her up. I like soldiers that weren't captured; they can be heroes, like me. I would have run into that school'. What a fake.
Not fake news, fake leader. He's a billionaire wanna-be,with so many bankruptcies and affairs that it must be a sin that evangelicals say he's their man. I can't believe this is my country, now.
So many good people here. Most of us. But, somehow, we let the wild, lost, angry, hateful mob rule. We allow it. We don't vote. We don't get involved. We don't really care enough.
Russia is a madhouse led by a madman. We're headed that way. We can do our best, to be good people everyday, and work and talk and move toward November elections. Democracy can save us, if we're good citizens. If not, then shame on US.
288
The surreal circus of corruption and collusion continues unabated. With Trump dignity and reason are lost. Everything is bizarre chaos and incompetence.
The Presidency is debased and America is reduced to a third world horror show!
4
This poor girl is going to jail, mostly because she has nothing to offer anymore. It's irrelevant now if she or her escort friends performed acts for, with, or around Donald Trump. Republicans don't care. Like taxes, sexual morality, ethics, and fidelity are for the little people, and Democrats.
8
Anyone taking bets on how long she's allowed to live?
2
At this point, I am convinced that the Russians purposely created this circus of fakery and fictional characters like this woman to distract the media and the citizenry from its true actions. Put up a scantily clad sex worker claiming knowledge of a Trump/Russia connection to make the American people think the whole thing is a farce. Putin has proven that he knows how to have his enemies found and killed. If she was truly a risk she'd be dead by now. Next thing we know she'll be having dinner with Edward Snowden in St. Petersburg.
2
"When the news about Vashukevich’s arrest broke, my first thought was that it was some sort of dirty trick, a sideshow designed to make the investigation into Trump’s Russian connections look ridiculous."
Go with your gut, Ms. Goldberg. This piece jumped from one conclusion to the next, giving it the tone of an Alex Jonesian rant. Ew.
2
I read this article (and watched the Navalny video) with awe, as it really does bring pieces of the 'puzzle' together as Nvalry says. Bottom line, Putin has brought his brand of massive corruption to the US courtesy of djt. And its worse than even I, a despiser of djt and all he stands for, feared. Meuller get to Thailand and talk to this woman, meet with Navalny and anyone who can shed light on this. Our country and the democracy we have fought and died for is up for sale. This also explains why all the billionaires on trumps cabinet. The web is virtually identical to Putins slime regime.
8
Please wise up. The entire thing is a political stunt. All of it including the staged affair with Deripaska, the phony arrests, all of it. More nefariously, it may be a subversive probe to test which Western outlets and individuals are most likely to give credibility to such “Deza”. On Twitter this is even more obvious, with the story being pushed and retweeted by suspicious “leftie” profiles to popular citizen journalists and investigators. A good rule of thumb- EVERYTHING coming out of Russia is malicious, strategic, a lie and a trap. Its an organized criminal untrustworthy state. We are at war with Russia. The Kremlin has funded a massive hybrid war against the US,UK, EU and all Western states. Word to the wise- Inoculate yourselves. And be paranoid and dubious, at all times, for good reason. Now more than ever. The election interference was only the first phase of their operation.
5
I imagine Mr. Mueller & Team go home every night and take hot showers to purge themselves of the contaminants of the day.
8
The US Embassy will never offer them asylum, Tillerson would veto it. I'm hoping Merkel offers them asylum in the German Embassy and their information comes out. It is probably just a sideshow, but our world is a sideshow these days, so I'm not ruling anything out.
6
Oh, please. Can our disgust with Trump really allow us to fall for this clumsy ploy? If she is truly in possession of - and publishing while held in a third world jail - such incriminating material, she would already be dead. Buy this story and you're critical thinking skills are on equal ground with a birther's.
4
Robert Mueller and his team are best positioned to separate truth from lies in this case. Best to let them dig to the bottom of the whole sordid mess.
4
That this kind of crazy story can actually be considered possible is a symptom of how destructive Trump's "direct to the people" messaging has been. As Neil Post warned in the early 80s, we are in danger of "entertaining ourselves to death." With distractions coming at us every day, while a Republican Congress systematically chews up the New Deal while everyone is concentrating on the magician's feint.
This may all be true. Occam's Razon would predict that people with low impulse control, and grandiose view of themselves as untouchable, would happily consort consort with sex workers. But let's focus on what's really happening. As Krugman writes today, the Tax Bill was a obvious scam. Passed despite widespread public opposition. Ask yourself why? It requires no conspiracy to understand that money = power in our seystem, and when that distribution gets so concentrated, so does power and the further gaming of our system.
In the long run, Mitch McConnel is the Palpatine of this story.
5
This can't possibly be true for the simple reason it seems plausible. You'll find much more truth in the implausible behavior of the Trump family.
3
One thing i have learned from living through the '60's and the Reagan years, is that whatever happens, as bad as it seems and as much as everyone screams and beats their heads aganist the wall, that "This too shall pass."
After 9/11/01, the US military and the Bush administration insisted that we were going to be hit by blizzards of hijacked airliners-all to destroy Washington and possibly less important other cities. When no more "hordes" of martyr hungry Muslims managed to cause firestorms in the US, the Bush administration kept insisted we need only wait and , in the meantime, do away with our "dumb" civil legal system which could never "protect" us.
Many GOP and extreme conservatives made small fortunes and got gobs of air time and print coverage predicting bloody warfare on the streets and from the air. Thousands of well to do NYC residents moved from lovely apartments-many obtained once at reasonable 20th century prices, decades before-to buy safety with their retirement money on homes very far from NYC-often near flood zones. In a few years, the Russians and CHinese began to wash up into their missing apartments and take over-.
