Putin is giving aid and comfort to Trump. Today we found out why.

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The big news today is that Trump explicitly urged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s e-mail — i.e., to commit an act of espionage and cyberwar against the former Secretary of State and the current nominee for one of America’s major political parties.  It goes without saying that this is shocking, unprecedented, and beyond the pale.
But it’s not inexplicable.  Trump’s coziness with Russia in general and Putin in particular has become a feature of this campaign.  We know that his campaign manager, Manafort, has disturbingly close ties to Russian interests.  We know that Trump never fails to praise Putin, an autocrat, at every given turn.  And we know that Russia reciprocates the love.  There is a growing consensus in the intelligence community that Russia was behind the DNC hack, which shows that Russia and Putin believe that a Trump victory is in their best interests.
All of the above has been discussed at length in the media in recent days.  One question that has gotten less attention is why.  Why does Putin want Trump to win so badly?  What is it about Trump that is so appealing to the Kremlin?
Trump answered that today.  This aspect of his disastrous press conference has gotten less attention than his call for a foreign power to spy on his political adversaries, but it explains why he has Putin’s support:

Donald Trump said Wednesday that, if he is elected president, he would consider recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and lifting the sanctions against Russia.
At a wide-ranging news conference, Trump said he “would be looking into that” when asked about his stance on Crimea and Russia. The Crimean Peninsula has been part of Ukraine for decades, but Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the territory in March 2014 after a popular revolt toppled Kiev's pro-Russian government.

www.politico.com/…

This is jaw dropping.  The annexation of Crimea violated international law and sparked a prolonged and bloody conflict in the Ukraine.  It was an unacceptable act of aggression that has no place in a post-WWII world.  But here Trump is, ready to “look into” giving it his official stamp of approval.

We knew Putin wanted Trump to win.  Now we know why.  Trump will not only turn a blind eye towards Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.  He will excuse, allow, and enable it.

The stakes of this election are unfathomable.  Trump must be stopped at all costs. 

Update:   Timaeus makes a great point.  Trump has been bleating for months that he’s interested in reducing American support to NATO.  What he said today is simply a more explicit version of what he’s been saying along.  Trump is just fine letting our European allies fend for themselves.

Expensive Shoes--Russia's hacking of Democratic emails and Donald Trump

Trump thinks he is oh so smart but I think he really is rather stupid no matter how much money he has made stiffing those gullible enough to fall for his Trump University and Trump Institute schemes.  Stiffing the middle class from money they rightfully earned building Trump edifices is not only stupid but unethical.  This unethical Cretan decides to run for the presidency and thinks his life will not be opened like a Pandora's Box.  Despite a less than inquisitive press and a press which loves making money when Trump dribbles some drool from his uncensored mouth, things do manage to be revealed. Either Trump has an incurable mental illness having its origins in a black hole of self aggrandizement, perhaps even a massive inferiority complex disguised as superiority or that dementia may be setting in sooner than one might think.
Trump is in trouble.  Why do I say this?  Answer: Taxes.  Trump refuses to reveal his taxes thinking that saying they are being audited is an excuse most will not challenge.  In fact, however, auditing matters not.  He still could revel his taxes to an American public from whom he wants the most  consequential job on the planet.  Why will he not reveal his taxes when all modern candidates for the presidency have done so?

Trump is really, in the final analysis, a dope for overtly and verbally challenging Russia's Putin to hack into Democratic email. He has advised a foreign power -- an enemy --  to influence the results of an American election.  He cannot walk these egregious statements back although he has tried.  If this not be treason it is damn close.  He has given the Democrats now a gift that will keep on giving much like Nixon's Watergate did.  One can only imagine if it were Hillary Clinton who said what Trump did to Putin against Republicans she would be skewered as she has been for infinitely less. 

The issue of Trump's tax returns, of course, has to do with his fear of what the electorate may find out. We could find out he paid NO income taxes; we could find out he lied on his submissions BUT more importantly we could find out how much money he is borrowing in loans from Russia if any. Follow the money the old Watergate adage tell us. See links below.

If Russia loans Trump money because no one will loan him it here as he has a habit of not paying it back or declaring bankruptcy what will that mean? Maybe Russia even forgives a debt then what would Putin possibly want from a Trump presidency for that act of kindness? Try on the Baltic states and Eastern Europe for size. Putin wants to get back for his nation the empire it lost after the cold war. The Russian people would place him on a historical pedestal for life. He knows he could possibly get that from a Trump presidency because Trump says NATO can be abandoned if those nations do not pay their "fair share" and we also know Putin would be happy to fill the vacuum of power the abandonment of NATO would mean. Eastern Europe should tremble at a Trump presidency.  Trump has committed a near treasonous if not wholly treasonous act suggesting Putin, a foreign enemy power, hack into Democratic emails and skew an American election toward Trump and he waxes effusive in his warm feelings for the autocrat as well.

Trump is SO stupid that he just gave the Democratic Party a gift. This issue will not die.  His actions and his financial ties to Russia are now subject to investigation. Just what could Trump get from Putin?  This begs investigation and the American electorate should demand nothing less than the submission of Trump's tax returns for public scrutiny.  I would not want to be in Donald Trump's shoes as he steps into a black hole he has dug for himself no matter how expensive his shoes are.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/27/the-trump-russia-money-question-in-24-steps/#comments