Donald Trump, errand boy

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Earlier this week, after it was revealed that former Donald Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had cut a deal to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Trump administration tried to write off Papadopoulos as a mere “coffee boy” or errand boy. Evidence says the opposite, of course. But that term is a reminder of what Donald Trump himself has become: nothing more than an errand boy, and an increasingly clueless and senile one at that.

Last night, after Trump had already departed on his Asia trip, his White House quietly announced that he’ll be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip. Why? Simple enough: Putin rang his bell. It appears Trump’s White House put together the entire Asia trip just to provide an excuse for the Putin meeting in Russia; it would have been too obvious if Trump took an overseas trip and only met with Putin. It’s likely that Putin wants to give Trump his next – and perhaps final – set of marching orders as the Trump Russia scandal closes in. Putin isn’t even the only world leader who’s now using Trump like an errand boy.

Last night the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia had a large chunk of his own government arrested, in a brutal power play. We don’t know what really went down, but we do know that just hours beforehand, Donald Trump posted a tweet inviting Saudi Arabia to launch the IPO of its government-owned oil company from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Once again, Trump is playing errand boy for a brutal authoritarian who appears to have him by the financial balls.

By the way, if you want evidence of just how senile Donald Trump has become, the whole plan was to quietly announce his Putin meeting after his trip got underway, in the hope that it wouldn’t bring as much attention. Trump, having no clue what’s going on, or why he’s doing what he’s doing, spent all week bragging to the media that he might be about to meet with Putin. The guy’s a goner.

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