There are two questions that have been on my mind all through the dark years of Trump. The first is “What does Putin have on Trump?” that is, it looks like Putin facilitated Trump’s election because he could compel Trump to act in ways harmful to the national interest and supportive of the Russian dictator.
There were allegations early on that the Russians were holding over Trump’s head some acts of perversion committed during a visit to Moscow. But, as we’ve seen, charges of sexual misbehavior mean nothing to Trump and to his deeply religious base. Did the Russians discover that he had stolen a lot of money in the course of his business dealings? That wouldn’t matter to Trump who is a seasoned grifter, and his base seems to applaud such behavior.
I can only guess, and I come up with four possible explanations of Trump’s behavior.
1) The Russians can prove that Trump committed some very grave crime, perhaps murder or some other crime so abhorrent that even his base would react negatively.
2) The Russians can prove that Trump has had Mafia support, or Trump is liable to prosecution beyond American jurisdiction for criminal acts in international commerce.
3) Maybe Trump owes Putin or people known to Putin a truly fabulous sum of money, so much that he could never repay it, or so much that general knowledge of it and to whom he owes it would finish Trump.
4) Finally, maybe Trump has a crush on Putin and has taken every opportunity to make his beloved look good and everyone else look bad.
But will we ever know?
The second question is
“What does Trump have on Lindsey Graham?”
When Trump took office, this occasionally independent-minded and temperate senator enslaved himself to Donald Trump, seeming to say as did Caliban to Stefano:
Do that good mischief which may make this island
Thine own for ever, and I, thy Caliban,
For aye thy foot-licker.
Was Trump able to blackmail Graham and compel him to obey, virtually altering his personality? There have been queries for years about Graham’s sexual orientation, but that doesn’t matter at all to Graham’s supporters. What could he have done so terrible that its becoming known to the public had to be prevented at all costs?
Maybe Graham’s sin was becoming a slave to his status as prominent senator. Did Trump threated to “primary” Graham? I’m sure he did. Trump will sooner or later have threatened to “primary” everyone. We may never know why Lindsey Graham set career before country and self-respect, but the fact of his doing so is certain.