Here is the English translation of the spoken German text:
"The American century ends with just a few strokes of the pen. Friends become
enemies. Enemies become friends. I'm telling you, Putin and I have been through
a lot together. A witch hunt. Is it just admiration for an autocrat, or is there
something more behind it? Donald Trump was recruited using money and
psychological factors."
"A new force steps onto the stage, with its own vision. The tech oligarchs see
themselves as gods of a new world. They want a world where America is no
longer strong, where power lies alongside China and Russia—with the tech bros.
And they bring with them a media power that no democratic government has ever
had access to. Owning something like X is useful. Fascist and communist
regimes of the past have already shown that. Whoever controls the means of
communication can shape public opinion. They are prepared to destroy America
as we know it from within. A plan seems to be working. This is the greatest failure
in the history of American counterintelligence."
January 20th, 2025.
The day that marks the end of the old world order—once dominated by the United
States—and the dissolution of America as we knew it.
After a four-year interruption, Donald Trump is sworn in for a second term as President
of the United States.
The world looks on in disbelief at the speed with which Trump, in his second term, is
dismantling the very structures America once built.
But this time, it’s different.
Trump knows what he wants. He understands how the government works. And while he
remains characteristically disengaged, this time he is surrounded by
loyalists—ideological allies who help him execute his vision.
Everything moves faster.
The collapse of NATO.
A reignited global trade war.
The bullying of allies—especially Canada and Denmark.
“We need Greenland for our national and international security,” he says.
He doesn’t ask—he demands.
He wants to "borrow" Greenland. He wants to "borrow" Canada.
Ukraine? He leaves out in the cold.
Putin has just publicly repeated what he’s already said behind closed doors:
"Handle NATO the same way we handled Ukraine."
In other words: The strong do what they can; the weak suffer what they must.
David Trump is one of the most influential conservative intellectuals in the United
States. He was an advisor and speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He warns:
there should be no illusions about Donald Trump’s words and actions—he means what
he says.
Reciprocal tariffs.
“If they do it to us, we’ll do it to them.”
Trump launches a global trade war, forcing the world to bow before America’s demands.
Even longtime allies in Europe and Asia are expected to kneel.
Only Putin’s Russia is spared.
Why does this special relationship between Trump and Putin exist?
That’s the central question.
That it does exist is beyond doubt.
Trump seems to trust no one—except Vladimir Putin.
He likes no one—except Vladimir Putin.
He listens to no one—except Vladimir Putin.
And he takes actions that aren’t even in his own national interest—just to help
Vladimir Putin.
Time and again, Donald Trump declares his admiration for Putin:
He calls him a friend, a genius, a strong leader.
On the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Trump praised Putin’s moves as “genius”:
“I said, this is genius. Putin declares a large portion of Ukraine independent. Oh, that’s
wonderful. So Putin is now saying a large part of Ukraine is independent. And I said:
how smart is that? And he goes in as a peacekeeper. A peacekeeping force—that’s
something we could use on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve
ever seen…”
“I don’t believe you can blackmail a man who has no sense of shame.”
That card is off the table—and he even has Bitcoin.
That leaves us with the remaining three: corruption, ideology, and vanity.
Most likely, it’s a mix of all three.
When it comes to vanity, I believe Putin has skillfully analyzed Donald Trump—who, in
many respects, is a deeply pitiful man.
Trump craves constant flattery.
Putin seeks wealth and power—but Trump only needs his ego stroked.
And that is something Putin can manipulate with precision.
He calls Trump a “brilliant leader.”
In a televised interview distributed on Telegram in February 2025, Putin flatters Trump’s
ego, casting him as the strongman who will bring Europe to heel:
“I assure you, with his character and his persistence, Trump will fix things very quickly.
You’ll see—it will happen fast and soon. They’ll all come running, wagging their tails at
their master.”
Exactly the kind of language that appeals to a man who has released staged images of
himself through the White House.
But don’t overlook the corruption angle.
Trump has been receiving money from Russian sources in one form or another for at
least 20 years—often during periods when he was financially distressed. And he may
well be counting on more. Putin has shown him how to become as rich as he is.
Yes, Trump is a wealthy man—but Putin plays in an entirely different league.
For decades, Trump has done business with Russian gangsters and oligarchs.
Trump Tower became a magnet for Russian criminal syndicates.
When he was once again facing bankruptcy and unable to repay a loan, a Putin-linked
oligarch stepped in: Dmitry Rybolovlev.
During the financial crisis, Rybolovlev bought a property from Trump for $95
million—even though Trump had paid only $41 million for it just four years earlier.
In a 2008 interview, Donald Trump Jr. openly acknowledged the source of their capital:
“In terms of high-end products, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-
section. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.”
And finally, there’s the ideological component—particularly relevant to…
…their environment.
Many of them despise liberal democracy—likely because it limits how wealthy or
powerful one can become.
They want something different.
And Putin’s Russia offers the ideal model.
You can't realistically turn the United States into a country like China—culturally, it’s too
different.
But turning America into something like Russia? That’s conceivable.
Even during his first term, Donald Trump tried to undermine the democratic rule of law
from within.
He declared journalists enemies of the people.
He threatened judges, prosecutors, FBI investigators, members of Congress, and
Senators.
When he lost the 2020 election, he refused to accept it—and was willing to drag the
country into chaos to maintain power.
America in chaos—that’s Putin’s dream, says Nina Jankowicz, formerly responsible
for combating disinformation at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“Russia’s goal is to create a world where the United States is no longer the dominant
power. That benefits Russia in many ways. If the U.S. is consumed by internal conflict,
we’ll ignore what Russia is doing in Ukraine, in Venezuela, or in the Central African
Republic. That’s good for Putin.”
