Conspiracy theories catch hold because the world is a hot mess, and they’re simple, easy-to-believe explanations. And there’s often just enough truth to make them believable.
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I’m not particular fond of using the phrase “conspiracy theory” when describing facts. Also recall during his first presidency that he had a meeting with Putin in which the stenographer was not allowed & no notes were taken.
Whether this is truth or not, would Trump's actions be any different? I mean if you want to destroy America piece by piece the playbook they're following is textbook.
People also seem to have a twisted notion of what it means to be "recruited" by the KGB. They didn't hand him a fucking application to be a Russian stooge. On the flip side, Russian dictators do love their useful idiots.
And how would anyone “know” it’s not true! Numerous people have been convicted on lesser amounts of circumstantial evidence than what we have heard with our own ears & saw with our own eyes!
Just a few facts:
2016 Trump campaign met a Russian lawyer for Clinton dirt
2017 Trump revealed classified info to Russians
2018 Exposed CIA names; Helsinki, he echoed Putin’s lie
2023 Classified docs at Mar‐a‐Lago
2024 Trump lauded Putin in Woodward’s War
2025 Trump dropped Ukraine support
#Krasnov
Not all theories are conspiracy theories. Australia wouldn’t let Trump open a casino 30 years ago because of documented ties to the mob. Russian mobs are active in NYC. There’s so much evidence, it actually seems like Occam’s Razor at this point.
I won't be around to read the book, but IMHO, one day Putin's geopolitical restructuring, wherein the post communist Russians took down their cold war rivals, and resurrected the Russian empire, mostly through a revolutionary use of manipulation of new technologies, will be an epic achievement
In this instance, I'll adhere to the smoke = fire rule of thumb. Whether Trump is or isn't "Krasnov" is a distraction from his behavior acting like a Krasnov.
The US has no, absolutely no, advantages, either trade-wise or economically, in strengthening Russia in this way. And looking at Trump's plans to drastically cut the US military, he looks like a President acting solely on behalf of Putin.
What do you mean "looks ?"
TRUMP'S A fucking Russian asset, bought and paid for since 1987! The next time, it won't be a fake attempt. It'll be for real by a professional!
Conspiracy theories creates the
"us vs 'them'" mentality, then makes you feel superior because you are 'in the know', which is exciting, which is addictive
Conspiracy theories make people more comfortable thinking that there is some potentially understandable reasons for suffering, some orderliness, and there isn’t. That’s why we do metaphysics, mythology, and religion.
This is a false equivalence. You have been presented evidence of this claims even here in this thread with links to documentaries, several excellent books by Craig Unger, an investigative journalist, who uses excellent sources including another former KGB agent. Let the evidence speak.
Mueller tiptoed around this but refused to draw conclusions on evidence he had stating it was not his role. Barr buried it. Corporate media have treated it as a hot potato, not wanting to offend. What is left except to speculate about this unexplored conspiracy?
He has had ties to the Russian mob/KGB since the 80’s. They rescued him out of debt when his businesses tanked. No one here would lend him any more money. Whether he is a spy- idk much about that but there was a whole book that was a New York Times best seller linking him to Russia.
He helped Russian mafia take over New York criminality by being led by them to kiss and tell on the Cosa Nostra. He got immunity from the FBI for doing so, but also lots and lots of Roubles.
02/18 Riyadh meeting showed Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev as a member of the Kremlin delegation. Rybolovlev is the Russian oligarch that helped Trump out of a debt crunch by purchasing a Trump Palm Beach property valued at $40 million for $95 million in 2008.
Tetiana Bersheda, a lawyer for Dmitry Rybolovlev, was under investigation in Monaco in 2017 for allegedly recording a private conversation with a friend of Rybolovlev in relation to the fraud case with Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier.
I subscribe to the NYT and read this. There is enough evidence in the other articles you posted that the Russian potash oligarch who bought Trump’s Florida property at a trumped up price was also involved in buying favors in Monaco. The difference is Europe calls it out—US does not.
