Overview of the Trump/Russia collusion and timeline PLEASE READ!

[IamFortunesFool]

100. Trump was a perfect storm of opportunity for Putin

Before Donald Trump was a presidential candidate, desperately hungry for approval and admiration, he was a celebrity businessman...desperately hungry for approval and admiration. Putin (as an x XGB colonel) knows the value of having leverage over powerful and influential people, and would have likely gathered intelligence on Trump (just as I am sure he does on all influential businessmen and world leaders that give him chance or reason) as a matter of course. The fact that Donald Trump has openly discussed running for President since the late 80's (and in earnest since 2009) would only have added more incentive for Putin to develop him as an asset. Donald Trump has always been a very polarizing figure, and at minimum could have been a valuable asset for Putin's aim to sow divisiveness and social discord. Trump and his birtherism were a key part of the vitriol and angst the right levied against Obama, and the social upheaval we see now was already well rooted and growing when Trump started fanning the flames.

Just as Trump was compromised by Putin, so have countless other politicians and businessmen likely been so, as well. The development of the conspiring members in his cabinet may have begun several years ago after Putin knew Trump would run, or they could have already been seperately developed...Like Rex Tillerson's long standing relationship with Putin, and Paul Manafort's myriad connections to the Russian agenda. It is likely Putin was already, and in parallel, developing the assets we now see around Trump, but who he would have installed around whatever other candidate he was able to employ.

However, in the end, I feel that it was likely a perfect storm of circumstance that led to Trump being the Manchurian candidate he is proving to be. The slow-cook method that Putin has been employing for some 20 years would have simmered on had Trump not come along to offer him the opportunity to turn up the heat. Trump is unstable, and thus a wild card; likely a risky bet even for Putin. I would imagine that it is a calculated gamble to expedite his agenda by putting the bull in the china shop and risking him ruining everything. By employing Trump, much has been revealed about Russia's global ambitions. Obviously Putin calculates that his chances of achieving his vision is better served by Trump, or we would not have had him installed as President.