Musings from an undercover reporter
following the antics of well-known dictators.
It strikes me overall that mainstream reportage misses the stunningly obvious. What passes for news, whether tweet tantrum du jour, bare-chested equestrian feats, or the dictator meeting of the month, it’s all strictly theatre—sans subtlety. In fact, this type of reporting has been sashaying around in Russia as the cult of personality since Stalin. Regarding Putin, perhaps the ‘colt of personality’ might be more appropriate. As for Trump—well, the ‘dolt of personality’ might work.
Certainly, the last thing Americans expected was to see the same horror develop in the U.S. Yet here it is. Whether as ‘cult of personality’ shenanigans or reality show entertainment, the strongman's thrall holds journalists fast. Like a train wreck, they can't look away. Even when it’s a redux of the same wreck, they remain mesmerized: Hey, it's a different train, maybe this time the ending will be different… but it never is.
Meanwhile, the press obligingly follows the hand of misdirection, while the real stories spoil on the table. We’ve witnessed this happening since the now Grifter-in-Chief conceived of his Hail Mary pass: “I know, I'll run for President; then they can't prosecute me and I'll be able to repay my debts.” He’s been leading naive reporters about by the nose ever since.
Though Russians admire con artists, they expect a certain literary finesse to accompany the burlesque. Compare and contrast, always a good literary exercise: Putin is well-educated and intelligent, you can hear it in his interviews, when he sprinkles his answers with apposite literary and historical references. The orange durak (fool) by contrast had learning disabilities as a youth that are exacerbated by ongoing mental decline in his senior years.
As a reporter my job is to go after the facts behind the flim flam. I believe many important truths related to T's indebtedness to the oligarchy were revealed (or at least tacitly acknowledged) in the recent meeting between Putin and Trump, explaining why other attendees were limited to one Russian translator and the two-man bratva (brotherhood) of P and T. What does this mean? Obviously and inexplicably, only the Americans were (and still are) unaware of what took place in the discussion. You can bet the oil fields of Iran that the Russians have it all recorded—and they’ll be keeping the tape, yes, yet another tape, tapes are their special currency it seems, to ensure that their most valuable kozel continues to play by their rules. A kozel (male goat) is the worst insult imaginable in criminal circles by the way. It denotes someone who, by his stupidity, causes harm to other people. That the Americans allow this cloak-and-dagger secrecy from a man who was "elected" to "serve the people" blows my Russian mind.
As a reporter seeking the truth, I’ve made it my focus to find out what was recorded at that meeting. It should prove to be very illuminating. I am on it. Stay tuned.