Fertilizers (1.72 billion US$)
Ukraine's abundant natural resources include vast reserves of minerals used in the production of fertilizers. Fertilizer exports play a crucial role in Ukraine's trade balance.
Canada's Nutrien (NTR.TO), opens new tab, the world's top producer of the mineral mainly used in fertilizers, suspended its ramp-up plans for potash production in August, citing market conditions.
Meanwhile, Swiss-based Eurochem is expanding, opens new tab facilities at sites in Russia.
I don't know what the truth is about this, but what I do know is this information was available the last time around and it just seemed like no one at all cared or did anything about it.
Because the legacy media didn't--and still won't--touch the MAGA/Russia alliance, even though it's not hidden one bit.
Trump first went to Moscow in July 1987. In September 1987, Trump would spend $100K on ads in national newspapers attacking--wait for it--American's alliance with NATO.
1/3: Well what doesn't add up is any American taking an anti-NATO stance in 1987, when the Cold War was still going and you just never heard this kind of rhetoric from a public figure in either party.
Because it's pure Kremlin propaganda aimed at causing fractures in NATO. In 1987! So ask...
2/3:...yourself, why would a d-list celebrity/NYC businessman who knows shit about world events all of a sudden publicly adopt a pro-Kremlin stance... just two months after visiting Moscow?
And now he IS dissolving NATO and openly siding with Russia over all our democratic allies...
If I am correct didn't, he take out a full-page ad in the paper to do this too? I believe it was in the late 80's early 90's. I remember my civics teacher talking about it.
He is and when Joe was in office no one did anything to stop him. Waiting 2 years to even assign special counsel=the ball was dropped, and he was not put in prison and now the revenge tour is on.
So, no one stopped him as my original statement stands.
They were unable to get it past the republican controlled senate.
Other than the multitudes of other charges against him and the help of the not so Supreme Court he was able to avoid prison long enough to get back in office
I just read the book this allegation originated from. It really doesn’t, it was not a master plan to get where we are. It was sort of happenstance - allegations he laundered money for them, then borrowed money during his bankruptcies and snowballed by luck.
He has that importance now. He just summarily closed a base in Greece that was key to the functioning of NATO. He did it at the request of her Dogan and Putin. That's all the power anyone needs.
Some conspiracies exist. I am old enough to recall, when I was a kid in 1960s Northern Virginia, my grade school janitor, an American, arrested/convicted of spying for the Soviets. It happened, and, according to the former KGB who have talked about it, trump's vanity and position made him a target.
When this came out in 2016, trump chose respected military for his staff, actual serious people. He tested his power for sure, but the law (sort of) held. Now, he has no guardrails and is embracing Putin and the destruction of our gov't for all he's worth. The circumstantial evidence is damning.
It came to light. Not in msm, who seemed, as now, afraid. Over 7 million Americans have come of voting age between 2016 and 2024--that is, 7 million voters who haven't even had a chance to explore these claims. I ask: If trump WERE compromised, what more could he possibly do in the service of Putin?
I've posted about my elementary school janitor, Northern VA, late '60s. Arrested and prosecuted Soviet spy. An American. Recruited.
Rich American businessman, an Eastern Bloc wife, invited there in '87, wouldn't be a mark? The 80s are called the Decade of the Spy. I don't have your certainty.
He wasn’t invited. He begged to go to ask for money because US bankers were sick of his shit and it took until the late 90s for them to give him money to use him. I know people too, it’s just not my place on social media to spell it out. Plus this is regurgitated news from 2021 made to look new.
Russia wasn’t planning on invading Ukraine and covid hadn’t hit in the 80’s… Putin was over ten years away from snatching power. I’m not saying trump isn’t a Russian asset, I’m saying the timeline doesn’t play out for the kind of Putin asset he is.
'Russia' has been attacking and invading Ukraine before North America was 'discovered'. Repeatedly attempted to kill every Ukrainian not sworn to'Russia'
Not new, so constant, it as if the war never started, and never stopped.