Russia has been one long disaster since 1905 and before. There is no reason that should change. But it needs not affect how civil societies function if only intellegent people realize it is all a freak show, over there, for their own benefit and to influence the gullible in the "abroad", as they refer to us..
2
I sincerely hope the U.S. Embassy will grant their asylum request. Putin ruthlessly eliminates his enemies. These two are in an extremely perilous situation, whether their claims of information are true or not.
140
Are you forgetting? US Embassy is part of Trump administration.
1
This is why I never got through a Russian novel.
94
I'm sure the State Department will be happy to step in and help get this woman to the US to tell everything she knows about their boss.
1
I watched that video by Navalny and it is totally convincing. After reading also about Putin's organized crime cronies assassinating people who cross them (https://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/from-russia-with-blood-14-suspected-..., she probably is in real danger. It'd certainly be worth looking at what she has to say, and it's not like she's an international terrorist or anything, so risk free. I hope the FBI or someone investigating this can extricate her.
4
A column worthy of Peggy Noonan: "it would be irresponsible not to speculate."
"Could a social-media-obsessed escort help explain the degrading nightmare of the Trump presidency?"
Yes, Clearly she can.
3
This tawdry article is simply unproved speculation heaped upon unproved speculation. I can scarcely believe the Times printed it. There has yet to be drawn a direct, nefarious line between Trump and Putin or the Russian government. There may very well be one, it just has yet to be proved.
Most opinion about the Trump/Putin/Russia melodrama seems to be based almost entirely on how its audience feels personally about the main characters and also how they want to see the series play out.
Meanwhile, massive real damage is being done daily by Trump and his Republican - and sometimes, Democratic - enablers with no end in sight. This is in no small part because such a lopsided chunk of regard is being given to the interference/collusion showpiece that's holding its fans in such rapt attention to the exclusion of other critical issues.
Of course, the Democrats are perfectly fine with this and actually facilitate it as it deflects focus away from their own political and legislative impotence and onto the Bad Guys everyone can hate and blame. Sad...
2
Trump so wants to turn America into Little Russia and apparently is working on his own script of 'making impossible things up, and most absurd things possible'. The surreality of the Trump WH is a bubble he wants to surround all of America within. Then we could all sit in front of the TV screen like bubble heads nodding acquiescence to Trump and Fox fake news and hysterical commentary.
Reading this I have no doubt that Trump would like America to become a 'decadently surreal place where the ruling regime fuses propaganda with over-the-top entertainment to systematically distort and recreate reality' This is what Trump does every day and enforces through his tweets.
My friends and I would always joke about 'kinky sex' when we were young, but not to the extent of a life lived by this Anastasia Vashukevich, and even her own people didn't believe her outrageous claims at first!
Why she is imprisoned would go far as to the credibility of her claims. Maybe this will become the next 'reveal' in the ongoing Trump-Russia saga.
5
That woman, poor thing, is dead meat. After Putin’s state rant on his nuclear expansion program, no nation will give her asylum for fear of angering the snarling bear, and starting a world conflict, and certainly not trumpyland with so much to hide. Please, how did we get here? And how do we get back to sane governance?
4
I watch cable news and particularly love Rachel. But what I am really bothered by is the focus on Russia and the investigation while ignoring the less sexy but truly dangerous things that are happening in the background. Like all the changes to the EPA, immigration horrors like holding pg immigrants girls hostage until it's too late for an abortion, like destroying the Consumer Protection agency. Like packing the courts. These actions need to be covered all the time. We cannot be distracted by the craziness while true harm goes on daily.
11
It's hard to know whether all this would make a better Ken Burn's documentary or a LifeTime cable channel movie. Regardless, it does seem as though the walls are really beginning to crumble in on Trump.
5
This woman should be granted political asylum in the United States. She should not be sent back to Russia, where he safety would be in jeopardy.
5
I understand how some won't believe this is anything but a call for help from a kooky sex worker. Or Putin's plot to distract us.
But, powerful & wealthy men tend to have sense of entitlement that CAN include purchasing sex. People with too many secrets sometimes have a great need to tell at least some of them to someone.
Prostitutes tend to know things/secrets that the rest of the world never hears. After all, who is going to believe a prostitute? They are outcasts in society. Pretty much all societies. It's pretty safe to tell prostitutes anything, but especially the truth BECAUSE they won't be believed. And if you have enough money to keep said prostitute in line, she keeps your secrets. Tick her/him off and it could all come crashing down on you.
You might be asking how I formed this opinion. Observation in my work to end violence against women. My career brought me into contact with enough sex workers to notice a few things and be told others. I doubt sex workers lie any more than the rest of the world's population, and we all do lie about something.
Here are my concerns about ignoring this story. 1. She is in real danger. 2. We've seen the unheard of with this president & his cronies. 3. Where Russia/Putin is concerned anything is possible.
It may turn out to be untrue or irrelevant. But, somebody should find out because, well... whose going to believe a prostitute? And she IS in danger.
I hope that one of our allies offers her asylum because we won't.
16
She should've jumped ship in Norway. Thailand is not the best country to run off to and then decide to hold sex classes for Russian male tourists in hotels. How peculiar indeed. Perhaps she is making all of this political noise just to get attention to her dire situation. Her fate may be sealed if she repatriated to Russia.
3
I've never been a gambler, but I would bet good money that the Russians have some "interesting" video of our president.
6
It should come out shortly that Stormy Daniels is involved in this story as well, and trump has been compromised since 2006 because that was the year he married Melania.
2
This Sex-Russian-America-Election story puts Putin's timing for his 'super-scare' announcement about a "new super bomb/device" in a new light Perhaps this 'device' did not work as well as he hoped for, in the US, in Russia, or in Thailand. Then again, between Trump and Putin administration 'needs' and Russian oligarch ties to violence we may never hear from or see this young woman again.
