Politics

10316 readers

9 users here now

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Socialism

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

Donald Trump Isn't the First Presidential Candidate Groomed by the KGB (america2.news)

submitted 4 days ago by melp to c/politics

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As Donald Trump capitulates to Putin on Ukraine, many are wondering what leverage Putin has over him and revisiting longstanding evidence that Trump has been groomed for decades as a KGB asset. Trump was, however, not the first candidate selected for this mission.

That dubious honor goes to Henry A. Wallace, agriculture secretary under Franklin Roosevelt during his first and second terms (1933-1940), and Vice President during his third term (1941-1945). Wallace, a crop scientist by training, became increasingly interested in religious mysticism and began a lengthy correspondence with Nicholas Roerich, a Russian emigré artist based in New York City. Roerich was a student of theosophy, the esoteric belief system created by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky decades prior; Roerich and his wife Helena expanded on Blavatsky's ideas to create Agni Yoga, which attracted devotees like Wallace.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (6 children)

The KGB was dissolved in 1991 with the rest of the Russian SFSR. I know what you are getting at but stuff like this feels ahistorical

[–] ranandtoldthat 6 points 3 days ago (4 children)

The KGB was very much around in 1987 when Trump visited Moscow and began pushing Russian interests in America and generally criticizing US alliances.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (3 children)

The article speaks of the KGB as if it is still relevant to modern geopolitics. It genuinely does not matter if Trump had a homoerotic relationship with numurous KGB assets. Its been 34 years. Envoking its name feels more like a cheap way to get clicks from boomers haven't realized the cold war ended. Trump has significantly more relevant connections to Russia than this.

[–] Powderhorn 2 points 3 days ago

"KGB" still evokes the idea of Soviet/Russian agents in three convenient letters. Honestly, at this point, I'd be depressed to see a poll of how many people in the U.S. know the USSR is no more. We referred to them as "Russians" in the '80s anyway. Details are unimportant to voters.

load more comments (2 replies)

load more comments (3 replies)