Thomas Friedman had a column in yesterday’s NYT in which he asserted that Trump’s behavior towards Russia has only two possible explanations: either Trump is hopelessly naive about Putin, or his economic interests have exposed him to blackmail by the Russian government. For a centrist who ostentatiously positioned himself above party during the Obama years, this is strong stuff. Is he right?
The fact is, we don’t know. We may never know. Mueller has more information than anyone, and he isn’t sharing much of it with us, yet. However, I think Friedman has disregarded a more obvious motive for Trump’s actions: he can’t act against Russian interference because to do so would be an implicit admission that the Russians helped him, which in turn would taint his election victory.
In short, protecting his ego is far more important than protecting the national interest. That will be a recurring theme in this administration.