4
This tale points shows once again that the more that comes out about Russia and their activities, they seem less like insidious Lex Luthors and more like our president, sowing discord not by intent but by their worst impulses and need for power, prestige and money.
Both deny, blame, discredit, alter, and falsify to uphold their fragile “realities.” And the fact that it is helping to damage our society is a by-product, and in Russia’s case, a helpful one.
For Trump to be elected, we only have ourselves to blame for not voting, not some foreign power. If you think about how their social media campaigns worked to sow discord, we only need to look to our president’s next tweet as he’s the original Russian internet troll. This woman’s story doesn’t need to be corroborated as the missing link, we already know our president lacks character and principle.
3
So for those of us who voted, who do you suggest we blame?
1
Where are Moose and Squirrel when we need them? I think Natasha has something to say before the Russians kill her, and they will if she is extradited back to Russia. We should at least try to appeal for her release and listen.
8
Mueller needs to get these people into a safe place at once. Their lives and their information is at risk.
5
You write "Peter Pomerantsev describes modern Russia as a decadently surreal place where the ruling regime fuses propaganda with over-the-top entertainment to systematically distort and recreate reality." There's little doubt that Russian news outlets are an organ of the oligarchs overseeing the Russian news apparatus.
Seriously, is there less feverish rhetoric to describe the dark money behind Fox News, Alex Jones, Rush Limaugh, Breitbart, Trump, et al? Why don't voters know the names of individuals or funding sources of foundations behind right wing political opposition ads that compare candidates to crazy clowns, Mexicans to serial murders and pizza parlors that hide sex-trade rings?
The question answers itself.
10
Michelle, please stay on this story. I believe you are on the right track and that those in Russia who know what is really going on will surface as this story unfolds. As Americans, we are naturally in denial that anything as bizarre as the Trump presidency could happen on our shores. Yet it did. Enough of us were hypnotized by the Trump Circus that we voted for him in a trance. Irrationality is one of the features of fascism, and you can see why. A crazed population cannot agree on ANYTHING, allowing the autocratic leader to play the role of Pied Piper. The Pied Piper was hired to remove the rats but ended up taking the children. Don't fall for Trump's "Drain the Swamp" lie.
7
This has gotten much better coverage in Western Europe.
2
So sad that this is within the realm of possibility, and can't be dismissed out of hand.
7
The description of current state of Russia is a glimpse of what America could become, should the current admin and GOP-rule continues. However truth there is in this woman's claims, we must act to prevent our country from turning into one in which this lady and her countrymen/women operate.
8
Would it hurt just to look at it and maybe bring in a specialist to see if the tapes are real. I believe this shithouse government of ours needs a little airing out. Maybe then we could move forward with fixing our roads, bridges and last but not least, our electrical grid system. Trump in the Republican Party are always pulling a fast one when it comes to gun laws. Watching the news, I feel somewhat like a 10-year-old looking at a magician making the important laws of the day disappear in front of our eyes.
5
Chronologically where does her arrest fit in with the absurd theatrics of Putin's Super Nukes announcement and accompanying video release? Hmmm..could be more of a problem to Putin than it might seem?
3
Not likely that the Trump admin will grant her asylum.
5
Reagan's "Trust but verify" should always be joined by "Doubt but verify."
It is naive to believe such seemingly-outrageous and bizarre intrigues as described here can't and don't happen. With human beings everything imaginable, everything possible -- is possible. If this were only about Putin's intrigues and Russian folly, it could be dismissed. The entrance of Donald J. Trump on the international stage (as "leader of the free world") changes the story's importance.
Only the woman and others involved know if her claims have substance.
However unusual it might seem to skeptics, the Mueller team would be negligent if it ignores this situation.
It was a question asked of then non-entity Alexander Butterfield that changed the investigation of Watergate.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
6
I'm glad to find out that I'm not crazy for remembering Butterfield as the turning point in the Watergate investigation, yet whenever I read about it or see clips, there's always a focus on John Dean—not that Dean is nothing—but my memory was that Butterfield's revelation of the tapes was like when you're eating a pomegranate and it's lots of peel and not much reward, but after skritching away at the peel and little pockets of seeds it'll suddenly become pliable and then the pomegranate just opens itself up for eating.
The things Robert Mueller and his tightly-run ship of attorneys already know is astounding. It's as if the Trump puzzle contains so many pieces they have to plot which strategy to take in pursuing it. Where to begin? From which direction to they proceed. The choices are myriad. But I'm confident it is the right hands. This tangled web of deceit will be unwound. And when it is done, I think most of US will simply be aghast at how complicated it is. One thing for certain. I would not want to be Trump or his family for all the gold in Fort Knox.
DD
Manhattan
4
Well, to quote the late Hunter Thompson; "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.". I think we're there now. I'm not saying that Vashukevich's claims are true (how would I know?), but I don't think I'd dismiss any allegation or claim out of hand anymore.
6
Vashukevich can't be extradited to Russia unless Russia sends an extradition request to the Thai government. Nothing in the story shows that such a request has been made. When the case against her in Thailand is resolved, she will be deported and free to go to wherever she wants, if she gets a visa. There are many decent countries that would issue her a visa. Of course, Thailand is a dictatorship, so it is not impossible that the Thais might ship her off to Russia against her will.
I wouldn't be surprised if Mueller is urging one of the Scandinavian countries to issue that visa. It would be irresponsible for him not to try to interview her to see whether there is any truth to what she said already said.