No I am dead serious. If Trump was an official secret agent in Russia in the 80’s, we would have heard about it before now. People will come up with anything to explain away something far more simple: he’s an evil man who looks up to Putin and obtains help from him in broad daylight.
Nothing secretive or operative about it. Putin was only in office starting 1999. Trump would have had to been an operative who knew Putin was going to rise as dictator way before that. Neither Russia or Trump could anticipate that. It’s clickbait.
You’re trying to advocate for a man being being a spy recruited during Gorbachev time when Gorbachev was anti shit Trump and Putin stand for. The timeline is not correct. This is clickbait from 2021
I state that Putin was in office in 1999. Also, this has been circulating since only 2021, not prior. Also, not stating he’s not a Russian asset, just that the facts about how and when it happened are all being muddled. Mueller doesn’t mention krasnov . F off with your CaN yOu ReAd bs.
Again, Putin wasn’t even put into office until 1999. Trump was not made a Putin pawn a full decade before he rose to power. Trump is a Russian asset. Just not this way.
He may not have started as a Putin Pawn, but matched ideologically (in enough ways) very quickly. Putin was in the KGB making plans to rise to power around this time. As long as Putin controls Russia, then he's a Putin asset. Most certainly in this way.
Whether he was or not, his behavior right now is no different from someone blatantly on Russia's side. He and Elon are tanking our country, terrorizing federal workers, and putting thugs in positions of high power. The white patriarchy returns. And it ain't pretty.
Fun fact: Miloš Zelníček was an active and reliable agent of the secret police of Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia. This feared institution was a highly organized extension of the Soviet secret police, the KGB. Miloš Zelníček was the father of Ivana Zelníčková, as in Ivana Trump.
I saw this somewhere and didn't believe it because no country or regime would 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 recruit a braggart like him. How would they ever be able to believe what he told them?!
It’s just an awful family history & his mom (personally not necessarily her side) was a social climber & knew who her son was. She encouraged his behavior to enjoy the benefits
Agreed. I lived in NYC for 30 years & he’s a POS. The last time I was naive about Trump was the ‘89 helicopter crash that killed 3 Trump execs & there was talk that it might not have been an accident. I did a little research & learned how rotten he was & why there were rumors.
“Spy” “asset” doesn’t matter. What matters is he is owned by Putin. Another term “puppet”.This is not a conspiracy theory. We have seen this in actions.
It's definitely a conspiracy. Russia is and has been conspiring to destroy our country for quite some time. If we don't turn up the volume, we'll be piecing ourselves back together from the ashes.
I’ve always been of the opinion that one should act in a way where people would have reason to question this stuff. The fact that it’s believable says everything about how Trump acts.
This is probably fake and rightly called a conspiracy theory. An interesting thought experiment, though, is asking if someone was recruited by the KGB and then made their way to the highest position in American govt, what would they do differently than what Trump is doing? Just wondering out loud
Is it a conspiracy theory or is it true? I really could believe either way on this one. There is a weird love Trump has for Putin and Russian oligarchy, and I think its beyond some kind of extortion or monetary incentive- it really seems like he was brainwashed.
I don't mean to split hairs, but just because it's a theory doesn't mean it isn't true. "Conspiracy" just suggests there is intent and collusion. And as science teaches us, you can only disprove a theory - never fully prove it. It's valid until it's disproven.
Science does no such thing. Science has a big goal; to prove a theory to be correct or not. Certainly hope you don't say this stuff out loud. Kinda embarrassing.
I want to believe this is a conspiracy theory but there’s so much of it that makes so much sense. At the very least, why not investigate it and find out.
I’ve always said these people have it backwards. They like very simple headlines, but are ok with complicated and convoluted “facts” to back up there theories. So strange, and frightening.
This was a
Initially reported in the Guardian. And, actually, Brian Ross reported it years ago because Trump turned to Russian oligarchs to bail him out of his many bankruptcies.
If you really want to dig in, this book is where the claims originated (as I understand it) and it was all more happenstance that paid off big time than a master plan.
