‘Useful fool’ Trump there for Putin

It’s now clear, Russia won the U.S. presidency.

I remember as a junior high student 60 years ago, a mailer explained the Cold War, how democracy and communism would co-exist. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev had famously pounded his shoe at the U.N. General Assembly in 1960 and was quoted “we will bury you” in the struggle of ideologies.

In 1991 the Soviet states collapsed, ethnic fractures and imbedded corruption the cause. “Perestroika” brought a movement toward free elections. It didn’t last. Putin gained absolute power and Russia’s shot at democratic rule failed. Now in power for 14 years, Russia remains a failed state, with oil reserves an asset along with nuclear weapons.

Brash and cunning, Putin, schooled in godless KGB tactics, worked to regain lost status. A master of propaganda, he employed thousands to use social media, virtually given over by our media giants. He built a sophisticated campaign to damage Hillary Clinton and promote Donald Trump. It worked better than expected. Trump won the electoral vote. Donald, the endless self-promoting con man with financial ties to Russia, became president of the United States. Now the “useful fool” was in place to wreak havoc on the world’s most successful democracy.

A classic demagogue, Trump blames all problems on his predecessors, attacks the press, puts incompetents in his cabinet from which he demands absolute loyalty, and lashes out at opposing voices.

A brilliant strategy delivered Trump to the KGB spymaster. Now, racist speech and lies spew daily from the people’s house, formerly a symbol of a welcoming and just America.