3
Would it hurt this country to help these people? Perhaps they have evidence of a Trump-Putin connection, perhaps they don't. But we admit thousands of people everyday who are in fear of their lives. Would it be so terrible to admit 10 more, especially if they can shed some light on what went on during 2016?
5
This article and the book quoted sums up our current political and social reality maybe better than anything I've read anywhere.
“Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible".
Indeed.
5
It is very entertaining! However with all the staff coming from Trump is believable, it is something that he admires and love to emulate!
1
So far entertaining and raising more question than answers. If any of the involved actors were to disappear it would be way more. Keep digging journalists.
5
So far, almost every thing that has seemed like a lead in this scandal has not been disproved. Some things have been verified. But almost nothing disproved.
In this strange, strange tale, this strange thread of the story is worth pulling at.
3
Glyn Townsend Davies is Trump's ambassador to Thailand. He is a holdover from President Obama's administration. Trump has been too lazy to get around to appointing many new ambassadors around the world.
Townsend Davies is a heavy hitter with an impressive including experience in U.S. security, political, economic, human rights, and humanitarian assistance policy regarding North Korea.
If anyone can get to the bottom of this saga and use his "humanitarian skills" to get this woman back to the United States and find out what she knows or doesn't, it is this well-respected career diplomat.
It's my guess Trump doesn't even know who he is and if he did know that he was an Obama holdover, he would be fired tomorrow.
Please Mr. Ambassador, get to work on this and close another episode in this sordid reality show. we are sick of Trump's ongoing distractions.
5
The republicans have been doing that with media in the US since Nixon at least. It ended up subsuming the DEMs into doing the same things when reagan interceded to give Murdoch citizenship when there was a move in Congress at the advice of the British whom had been victimized by him in the same way he has done to us for a long time. As much as they might resent us they do admire how we kept our media under control and honest which was ended along with all the rest of the protections we used to have with our very effective and sane for the common good regulatory system.
2
Except for those who see nothing when Trump shoots our country while walking down Broadway, we all know he is the single most dangerous thing to hit America since Jefferson Davis.
Everyone else needs to VOTE. Before then, tell everyone else to register and VOTE. When you hear someone saying it will not make any difference, tell that person it makes a huge difference and that (s)he must VOTE. Drive elderly people who cannot get around to the polling station so they can VOTE.
5
Sadly, a sex worker operating illegally on a work permit in Thailand has very little chance. Between the pincers of dominant Republicans in the US who want her story delegitimized, and Putin who is equally interested and has long and powerful arms for repression and even murder abroad, she's unlikely to make herself enough of a news story to get her to safety.
She should have been more careful if she was going to break local laws to make a living. She made herself a target. It's unfortunate, but sex workers will always operate on the fringes of the law, even moreso in a foreign country. I'd rather not sound judgmental, but she did put herself in harm's way.
Much as I'd like to have independent confirmation of the shenanigans of this awful bunch at the helm, and their supporters in the Russian mafia, oligarchy, and money-laundering enterprises (intertwined, no doubt), I doubt it is a practical hope. I feel sorry for her, but suspect she will be put in jail in Russia and then they will throw away the key, if not worse.
7
From a humanitarian angle, I think we should do all we can to save this poor girl from foul play by the Russians and, perhaps, some colluding Americans.
From the angle of investigating the Russian probe, we need to protect Rick Gates. The Russians and/or Trump operatives (is there a difference?) would surely like to see him have an "accident" before he sings many more tunes. I hope Mueller and Co. have thought of this and are taking appropriate measures to protect one of their likely star witnesses.
13
You're a better man than I. It's a dodgy area, isn't it, sex work? One could wish that if people have to do that it would be legal, a service at a cost that people understand. This would clean up a cloudy ethical area and make the complicit men more responsible. However, I can't 100% endorse the choice of how to make a living in places where it is not legal.
2
Let's get this woman out of the Thai rison and interview her in a safe location. Even if it is all a fraud at least she will be safe.
46
I like others posting here fear for this woman’s safety. If she has something to tell and is willing to tell it to the American media or the department of Justice I would have to think that she is in danger.
169
At this point definitive proof of collusion by Trump is almost irrelevant. Its quite clear from what we know so far that several campaign frontrunners, including his campaign manager had shady dealings with shady Russians. The administration is compromised and the turnover rate after just a year is about 35% and climbing. People without security clearance are privy to important government secrets they can use as bargaining chips for even more shady dealings. It may not all add up to the technical definition of collusion, but a first-year law student at a bottom-tier law school could make a case for racketeering. What a covfefe!
264
Parkland? What's Parkland? That tragedy is over week old now and is lost in the back pages having been replaced by a new slew of corruption and headline grabbing errors and stupid tweets by the electoral college winner.
4
If this administration collapses before the president's term is up it will occur because Robert Mueller has done a historically difficult task of bringing to the American people the sobering thought that there are countries out there that want to see our democracy and freedoms destroyed. I say sobering because it will tell the American people that their vole is not only incredibly significant but actually a sacred right. A sacred right requires that they become much more informed about future elections, not just at the Federal level but state and local as well. All parties, most especially the two main ones need to stop the acrimonious partisanship, stop the childlike blame game and get serious whether they want to keep their freedoms, their first, second and all other amendments to our constitution and concentrate on rebuilding our country in the history and vision that our founders intended. Do we want to give up our country to those who would destroy us simply because we had neither the interest, time and love of our country to protect our it and our freedoms?
185
There also seems to be one political party in particular that is so corrupt that it is willing to able and abet the destruction of our democratic process in order to prop up a seriously incompetent president and curry favor with a destructive gun lobby. One party in particular that ignores and possibly aids foreign interference in that ''sacred right'' to which you refer. Please stop with the equivalence. Seeking a path to justice and holding elected officials accountable is not a ''childlike blame game''. I agree with you completely about the responsibilities of voting.