Well, I've always believed he's an asset. I've always believed he's a *knowing* asset. Now, is this person telling the truth? Idk. But if they're not, they're probably by accident not far from the truth.
When Putin blatantly gives Russian propaganda talking points to Trump & Hegseth to read, I think it’s safe to say they are Russian assets and has been for a long time.
True or false? His actions & words clearly show his support for Russia & Putin—enough support for Putin to turn against our allies, so there is obviously something more to this. Trump is either really scared of Putin & a very weak leader, or he is aligned with Putin. Actions speak louder than words.
I feel we are grasping. This seems like right-wing conspiracy behavior to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true, but are we falling into that behavior that we despised from the right?
What should the response be if true? Republicans investigated Biden’s connections to Ukraine why can’t democrats investigate Trump’s connections to Russia?
That's the exact kind of mindset their craziness is intended to invoke. All the bullshit and lies and gaslighting from that side have been a plan, so that when something like this is found out that just seems so outside of possibility, that we start to doubt ourselves. Don't let that take hold.
Nothing, nothing is outside the possibility with a felon.
I despise the right and wish the worse for all of them.
I just don’t want to fall into the conspiracy spiral. If Congress has reliable intel on this and indeed trump is or was a Russian agent, then let’s go!
I understand that completely, you can leave those crazy channels to people like me. 😁 I'm not down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole, but I read as much as possible, research, and use my internal truth meter to gauge where I think things fall when it seems questionable.
I was wonder if this former KGB guy could be the KGB/CIA spy that had to be smuggled out of Moscow because Felonious Grump in his first spin as potus knew who he was and they were afraid he would be exposed and killed by Putin? 🤔
THIS is more plausible than Anything since the Manafort; Mike FlynnFlam;WIKI Leaks;Roger weirdo Stone et al Scandel SOON after the 2016 election. It also fits like a glove w/the Mueller report that never saw the full light of day thanks 2Barr
But blaming Zelensky 2side w/Putin is a DEAD GiveAway🆘
Most right-wing, white supremacist "influencers" are financed by Russian handlers. Russia has been using mis and disinformation to help Trump rip America apart. It's all true. Follow the money. MAGA is a slow moving coup.
This wasn't out of thin air though like the flat earth or eating people in pizza hut basements. Whether the spy is lying is we don't know. But trump sure does love Putin.
Back in the 80s, people shot down running Trump for president because he already owed money to Russian mobsters and was considered compromised back then. Even if it wasn't some KGB op, there was always enough conflict of interest there to refuse a Trump candidacy. No conspiracy theory necessary.
That’s a bold claim, please provide evidence. Can you cite examples of the left falling for conspiracy theories to a degree that is comparable to the right? Qanon? Pizzagate? Fetuses are miniature humans?
I agree the right fall for conspiracy theories far more than the left, but the left isn't immune from such dogma and gullibility, eg claiming GMOs are a sinister cover-up conspiracy, Bush did 9/11, homeopathy is real... we also see lefties become right wingers when they get hooked on this shit.
All humans are susceptible to mis/disinformation. It’s definitely less cultish on the left, which makes sense because right wingers tend to be more authoritarian as a core personality trait. The conspiracies you cite on the left never had very deep penetrance, it was always a minority subset.
Also agree conspiracies have less cultish feel on left.
At big 9/11 debate I staged the conspiracists clearly saw themselves as genuine (armchair!) anti war justice warriors... though they were mixed in with right wing crazies.
Conspiracies may be an alt-right recruitment tool?
Again, I agree re the left / right imbalance, no question, but anti GM is VERY popular on the left, at least in UK / Europe... though the peak of it has now passed in UK. I was part of it for a while!
Organizers tell me radical left protest camps like 'Occupy' were infested with conspiracy idiots.
When I first saw the memes a few days ago it made me laugh until I cried. Did I believe this was hard news? No. Do I believe Trump’s first wife’s father was a Russian asset? Yes. Do I believe Trump is a Russian asset of some sort? Yes. Yesterday Trump sided with Russia and North Korea. Krasnov!
