If You See Trump as a Russian Asset, Then You Understand. Else You Don’t.
- john raymond
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Sorry, but there is ONE EASY WAY to tell if your analysis of Trump, Putin, China, and the state of the Western world is going to be perpetually wrong:
You’ve started from the wrong premise.
And if your foundational assumption is flawed—if you misdiagnose the origin of the fire—then every observation you make from that point forward will be distorted by smoke. That’s how propaganda wins. That’s how democratic societies lose themselves while thinking they’re just debating “policy.”
Because here’s the truth: Trump is not just a flawed American president. He is a weaponized actor serving the strategic interests of the Kremlin. And if your framework doesn’t start there, you’ll miss every single thread that ties our current chaos together.
Misdiagnosing the War
You cannot analyze Trump as if he’s just a standard-issue nationalist or populist. You cannot reduce him to “culture war” tropes, or even to domestic political grievances. Trump is not playing 4D chess, but the people in the Kremlin who are using him are. And that game? It’s called asymmetric warfare—and Trump is its perfect pawn.
So no, this isn’t about tariffs. It’s not about border walls. It’s not about campaign rhetoric or even about the right vs. left spectrum.
It’s about how a democracy unravels when its information systems, its legal structures, and its institutional norms are infiltrated by agents acting on behalf of hostile foreign powers.
You don’t have to believe in conspiracies to see the conspiracy play out in real time. All you need to do is accept one simple truth: Trump is not operating independently, but rather as part of a larger, hostile logic.
The Byzantine Generals Problem
This is where most pundits—and even many critics—fall apart.
They treat Trump as if he is a singular figure with isolated influence. But what they miss is that he is a node in a distributed system of chaos. This is the heart of the Byzantine Generals Problem—the idea that in a distributed network of actors, trust cannot be assumed because a traitor (or multiple traitors) may be injecting false signals into the system.
What happens to a republic when one of its key generals is secretly working for the enemy?
Answer: the other generals can no longer trust the signals they receive. Consensus collapses. Action becomes impossible. Paralysis takes root.
That’s the strategy. That’s the function of Trump.
He introduces conflicting instructions. He validates lies. He discredits trusted channels. He makes coordination among defenders of democracy impossible—not through brute force, but through signal corruption. He is a Byzantine traitor general.
Trump, Putin, and the Axis of Asymmetry
Look at the pattern. Every one of Trump’s major actions aligns with Putin’s goals:
Weakening NATO
Sowing division in the EU
Undermining faith in U.S. elections
Normalizing autocratic rule
Sabotaging military and diplomatic aid to Ukraine
Elevating pro-Russia voices in media and politics
This isn’t a coincidence. This is a theater of misdirection, and it’s a script written in Moscow.
Even his “errors” serve the cause. The incompetence is not a bug—it’s a smokescreen. The chaos is not accidental—it’s the point.
If You Don’t Start Here, You’ll Stay Lost
If your analysis begins with “Trump is a reactionary conservative,” or “Trump’s just playing to his base,” or “Trump is just another populist,” then you are already lost.
This is not about populism.
This is about infiltration.
This is about asymmetric warfare.
This is about signal distortion at the highest levels of power, injected by someone who benefits from destroying the very concept of trust itself.
Until analysts, politicians, and citizens alike are willing to say, out loud, that Trump is a Russian asset—compromised and cooperative—they will never understand the game being played.
And they will keep losing it.
A Concluding Word
The stakes could not be higher. This isn’t about disagreeing on taxes or trade. This is about whether or not we recognize an active, hostile subversion of our systems from within.
Trump is not just a danger to the republic.
He is the proof that the republic has already been breached.
If you understand that, then your anger, your urgency, your despair—and your resolve—are not only justified, they’re essential.
If you don’t?
Then you’ve already been misled. And the traitor in your signal chain is winning.
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