2
What's scary though is how many people seem to care less if Russia interfered in the election or colluded with Trump, or the fact that they've also been cultivating the NRA. And yet anyone who is critical of these groups is "Anti-American." I'm not surprised at all about Trump, but I'm totally surprised at how many self-professed Patriots seem to think the possibility that our President and institutions might be compromised by Russia is no big deal.
5
That sobering thought is not new. Many Americans saw the path of the country and did what they could to change it in 2016. The sobering revelation, to some, is the constant corruption from our own citizens and the lack of accountability.
2
This story is the polar opposite of the heroics shown by the Post with the Pentagon Papers. Good grief.
23
It's not a "story." It's an "opinion." Like yours.
1
I have donated in the past to provide the Times to high school students. I by no means regret that. But as I read this article I am thinking about them, and I truly, truly regret their having to read about this president and his sordid Russian connections. Then, I remind myself that the classroom is a good place to discuss the news and to find perspective. And that Mr. Mueller is an honest man. And that, according to my mother anyway, patience is a virtue.
275
Additionally, take heart in the fact that this nation's high school students are demonstrating far more leadership than are its adults. They can handle this, and they will be the ones to fix this mess.
2
This does indeed "seem like the preposterously lazy plot of a sub-B movie." But yet, at this point nothing seems impossible for Trump and his Republicans. He is a national embarrassment, and they seem to be perfectly happy to act as his enablers. November can't come soon enough. As the Parkland activists so aptly put it, "vote them out!"
209
This who stupid scenario has been weird since it started. Stranger Things II. Trump is less than unfit for office, he dangerously unfit. The longer he's there, the more emboldened he becomes, the more dangerous he is. We absolutely must take back at least one house of Congress because we definitely can't survive several more years of this and still call ourselves America.
192
The house impeaches. To stop the madness and for species survival the house must be flipped now (2018) to simply contain republicans with constant investigations and subpoenas. Think daily 11 hour Benghazi testimonies for how this works.
The house also initiates spending legislation and the house can thwart any legislation that might advance from the Senate if McConnell remains the toad master. Think dream act and immigration passed by 68 bipartisan senate votes.
Stay focused. Resist and vote.
5
Don't fall for it.
So obviously a Putin set up...a total ruse to make those investigating the Russian connection look desperate and foolish.
Let Mueller do his job.
32
I agree. Mueller would never be fooled by such an amateurish ploy. But, that doesn't mean Trump wasn't in bed with Russian mobsters, just that she won't lead in the correct direction.
I'm reminded of Ice Storm. Everybody important goes to a key party and they all leave with each other's husbands and wives. If you're important, you were there and can't talk about it. If you were not there you are not important and therefore no one will listen to you.
29
I think it’s bound to get weirder still.
We’ll see what Mueller does. I think he has a chance to make the clutch move of modern history. I hope he doesn’t choke.
57
Ditto. Our country is hanging by a very slender thread.
3
Mr Mueller is first, last and always a Marine who ran toward the guns. He will not choke.
6
Wierd, yes, but this young woman is clearly in danger of losing her life if she is extradited to Russia. Will some Western country please grant her asylum, very rapidly?
63
Polonium knows no borders.
2
Given that Trump’s head is easily turned by a pretty face I think this story might have legs. If she gets sent back to Russia we probably won’t hear from her again. I hope she is able to tell her story.
60
Absolutely nothing is beyond the ranges of possibility. Trump's groping dialogue prior to the election was totally disregarded by the voters and still Trump rules. America has been had and from the total lack of support for honesty on the part of the Republican Party, more of the same lies ahead.
The vote is the answer and it is about all we have left.
111
Saw the girl on tape last night. She is obviously extremely naive if she thinks Trump's State Department is going to lift a finger to help her. They want her to disappear. She will therefore be returned to Russia (or Belarus), where she will then disappear or be killed -- probably both.
61
Trump's state department won't, but it is possible that Britain's MI6 might pull her in. She is a wild card in this political casino.
4
If we have learned anything, it is that in Trumpworld anything is possible.
After the Stormy revelations, it seems Trump's claims of innocence due to germophobia are lame. Who knows what the Putin has on Trump but it must be something HUGE because Donnie's full embrace of Putin love continues unabated.
73
These two should've addressed their hand written letter to the embassy of some other western democracy - Canada, or the UK, perhaps.
Sending it to the U.S. is the second worst place they could've chosen. Only slightly better than sending it to the Russians.
79
No, they should have asked help from Norway, gotten asylum, gotten citizenship, then would have been able to immigrate to US, as trump would open doors to all Norwegians.
4
If all this were a movie, the critics would be panning it as having a preposterous plot... real life, in Trumpworld, really is stranger than fiction. "Who knew?"
42
It would be worth bailing them out through use of "asylum" just to find out what they know. Stranger things have happened.
26
Trump is an ordinary kind of corrupt and dirty. Putin, for a trivial investment of a few millions of dollars, has created a storyline he undoubtedly knew would be irresistible to American media, and every article and breathless report about the intricacies of Russia-gate and Putin's nefarious influence on our politics and democracy yields wildly inflated return to that man who rules a second rate country that is in fact simply incapable of posing any real threat to America.
Meanwhile, as that high drama and reality show plays on and on, the Koch brothers are crowing that more of their anti-democratic and nihilist agenda has been realized in the past year than in the previous 50 years. McConnell, chortling deeply, has said likewise.
A jailed sex worker may or may not have information relevant to advancing the trump-russia reality show storyline, but she most definitely has nothing of importance to say about the real-time destruction of our of democracy by our very own oligarchs.