BS. This was an ex Russian spy saying it. Not sure if he's lying or not but it's not close to the 5g chips in the Covid vaccines. So no, we're not as susceptible. Facts do matters, unlike your demonstrably false statement.
The left does not believe that Hollywood actors drink the blood of children, that lesbians are grooming children by reading them books, that 21 percent of the world is transgender, that babies are aborted at birth, that immigrants do the cat/dog thing, that Jews control banks. But yeah, both sides.
Trump was obtained by the KGB in the 1980's. Read American Kompromat. It's an excellent book and it is not written by a tin foil hat wearing loon. The next few months will show that he is absolutely working for Putin. They will try and use US troops against Ukraine and other countries. 😒
It's shocking to me that the rest of the world knows about Trump's history, yet America doesn't?!
Current affairs and history really are watered down here, aren't they?!
Look at how Europe are stepping up. We have seen this before.
Is this a conspiracy theory? Very possibly. Do I care, no. 🍊🤡 has thrived on conspiracy theories and used them to sow division and hate. Now that there’s a damaging claim that may be false harming him, I’m not going to bother debunking it; we still have to debunk his lies first.
With all due respect @cwebbonline.com you don’t know how the kgb worked and what they did/do to say this is a consp.theory. I would look more deeply into this one. He’s an asset, clearly. This has been known for decades.
He's both flattered and criticized Xi and Kim. He's done the same with many other politicians and personalities, both domestic and abroad. Yet, he has never, ever criticized putin in any meaningful way. That's kind of a major "tell".
I hear you on that. We have to be careful what stories we believe.
However, keep in mind that I read about this as early as 2016 —long before most people realized that the world was on fire. So, there may be some validity to this particular claim.
Comments
2016 Trump campaign met a Russian lawyer for Clinton dirt
2017 Trump revealed classified info to Russians
2018 Exposed CIA names; Helsinki, he echoed Putin’s lie
2023 Classified docs at Mar‐a‐Lago
2024 Trump lauded Putin in Woodward’s War
2025 Trump dropped Ukraine support
#Krasnov
2 questions one must ask about conspiracy theories:
Q1) Can I believe that ?
Answer: usually, yes.
Q2) Must I believe that ?
Answer: usually, NO.
Unfortunately,
the novice minds don't ask themselves the 2nd question.
His Russianallegiance is also in PLAIN SIGHT.
https://bsky.app/profile/sarahkendzior.bsky.social/post/3lj626r6vhc2j
TRUMP'S A fucking Russian asset, bought and paid for since 1987! The next time, it won't be a fake attempt. It'll be for real by a professional!
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/9/12/17764132/trump-fbi-russia-new-york-times-craig-unger
"us vs 'them'" mentality, then makes you feel superior because you are 'in the know', which is exciting, which is addictive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nf0K713Zv4
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/47630
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/arts/design/dmitry-rybolovlev-monaco-investigation.html
https://monacolife.net/monaco-investigation-into-lawyer-bersheda-violated-privacy-rights-rules-echr/
https://www.occrp.org/en/news/justice-minister-of-monaco-resigns-over-murky-relationship-with-russian-oligarch
Ukraine's abundant natural resources include vast reserves of minerals used in the production of fertilizers. Fertilizer exports play a crucial role in Ukraine's trade balance.
https://www.tradeimex.in/blogs/Ukraine-top-10-exports
Meanwhile, Swiss-based Eurochem is expanding, opens new tab facilities at sites in Russia.
- agriculture, industrial chemicals, animal feed, soap making, food production, water softening, road de-icing, pH adjustment, explosives, pharmaceuticals, and glassmaking.
https://www.icl-group.com/blog/what-is-potash-the-whole-story/
Major publications are picking it up, have been dancing around it for years, but it's all just more silly conspiracy shit?
Or am I missing something?
Because I am baffled.
WHY IS HE SO IN THRALL TO PUTIN?
It CAN'T just be hero worship.
I mean... yeah. He IS just that fucking stupid.
