In a lengthy article you can still read in New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait, using facts that are already in the public record, sets out a case that Trump has been operating as a de facto asset of the Russian government since the late 1980s. Chait readily concedes that this is not the only possible explanation for Trump’s enthusiasm for Putin and Russia, but he doesn’t think it can be completely dismissed as a bizarro conspiracy theory, either.
He has a point. Like Ross Douthat, I think it is much more likely that Trump’s actions can be explained by his life experiences and his unusual personality than by any overt Russian effort to manipulate him. Things have gotten to the point, however, where it is no longer appropriate to take even more sinister explanations off the table.
And so, in response to my question, I would say that Trump is still entitled to the benefit of the doubt, but that might not last much longer.