87
"a sideshow designed to make the investigation into Trump’s Russian connections look ridiculous"
That's about right.
After all this endless speculation about the Trump-Putin secret plot for world domination, the Left better hope there is something really there or else we will have 4 more years of Trump followed by who knows what. If this ends up to be some shady business actions by some cohorts that were long banished, I'm afraid you will have handed Trump another victory after having hyped this story so much.
5
"Nothing is true and everything is possible" has just the right Orwellian logic to be the 2020 slogan of the Trump Campaign.
56
This story, whether true or a scam, simply underscores the extent to which the related worlds of entertainment and big-money decadence have taken over our culture and politics to the point where we can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality. Donald Trump, of course, is the ultimate American embodiment of this phenomenon.
As Ms. Goldberg implies in her column, how do we conduct rational discourse in a world where everything is a Fellini-like circus?
38
When asked "why do you rob banks?" The notorious Willie Sutton answered "because that's where the money is." And that above all seems to be the thread that ties alls these improbable pieces together.
Corruption is more that the violation of laws. When something is corrupted, it no longer operates as it was designed. And there is no doubt that with the absence of established democratic institutions Russia's very brief experiment with democracy has floundered.
Putin is an authoritarian strongman and the upcoming election will be meaningless. But the oligarchs and thieves that he has surrounded himself with are in many ways an American creation.
The drunken Boris Yeltsin, whose election we manipulated invited American economists to transform the Soviet economy. And transform they did. Industries once owned by the people through the state overnight became owned by their managers, who colluded with the banks to buy out all the stock, of course with the usual kickbacks.
America applauded. Capitalism was now supreme. But that original theft of the peoples resources set the stage for what we now call the "oligarchs."
Corruption is a contagious disease so it's no surprise that in such a system everything is for sale. This includes politicians and women. Sorry Michelle. These are prostituted women not sex workers and these oligarchs are no different than pimps.
Whether Trump is in this crowd is the question. So far there's no answer, but we shall see.
41
Probably an empty nothing designed for self preservation. However, our press seems to be doing the work of a noneffective government in substantiating or dismissing information based on facts. If all our reporters were trained by Woodward and Bernstein, they could say "well done". I hope it continues, and that the corporate entities who own our media will see the need to keep (and pay adequately), or even increase, the reporting staffs. Our government, with the exception of Mueller et al don't seem to be interested. Maybe the 2018 and 2010 elections will change that, maybe not. In the meantime, with the circus of OUR government, every sideshow needs to be attended to find out whether it should be believed or dismissed.
14
This young woman is in extreme danger and she knows it. She may be bluffing about what she knows about Trump and Russia but her claims are plausible enough to warrant an interview by Mueller's investigators. I'd be surprised if that isn't already happening. If not, they'd better hurry; she may not be "available" much longer given the fate of anyone who displeases Putin and his fellow billionaires.
41
She most likely has it all on a thumb drive hidden in a set of matryoshka dolls locked in a safe deposit box. It will take Tom Cruise, working with Matt Damon, Sean Connery, Jason Statham and the cast of Cirque de Soleil to break in and steal it. Whatever happens her wheaties will have a little extra polonium on them some morning soon. Is she the only one who knows about Trump's Mar a Lago shaped birthmark and can describe its size and location? Could even John Williams come up with the appropriate soundtrack? All we know for sure is Harvey Weinstein won't be producing this one.
1
When the final sordid details of this drama come to light, they will be wilder than anything we can imagine. Mr. Trump has a deep connection to Russia. The signs have always been there. Watch for a few minutes, Mr. Trump's body language as he met with a Russian ambassador and the Russian foreign minister early on in his presidency. Compared this to all of his other public meetings. The obsequious, ingratiating posture he is in with the Russians speaks volumes about the way he’s been compromised.
Watch his rage at the news conference, the one with stacks of empty folders, it is not the rage of an innocent man. It is the rage of a man who knows where the road leads.
Ask yourself why his body man Schiller left the White house. Schiller admitted in his testimony to the Senate intelligence committee, that five prostitutes were offered during Trump’s 2013 trip to Russia. He alleged that the offer was declined. The number matches with the description in the Steele dossier.
33
As a showrunner myself, may I just finally ask that pundits stop using our shows for baramoters of the unreal? Let's be honest. After the election of Trump, everything and anything is "true fiction".
12
After Stormy Daniels, the salacious parts of the Steele dossier took on more credibility. Whether Ms. Vashukevich has real "dirt" on Donald Trump and is "'the missing link'" connecting him to Russia is still highly speculative. Things are already weird enough. Unless more information surfaces, this will remain just where it now stands: unconfirmed.
4
This story could be included as part of the plot--it almost is--in the new thriller, "The Deceivers", written by former NYT reporter Alex Berenson. Paraphrasing the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland," "I don't like to go among mad people." But here we are. It appears that there are no sane people in the tale that is swirling around Trump's world.
Latest quote from NSA's McMasters, "Mattis is treating me like a 3-star general and not as an equal."
Is everything that goes on in and comes out of the WH personal, and everyone in the Trump and Republican world only concerned about their own ego and power?
How did this country stoop so low?
19
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
In the surreal madhouse of the Trump administration Robert Mueller may need Sherlock Holmes to separate the two. It is unbelievable, and would be pretty entertaining did it not involve the steady poisoning of our system of government.
19
It’s way too easy to read the description of Russia in the first paragraph with a
substitution of the country name to the United States.
7
Yes, once upon a time the shenanigans in Russia would be a subject of derision and pitty. How could they give up democracy for an autocrat and former spy-leader like Putin? How could they allow the plutocrats to control society and keep the populace under their thumbs? How could they allow the media to prop these people in power?