So, yeah. But then - whence comes ALL this noise about the KGB?
I used to dismiss it, but this is a LOT of smoke for there to be NO fire at all.
https://bsky.app/profile/gregolear.bsky.social/post/3liv5zzrnmk2b
I found a book written by a KGB archivist that specifically mentions KRASNOV, as a real KGB codename in the 80's.
Nothing links it to trump, and i agree with your point about conspiracy theorizing being harmful and dangerous.
Perhaps Mitrokhin's archive houses more details.
Trump is complete plug-and-play. It doesn’t really matter how elaborate they got about the plug.
Trump first went to Moscow in July 1987. In September 1987, Trump would spend $100K on ads in national newspapers attacking--wait for it--American's alliance with NATO.
Ding, ding
Because it's pure Kremlin propaganda aimed at causing fractures in NATO. In 1987! So ask...
And now he IS dissolving NATO and openly siding with Russia over all our democratic allies...
So, no one stopped him as my original statement stands.
Other than the multitudes of other charges against him and the help of the not so Supreme Court he was able to avoid prison long enough to get back in office
https://bsky.app/profile/henleyparker.bsky.social/post/3lip3feuaa226
Roy Cohn’s strategy.
Rich American businessman, an Eastern Bloc wife, invited there in '87, wouldn't be a mark? The 80s are called the Decade of the Spy. I don't have your certainty.
Not new, so constant, it as if the war never started, and never stopped.
How is it you don't know this? God help us.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jasonsemerko877547/p/von-shitzinpants-trump-is-a-russian-1bd?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=faj0a
Instead, he is an amoral, narcissistic, petty, small man.
Harder for people to accept the messy, layered, complicated lives of humans as explanation. Requires too much work.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/melanias-dad-a-new-american-citizen-with-a-record-in-yugoslavias-secret-police-files/
“We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within.”
-Nikita Khrushchev
The reality is is that Trump behaves like a Russian mole.
Good enough for me. 😁
https://trumpfile.org/donald-trump-says-he-wants-to-partner-with-russia-against-other-countries/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/benjamen-walkers-theory-of-everything/id646537599?i=1000519118820
Code name: Краснов (Krasnov)
On the job...
https://www.reddit.com/r/RussiaLago/s/jQDRTX6DKI
Initially reported in the Guardian. And, actually, Brian Ross reported it years ago because Trump turned to Russian oligarchs to bail him out of his many bankruptcies.
CUI BONO?
Putin owns Trump. And Trump wants to be the same kind of murderous Dictator that Putin is.
Trump is a Soviet asset and TRAITOR.
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-asset/id1461422307
Where’s my mask?!
I despise the right and wish the worse for all of them.
I just don’t want to fall into the conspiracy spiral. If Congress has reliable intel on this and indeed trump is or was a Russian agent, then let’s go!
Stay safe and stay aware. 💙
There's no conspiracy theory - just facts
and a lot of history.
#WTF
#Resist
But blaming Zelensky 2side w/Putin is a DEAD GiveAway🆘
It's extensively documented.
Ask #SethAbramson
At big 9/11 debate I staged the conspiracists clearly saw themselves as genuine (armchair!) anti war justice warriors... though they were mixed in with right wing crazies.
Conspiracies may be an alt-right recruitment tool?
Organizers tell me radical left protest camps like 'Occupy' were infested with conspiracy idiots.
Current affairs and history really are watered down here, aren't they?!
Look at how Europe are stepping up. We have seen this before.
Russia has taken the White House via Felon47; a Russian asset 40 years in the making!
Make treason illegal again.
Fuck off Kash
At this time I don't know about this "Krasnov" conspiracy theory. It needs more verification.
The observations that Trump is clearly pro-Russia and has been for a long has ample evidence.
However, keep in mind that I read about this as early as 2016 —long before most people realized that the world was on fire. So, there may be some validity to this particular claim.
He may as well go full krasnov with all the putin bootlicking he does.
Even if not, he will always still be a big fat shit stained liar.