A version of the below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land.
asserted
version → appear → newsletter
The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture.
asserted
newsletter → come → politics
Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.
asserted
you → cost → trial
As an adult, I have had two recurring dreams for decades.
asserted
I → have → decades
The first is that I must return to college to complete my studies and earn a diploma.
asserted
I → return → diploma
(I left school a semester shy of graduating but ended up taking courses elsewhere, transferring the credits, and snagging that sheepskin.)
asserted
I → leave → sheepskin
The second is that I appear on an episode of Saturday Night Live and—most important—attend the afterparty.
asserted
I → appear → afterparty
There’s not much I can do to address the anxiety of unfinished business underlying the college dream.
asserted
I → ’ → dream
As for the second, I say it’s never too late.
asserted
it → say → second
And the closest I’ve come to realizing that dream occurred earlier this week when I was a guest on The Daily Show.
asserted
I → come → Show
Jon Stewart invited me on to discuss my new book, How Russia Won: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Fight for America, and the latest news about Trump, Putin, and the war in Ukraine.
asserted
Russia → invite → Ukraine
I’ve never had such an entertaining and amusing chat about a profound threat to American democracy and global order.
asserted
I → have → democracy
Stewart was a generous host, allowing me plenty of time and opportunity to respond to his smart questions and sharing the laughs.
asserted
Stewart → allow → laughs
At one point, Stewart posed an intriguing query.
asserted
Stewart → pose → query
After I noted that Trump was now consummating his “man crush” on Putin, he asked whether it was possible Trump was pursuing the theory that it would be good for the United States, in terms of stability and prosperity, if the world were divided into spheres of influence dominated, respectively, by Russia, China, and the United States.
asserted
world → note → Russia
I countered that Stewart was giving Trump too much credit.
asserted
Stewart → counter → credit
He replied that there’s “a first time for everything.”
asserted
He → reply → everything
The audience laughed.
asserted
audience → laugh → ?
He added, “He was very good on The Apprentice.”
asserted
He → add → Apprentice
Stewart then remarked that he believes a line from Peaky Blinders explains Trump’s view of the world: “Big fucks small.”
asserted
line → remark → world
That became a tagline for the rest of the interview.
asserted
That → become → interview
You can watch it here:
asserted
You → watch → it
Stewart displayed a firm grasp of the big story of Trump’s yearslong infatuation with Putin and what it might mean for the rest of us.
uncertain
it → display → us
But even as Trump’s recent full-throttle embrace of Putin and his abandonment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have become headline news these past two weeks, much media coverage still lacks the full context of what’s occurring—that this is the triumph of Putin’s decadelong shadow war against the United States (which I detail in the book).
asserted
I → become → book
A few hours before The Daily Show taping, I appeared on Nicolle Wallace’s MS Now show to discuss Trump’s capitulation to Putin, and she asked me, “Why do you think people can’t get their brain” around the complete tale of Putin’s assault on the United States and Trump’s complicity?
asserted
people → appear → States
I answered: “The fact of Russia intervening in our democracy—which [Putin] did in 2016, 2020, 2024, and he’s doing right now…may be too tough a truth for people to get ahold of.”
uncertain
people → answer → 2016
I explained that Trump has succeeded in the messaging war:
asserted
Trump → explain → war
I will give him credit: This whole messaging, that this is all BS, it’s all a hoax, a witch hunt.
asserted
it → give → credit
If the Democrats are not pushing this issue—and they stopped after the Mueller report—he’s had a wide-open field for seven years now to try to discredit this story.
asserted
he → push → story
Some reporters, politicians, and others think it’s the past.
asserted
it → think → ?
If you write a book like I did, then you’re obsessed with it, you’re looking backwards.
asserted
you → write → it
Those are the kinds of criticism I get from the MAGA right.
asserted
I → get → right
But I did the book because I think it’s a major part of the Trump story that hasn’t been fully presented as a coherent narrative.
asserted
that → do → narrative
In the following days, I realized that even though Trump’s recent accommodation to Putin—the diesel deal, his absurd defense of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, his shocking denunciation and abandonment of Zelenskyy and Ukraine—was drawing much media notice, the overall story of Trump and Russia was still not being conveyed.
asserted
story → follow → Trump
As Wallace might say, brains still were not wrapping around it.
uncertain
brains → say → it
David Sanger, the White House and national security correspondent (with whom I went to high school in White Plains, New York), wrote a smart piece, noting: “Trump’s intensifying effort in the past few weeks to rehabilitate Russia and usher President Vladimir V. Putin back into diplomatic society is remarkable for its speed, its characterization of Mr. Zelensky as the primary obstacle to peace, and its brazen denial that Russia is continuing the war that Mr. Trump says he is trying to end.”
asserted
he → go → that
Correspondent Valerie Hopkins sagely noted: “Mr. Trump has set aside years of U.S. foreign policy by openly embracing Mr. Putin and easing the economic pressure on the Kremlin.
asserted
Trump → note → Kremlin
At the same time, Mr. Trump has vilified President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, the putative American ally trying to defend his nation against a Russian invasion.”
asserted
Trump → vilify → invasion
She pointed out, “Putin has never been so close to his goal of normalizing relations with Washington without having to make any compromises on Ukraine.”
asserted
Putin → point → Ukraine
But neither mentioned that Russia attacked the 2016 election to help Trump win the White House.
asserted
Trump → mention → House
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