Well, it turns out that we were quite capable of achieving the same mess, electing a reality television star into our highest office with his adopted party propping him up in power despite his repeated demonstration of personal and professional fitness for the office of the Presidency that he desecrates on a daily basis.
It all makes me think that the Trumpist target the "Deep State" is his greatest threat. Government professionals with depth. Perhaps it will be the professional bureaucrats, that I for one have long decried, who will be our ultimate salvation from this horrible, incompetent and un-American administration. I increasingly fear it will not be the democracy that brought us Trump that will save us from him. That would require the electorate to educate itself and, acting individually rather than in group think, participate in the political process..
19
My head is about to explode just thinking about what the white board in Mueller's office must look like at this point. Probably starting to resemble a Jasper Johns painting.
229
Or a Jackson Pollock with a heavy splash of Francis Bacon.
4
Thank you for making me laugh this morning Michael.
3
Or more like a Jackson Pollack.
7
This story has been whispered on twitter for well over a yer.
I am glad to see it getting some press in mainstream papers.
This is dirty dirty business. The quality of our politics depends greatly on issues of personal character, and how that plays out in our political leaders and their contemporaries. It is completely corrupt through and through.
Water seeks its own level. We are well below pond scum and into the depths of deep fetid muck.
460
You write:
"Russia’s state-controlled television industry, and portrayed it as a hypnotic circus full of wild, melodramatic extremes. Rationality, he wrote, “was tuned out, and Kremlin-friendly cults and hatemongers were put on prime time to keep the nation entranced, distracted, as ever more foreign hirelings would arrive to help the Kremlin and spread its vision to the world.”
Sounds like Fox News(sic) to me.
753
Read about Konstantin Malofeev, Tsargrad Tv and Fox producer Jack Hanick. The Kremlin literally funded a Fox News producer to run a pro-Trump tv channel during the campaign. Naturally it broadcast Carter Page’s speech live and covered Trump every day.
26
It's also also what Sunday morning at a conservative mega-church sounds like without the donation requests.
6
This is an excellent article, and deliciously sordid. Viewed through the prism of today's level of political corruption, this is entirely plausible. Neither Putin nor Trump can want her to speak. I fear greatly for the safety of Ms. Vashukevich.
488
I'm sure the reason she made the video on the way to jail was to stay alive. Going to be mighty suspicious if she slips in the shower and has a fatal accident now.
1
Institutionally we will get through this absolute mess of an administration, but, all those now serving in the White House and future advisors will be forever tainted by their employment in a organization that would make Tony Soprano uneasy.
259
The imminent danger here is that neither Putin nor the Trump administration would want Vashukevich and Kirillov to talk. Thus, the only way the American Embassy can intervene is if enough sane Democrats and Never Trump Republicans come to the rescue.
Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, are you listening?
(...crickets...)
136
My only question is who fed this joke to the reporter and why did she buy it? It has nothing to do with the Trump-Russia story and serves to make people think the story is a bottomless pit of vague moral allegations. In fact the Trump/Russia story is a serious matter of national security in the digital age.
21
My only question is: agreed that the trump/Russian story is a serious matter of national security but ... can it not be both?
8
First paragraph.
"In his 2014 book “Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible,” Peter Pomerantsev describes modern Russia as a decadently surreal place where the ruling regime fuses propaganda with over-the-top entertainment to systematically distort and recreate reality."
That's who.
Goldberg isn't saying this is true, she's just saying it's out there and probably for a reason. Hold the outrage.
4
What I find most improbable is that this woman would place herself at such great risk without an actual story to tell.
She will be disappeared by the Russians if a Western state doesn’t step in in to protect her, and I have no doubt she is aware of that fact. That suggests to me that there is at least some kernel of truth here.
412
Thanks for bringing attention to this story. Maybe it will given a thorough investigation as a result. Desperate times when democracy in the US could be saved by gonzo sex workers from Russia.
180
Ummm...all I can think of to say is that this has become a very deep throat, indeed. One brought down Richard Nixon; could another signal the end of this tawdry nightmare of a presidency?
106
Only our tawdry Congress can do that. VOTE for a better one.
3
We consistently underestimate Putin’s creative ability to plan and execute operations against us and others. Revenge for losing the Cold War is his prime motivator. Not unlike WW1 leading to Ww2 but with lower temperatures.
How many millions did they send to the NRA?
We must beg our intelligence communities to formulate a proper counter. At least, they could deseminate relavent information to the press anonymously.
This may be our last bastion against the great power of Putin’s crusade.
The fourth estate allied with intelligence, military, state dept, and the FBI May be our great last hope.
74
“Our politics feel dreamlike”
I woke up this morning hoping it was a dream.
Unfortunately....we continue sleepwalking into this surreal nightmare.
51
The saga of the Trump administration would be thrown out of any meeting in Hollywood discussing concepts for new movies.
I keep looking around for Neo's blue or red pills or Alice's "Eat Me" or "Drink Me" potions.
We are in Yeats' widening gyre and the slouching beast has been born.
87
If Kirillov and Vashukevich miraculously escape arrest its Russian theater. If one or the other or both die, well then it may all be true. One thing is for sure, the American Embassy isn't going to do a thing, which if you stop and think about it, that makes their pleas look like theater. These two are not stupid and they are not likely working "alone," Moscow puppeteers are most likely running this whole operation. International politics as a cheesy, midway freak show, with scantily dressed vixens, barkers and showman leading the marks to empty pockets is where we are and the biggest showmen on the planet, Trump and Putin smiling and counting their (our) money. Dystopia is no longer some future fantasy, it is here and now.
