Russia just publicly warned Donald Trump not to take Vladimir Putin down with him

We still don’t know for sure why Donald Trump decided to directly incriminate himself by releasing the phone call summary and whistleblower complaint in his Ukraine scandal (everyone in his orbit was reportedly against the release, except for Mitch McConnell). But it is becoming clear that, for whatever reason, Trump is taking himself down in real time. Now Russia is very publicly sending Trump a warning: don’t even think about taking Putin down with you.

The Kremlin is now telling the media that Donald Trump isn’t allowed to release records of his phone calls with Vladimir Putin unless he gets permission from Russia first, arguing that such a release would only be possible “with the mutual agreement of both sides.” Wait a minute, when does the President of the United States need permission from the Kremlin to do anything? Oh right, when he’s a puppet of the Kremlin.

This is notable because it means that Vladimir Putin is now at least somewhat concerned that, as Donald Trump continues to act erratically and make self defeating decisions, Trump could end up simply releasing his transcripts with Putin. At this point Trump seems to have convinced himself that literally everything he’s ever said and done is automatically justified, so it’s not a stretch to imagine Trump releasing his Putin transcripts under the delusion that it exonerates him.

In any case, this is worth watching. All along, the evidence has suggested that Vladimir Putin has the kind of dirt on Donald Trump that could instantly end his presidency. If Putin is now worried that Trump could end up panicking and doing something stupid that takes them both down, then Putin has to consider whether he should preemptively take Trump down now. One way or the other, we’re rapidly reaching the point where one of these guys releases dirt on the other.