By Carol Lucas
In the midst of the avalanche of “edicts” being thrust into the maelstrom of politics, have we lost sight of a singular player in all of this? I would like to explore this.
First it behooves us to look at some of the presidential “executive orders.” The list is as vast as it is troubling. These orders (read losses) are achieved by the attempt to dismantle departments that have been distributing necessary benefits for decades.
For instance, the loss of services for our vets that so many depend on. As a military town, we should be horrified and angered by this. I recently heard a psychologist who worked at our Naval Hospital talk about the impact of canceled contracts over the past month. Why, by all that is rational, would the demolishing of psych services to our men and women who served to protect us be acceptable?
Disbanding the Department of Education. This is front and center of Project 2025. Gain control of the education of our young people by determining exactly what they shall read and hear. Book banning? Of course. Curriculum “cleansing?” Absolutely. Hitler 101.
Invading the IRS, literally? The goody box has been opened, raided, and we are in a world of hurt, not yet knowing the full extent of what the thievery of our information will bring.
Social Security? Another treasure trove awaiting vandalizing.
I could continue with the Department of Agriculture, our beloved National Parks, Health and Human Services or the Energy Department. More of the same, and, I contend, all meant to reduce the status of the United States.
This dismantling takes place under the aegis of a mocking, chainsaw-wielding, alien from South Africa who thrives on white supremacy! But, dear reader, I digress!
So who is the single player to whom I alluded earlier? I believe many of us agree that hiding in the shadows (unless 47 becomes giddy enough to lose his thought process, loosen his tongue, and become flamboyantly overt) is Russia.
There are so many places to begin, but let’s go with what is documented. The jumping off point includes the name Alnur Mussayev. This man claimed Trump was recruited by the KGB under the code name Krasnov.
Mussayev’s background makes him uniquely positioned to know about an operation like this — not just because of his role in Soviet intelligence, but because of the financial leverage tactics that would have been involved. Soviet intelligence didn’t just rely on ideology or blackmail — they exploited financial vulnerabilities to control their targets.
Given Trump’s known struggles with debt and his aggressive pursuit of business opportunities in the 1980s, the KGB would have viewed him as a prime target for manipulation. As someone with ties to the Soviet Union’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, which handled organized crime, corruption, and financial investigations, Mussayev would have had direct insight into how Moscow exploited figures like Trump through shady financial deals, money laundering, and quiet threats of exposure. Mussayev wasn’t just aware of Soviet recruitment tactics — he was in the system that managed those operations.(Estelle Nilsson Julien, Euroverify)
Similar allegations about Trump being a Russian asset have surfaced repeatedly in the past. In 2021, American journalist and author Craig Unger published his book, American Kompromat, in which he claims that Trump was recruited by Moscow.
Former KGB agent Yuri Shvets — who had a cover job as a correspondent for the Russian state-owned news agency TASS in Washington during the 1980s — was one of Unger’s key sources for the book. Shvets told Unger that Trump was tapped in 1987.
Unger told Euronews there is a clear distinction between an agent and an asset.
“While an agent is employed by an intelligence agency and paid, an asset is a reliable friend who will do favours,” he said. (Euronews)
It must be stated here that this has never been successfully verified. That said, questions remain: why the meeting with Putin in Helsinki, July 16, 2018, behind closed doors? This came days after the U.S. charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking. Trump defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election, contradicting U.S. intelligence by saying there was no reason for Russia to interfere. (Flora Drury, David Molloy, Ritu Prasad and Alexandra Fouché)
Then the name Natalia Veselnitskaya crops up. Despite earlier denials, she admitted in April 2018 to being an “informant” for Russia’s prosecutor general. And it is worth noting that she met with Paul Manafort, Donald Trump, Jr. and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner in June of 2016.
She said the meeting was to discuss adoptions, but those who helped set it up said she was offering dirt on the Democrats and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
As for Paul Manafort, this is the man who served in the first Trump administration who admitted lying to investigators and under oath before a grand jury about his contact with a Russian associate during the 2016 campaign. It was Bill Barr who released him in 2020, two years later.
As far back as May of 2017, Trump’s first term, he held a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister, banning all U.S. media, but allowing TASS, the Russian News Agency, to attend.
The issue was further inflamed by the presence of Kislyak, who has been at the center of several controversies involving administration officials, including now fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (Newsweek)
And recently, at a news conference, with members of the U.S. press having been banned permanently, it was discovered that a reporter from TASS was present.
Certainly 47’s stance regarding Ukraine is a red flag. I have written of this before, and there is way too much to include here. Let it suffice that we know where he is on this through his actions with Zelensky.
I see all of this as pieces of a greater puzzle, the picture of which remains to be pieced together as a whole. Let’s hope that puzzle is swept from the board, and sufficient pieces of a new image remain to be put into place.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”