65
Here we go again. "It ain't dark yet, but it's getting there", wrote Bob Dylan. It is dark and seemingly getting darker. The truth is in the darkness somewhere and truth will be brought to light by investigative journalists once again. They are the true heroes of our democracy in this fraudulent administration and we salute their bravery and chutzpah. Please Lord, save us from this night of darkness to reside once again in a new day of truth, justice and the American way real soon. God speed Mueller.
250
The real drama is, how do the safeguarders of our Democracy function within this hybrid of reality show and the theater of the absurd that is the Trump-Putin movie we are all extras in.
How do serious people in the intelligence agencies evaluate this craziness and motivate congress to empower them to investigate absurdities that may contain true evidence of conspiracy? If they are taken in by flamboyant con-artists, perhaps even under the direction of Putin as a ploy, the investigation of conspiracy could be discredited. Putin is scheming, as may be Trump, and Putin is both shrewd and creative.
135
"It seems like the preposterously lazy plot of a sub-B movie. But these days, so does everything else in our politics."
If even just a few years ago someone had made a movie about Trump and the Presidency of this last year, I would have thought it too implausible. There's no way I'd even consider watching such a movie. Indeed, "nothing is true and everything is possible!"
322
Yours is an interesting point. Some might suggest Mike Judge's movie "Idiocracy" was that movie. For some reason, Fox reportedly tried their best to suppress it after it was made, giving it just enough limited release to fulfill the contract. I guess Rupert and the boys must have thought Judge was giving away the secret plans. As they used to say on Monty Python, "Wink-wink,nudge-nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean?"
16
Actually, they made the movie 56 years ago.
It's called 'The Manchurian Candidate'.
6
The legend is still fresh but hard to believe
11
Fair enough to invoke the maxim, Valery, but if these people are not a threat to the status quo, why indeed did none other than Patrushev -- of the Argentinian cocaine smuggling scandal -- travel all the way to Bangkok "for meetings" on the day these hapless 'sexperts' were arrested? And why are they not being released?
While it is unlikely that they will be helped by anyone from the US side, given Trump's own affinity for his Kremlin mentor, there are probably other state actors out there who would very much like to know exactly how the Kremlin kleptocracy operates.
Whether she lives or dies, Nastya Rybka has effectively ensnared the top-tier Russian leadership. They have only their own cupidity & venality to blame. In their extreme arrogance, they imagine the whole world belongs to them; that they are invincible & infallible in their every impulse.
And, no surprises, that's not how things actually work.
43
That is exactly how the supranational oligarchy works
3
Wow. This column shows that the Trump-Russia collusion story has officially jumped the shark. When you veer into Alex Jones conspiracy and paranoia territory maybe it is time to rethink your original premise. Just saying.
28
Look back at the last two years. Nothing has been normal. While I'm inclined to agree with your premise that this feels a bit too fantastic to be real, there's still the fact that we're living in a Bizzaro America. And this detour hardly detracts from the Russia probe, especially as ever more links (Toshin and the NRA) become known
131
The difference between Michelle Goldberg and Alex Jones is too vast to describe. Briefly, Michelle is presenting facts as they are known and pointing out how bizarre and improbable it all is; she isn't fabricating a narrative, and she endorses skepticism while pointing out verifiable connections among the "players." Her interpretation of these facts is rather minimal; until that parenthetical toward the end, I kept thinking "isn't she even going to mention the golden showers of the Steele dossier in the context of sex theatre as political operations?"
Alex Jones creates false narratives through wild interpretations of unrelated elements. His tone is hysterical and hyperbolic, and he wants you to swallow his line whole. Michelle's approach is "think what you will; this is what I've been learning about."
655
Maybe you never heard of Wilbur Mills and Fanne Foxx.
Heck, Stormy Daniels and jessica drake are already in the mix.
What is so outrageous about this piece of the puzzle?
54
You begin to wonder if in the end, we're going to find out that there were Russian fingers in every pie imaginable.
There's some evidence of Russian attempts to influence the NRA's lobbying tactics. There's the known influence of Russian trolls and bots on social media. And now this.
It's not too much of a surprise to imagine that a country that is deeply insecure, with a leader that needs to keep up the image of strength and competence, would use every possible way available to keep its main and stronger advocacy on the defensive. But it certainly is beginning to look like the plot is so complex and Byzantine (reference intended) that not even the wackiest Hollywood screenwriters could have thought it up.
161
Perhaps even more frightening is that in America we are seeing dark money in every piece of pie served up by “local” groups pretending to support farm families, child custody rights for dads, local small business, religious groups ... and they’re actually promoting and lobbying county and city governments to abandon their function of working for the betterment of public health and safety and instead function as protectors of corporate and industrial interests. The dark money is smothering local communities.
9
This whole story sounds like something out of 'Homeland' or 'The Tunnel' but I hope that investigative journalists will track down the reality buried somewhere in these revelations. How easily we are diverted from the business of citizenship to allow for those in power to manipulate us into submission, confusion and inaction.
88
Given the antics of Trump, Nunes and many others, at this point I find Homeland totally believable. I also have no problem believing a "social-media-obsessed escort" might be the pin on the Trump grenade, in fact it makes sense. Our country has been a sub-B movie for going on 14 months now, and the plot is not just "preposterously lazy" but sordid, tawdry and appeals to prurient interest. It reads like a collaboration between John Waters and David Lynch, with some help from Quentin Tarantino and a thousand monkeys with typewriters. It's bad opera without the soap and leaves you wanting a shower. I have to believe well see the hands of Wes Craven and John Carpenter before the final credits roll. Did I mention Monty Python? Just imagine Max Bialystock on bad acid with orange hair. And before getting distracted by the plaints about the Clintons, one of whom famously claimed not to have had sex with that woman, consider this: Trump's been having sex with the entire country, no flowers, no dinner, no nothing.
7