Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Trump's Weakness for the Fairer Sex

Donald Trump better hope ..."there was no collusion." His political life, beginning in 2014 is being put under a microscope. Paul Manaforte, his onetime campaign manager is in a heap of trouble. He faces some serious jail time. In addition, a lawyer who was once his executive assistant has pleaded guilty and faces time behind bars. If there was any hanky-panky with the Russians it is likely to come out. That, however, is a big "IF." Keep in mind that Trump is a billionaire and has spent most of his adult life dealing with shady characters and fooling around with women. It isn't like he is a babe in the woods and didn't get to where he is by being stupid. That leads to the key question. Did he do something stupid with Manaforte that Muller can discover. Trump has been repeating "There was no collusion" over and over again while his supporters have been working on a back-up plan if something unexpectedly toxic turns up. Its becoming clear that Muller has made plenty of dumb mistakes on his own from the beginning of his investigation. I doubt that Muller could survive the same scrutiny he has placed on "Trump Collusion" if the spotlight shifted to his own involvement in Uranium 1. Chances are that even if Manaforte knows of some improprities he'll bite his tongue. Right now it appears likely he'll go to jail for a long time and his best bet would be to clam up and hope for a pardon in a couple of years. How much his bag man knows is no doubt enough to expand the seriousness of Paul's nefarious activities and lead to a stiffer sentence, but its doubtful if his assistant personally knows about any collusion involving Trump...if it ever existed to begin with.

In my view, Manaforte knew he was in trouble with his financial dealings and wanted a friend in high places for an insurance policy, when the crap hit the fan. As a consequence he brought plenty of money and clout with him upon joining the campaign. It is well documented that Manaforte had ties to well placed Russian players and without a doubt the Russians realized that having a direct connection to a presidential candidate, through his campaign manager illuminated some interesting possibilities. In my view there is a strong likelihood that Donald escaped any long term liabilities and what the Soviets were doing through Manaforte was quietly laying the groundwork for exploiting the President's weakness for women as a future opportunity for blackmail... in the unlikely event that Donald got elected president. Still, in Trump's favor is the fact that he came suddenly onto the political stage and there wasn't a whole lot of time to corrupt him with incriminating material. The Beauty Pageant was an opportunity, and while graphic photo's of the President banging some Russian prostitute would be problematic, it's probably a worst case scenario he could ride out.... if he didn't try and cover it up. The coverup is always worse than the crime as Bill Clinton discovered. The assumption of course is that Trump was stupid enough to get lured into a compromising situation... a worst case scenario I'de not assign a high likelihood to. So what else could Manaforte and/or his aid have to bargain with? Money and bribery....? hardly likely either, as Trump is not particularly vulnerable to this approach since he is a billionaire in his own right. So if the Russians have a hook in Trump it likely has a sexual component which while embarrassing, would not by itself prove fatal.

Meanwhile, in the back of Muller's mind is the looming and very real possibility that his reputation will be stained by what the investigation into the Uranium 1 deal is likely to uncover. That happened on his watch and could potentially dwarf anything the "Collusion Hypothesis" is likely to chase from the underbrush of the deep state.