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I live in Europe so the NYT’s Trump Taxes story hit me this morning as I was firing up the laptop and brewing my first cup of coffee – woke me right up! I read it and the WP’s coverage as well, and none of it was surprising.

We knew he was a phony and that he would slide gains and losses around like a sidewalk three-card Monte huckster. It must be exhausting being Trump – just the hair & makeup odyssey each morning would bring most folks to their knees, but add to that the financial juggling and non-stop lying and it makes you wonder what the guy might be capable of doing if he just did his bloody job.

But the thing that stuck with me was the story of the codicil to his father's will that Trump attempted to foist on his aging father that would have given Donnie control over his father’s estate.

In a sworn deposition, Trump declared that he had no idea his father was struggling with dementia at the time Trump tried to trick him into signing the codicil. No idea, even though Trump senior had been tested and been found to be suffering early signs of dementia. The family knew this and yet Trump denied it.

This is the man he says he revered – whose picture sits behind the Resolute desk, the father who bailed Donnie out time and time again. This one episode speaks louder than most of the horrendous things we have heard from his own mouth or heard about from others like his niece.

Donnie was in debt, so he tried to trick his ailing father into signing a document to bail him out one last time.

Well, as we learned today, and suspected all along, Donnie is still in debt and one can only wonder (fear) who he has turned to for relief this time and what he might be willing to offer in return for that relief.

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You touch on one of the very issues I have always wondered about - if criminals used the energy that they put into doing criminal activities in legitimate activities, they could be successful in an acceptable, legal way. Instead, it is all about beating or fixing the system. Such a waste of talent!

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Wonder no longer. Deutsche Bank has been making large dicey loans to Trump for years now, backstopped by Putin's state bank. I don't have the links offhand, but it has been well reported.

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Was aware of the DB connection - it is the biggest bank in Germany (where I reside) and currently under intense scrutiny, but not of the Putin connection. Would be interested in knowing more.

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me too about knowing more about the Putin connection

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Seems it's the American people who he's turning to for relief.

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That is certainly part of it - but his cash/credit needs exceed what he might be able to steal from us. He's going to be looking for a deep-pocket, perhaps some leader who controls the banking system in their country - just guessing, of course.

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Agree. My guess....(drumroll).....Putin.

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Putin, Erdoğan, Duterte and there are no doubt more ...

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He might now be a liability to Putin. Do you suppose Putin's former KGB operatives are in the U.S. and have a little polonium on hand?

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It's too soon for that. Putin wants instability in the U.S., which Donald is certainly promoting.

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Names aligning with the authoritarians "assisted" with their elections by Cambridge Analytica's micro-targeted Facebook ads. (Today's news via UK's Channel 4.)

A documentary titled "A Thousand Cuts" about a courageous civil rights lawyer in the Philippines described ruling party political manipulation through Facebook, with the Philippines being one of the largest per capita users of Facebook in the world.

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