Paranoia or treason?

Coming immediately on the heels of the blockbuster New York Times reporting about the FBI's investigating whether Trump had been compromised into becoming a Russian asset was another shocking hint at the possibility that we have a president who is acting in the interests of an adversarial foreign government.

The Washington Post wrote about the lengths to which President Trump goes to keep his discussions with Putin private -- even from his own closest advisers.

I've long suspected that this might be true.   But now we have good reporting sources that confirm it.   In the five in person meetings Trump and Putin have had, Trump has not followed the important custom of having staff aides and advisers sitting in on the meetings.

The reasons to have them there are obvious:    first, for someone to take notes for a record of what was said by whom in the meeting.    Without this minimal, Putin can claim that Trump said something -- and we would have no record to back up a challenge to him.    Second, foreign affairs are too complex and require too much knowledge for any president to be the master of without advisers who are experts in that particular area.    And third, things agreed to in the meetings may require action by the president and his advisers.

But Trump thinks he knows more than any adviser, so why does he need them there?

Or, is he so paranoid that he really believes his own hand-picked advisers are only there to spy on him?

Or is it even more sinister than that?    Does he not want anyone else in the room because it would become obvious that Putin is using Trump, manipulating him -- or even that Trump is willingly plotting with Putin against his own country . . . our  country.

The latter seems best to explain some of Trump's actions.   In one of his early meetings, where both Putin and Trump brought translators, Trump later demanded that his own translator turn over to him the notes made during the discussion.   Further, the translator was forbidden from telling anyone what was said in the meeting with Putin.

In at least one meeting, Trump did not even have his own translator, relying on Putin's translator for telling him in English what Putin said.

Now paranoid lack of trust in his own staff, or arrogant belief that he does not need advisers could explain this behavior.

But not as succinctly or as well, I suggest, as the third explanation -- that Trump is colluding and conspiring with Putin.

Especially when you add this to the mounting stack of evidence that Trump is under Putin's influence and is betraying the United States, even as he occupies the Oval Office as its president.

Ralph

PS:   Trump, of course, denies that he is, or has, worked for Russia.   But his word means nothing;  his credibility for truth-telling has fallen below zero.