With Joe Biden’s election as the 46th President of the United States, the tide turned.
America and Europe grew closer again.
Sweden and Finland joined NATO.
The alliance became stronger than ever.
And for a moment, it looked as though America had shaken off Donald Trump like a
historical accident.
Many had once thought another Trump victory was impossible.
But in his comeback campaign, Trump enjoyed stronger support than any candidate
before him.
Take over, Elias. Take over!
It’s the tech bros—we call them that. The oligarchs focused on the tech industry.
When you force campaign funding….
He was tightly linked to Trump, provided him with vast financial support, and
backed him in numerous other ways—ways that, in my opinion, are still not fully
understood.
Scott Horton, once the attorney for famed Russian dissident Andrei Sakharov, is a
key figure.
His network reaches deep into the power structures of both the United States and
Russia—a respected intermediary between rival camps for decades, with top-level
contacts in the intelligence community as well.
According to Horton, America’s tech oligarchs share a common goal with Vladimir
Putin—a convergence of interests that shouldn’t be underestimated.
“What connects all of these people,” Horton says,
“is an extreme contempt for democracy and democratic institutions.
They see themselves as a ruling elite, entitled to absolute power.
If the constraints of the modern administrative state were removed,
they believe they would naturally rise as dominant rulers—
not just in America, but across the world, including Europe.”
At the inauguration ceremony, the wealthiest men on the planet stand directly
behind the president—
a display of raw power.
But one man stands out above the rest: Elon Musk.
Musk is now part of the government.
He holds a newly created role—a kind of special government appointee.
He reportedly donated nearly $300 million to Donald Trump’s re-election campaign,
aimed at defeating Kamala Harris and, before her, Joe Biden.
“To me, that’s pure corruption,” a critic says.
“Donating that much money to eliminate a political opponent,
and then receiving a privileged role in government in return.”
After taking office, Donald Trump appoints Elon Musk as his Special Envoy for the
Restoration of the American Budget, heading a controversial new federal agency.
An agency described by critics as a wrecking ball aimed at the American state as we
know it.
Peter Thiel, Facebook investor and co-founder of PayPal alongside Elon Musk.
In 2012, Curtis Yarvin gave a speech in which he said that something needed to
happen in the United States—something he called “Rage.”
All government employees should be fired.
It was a blueprint for taking over the government:
Eliminate the bureaucracy, purge civil servants, dismantle nonpartisan
institutions,
and replace them all with individuals loyal to a dictator.
He stated explicitly that if Americans wanted to change their government,
they would need to overcome their phobia of dictatorship.
In Yarvin’s worldview, the inefficient, regulation-happy democratic constitutional state
had to be destroyed—
and replaced with a monarchy.
At the top: a king.
By his side: a dictator to do the dirty work—dismantling democracy.
In 2022, Yarvin said that if Donald Trump won re-election,
he shouldn’t do the dirty work himself.
Instead, he should appoint a CEO to rule the government like a dictator,
lead a massive purge of the bureaucracy,
and dismantle U.S. institutions permanently.
"You must also resist the judges and the courts," he said,
"and see how far you can destroy the system before anyone tries to stop you."
On Day One of his second term, Donald Trump signs an executive order creating a
new federal agency,
tasked with “restructuring the American state from the ground up.”
The goal? To make it “more efficient.”
Elon Musk—the richest man in the world—is named head of the agency.
His plan includes mass layoffs of federal employees and the closure of entire
agencies.
The first to be eliminated: USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development—
a soft power instrument that, for decades, had advanced American influence around the
world, including in Russia.
Something that many people—even across the broader political and intelligence
community—don’t fully understand:
All of these individuals have deeply troubling ties to Russia.
It’s something that almost no one in America or Europe is aware of.
How do you know this?
“Over the past two, two and a half years,”
“I’ve been contacted and consulted by about a dozen FBI agents, all working in Russian
counterintelligence.”
“They were deeply disturbed by what they were witnessing.”
Salt Lake City, Utah.
We arranged an exclusive meeting with one of those men.
We cannot independently verify his statements—but they are explosive.
“My name is Jonathan Boomer.
I’m a recently retired FBI Special Agent.
I spent 16 years in the Bureau, most of it specializing in Russian counterintelligence.”
Shortly before our scheduled interview, Jonathan Boomer is arrested.
He’s accused of intending to leak classified information about FBI
counterintelligence operations to journalists.
His passport is confiscated.
He is released on a $100,000 bond, pending further proceedings.
Boomer had worked both at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in
counterintelligence operations in California.
And now, he’s leveling serious allegations against his own government.
“We are witnessing the achievement of key objectives of the Russian intelligence
services,” Boomer says.
“There’s a clear pattern.
Highly skilled and experienced agents tasked with countering Russian espionage are
being pushed out of the service—
targeted, discredited, and silenced.”
“This is creating a vacuum inside the FBI—America’s lead agency in the fight against
these threats.
And that vacuum is a major victory for Vladimir Putin’s strategic goals.”
The head of counterintelligence at the FBI’s New York field office has been fired.
Just months earlier, following his investigations, five Russian agents had been indicted.
He had resisted pressure from the Department of Justice to identify FBI special
investigators involved in probes related to the January 6 Capitol attack and other
Russian counterintelligence cases.
At the same time, all U.S. cyber operations against Russia were suspended.
And in April 2025, the director responsible for those efforts—NSA Chief General
Timothy Hoare—was also dismissed.
In the opening months of Trump’s presidency, the United States systematically
dismantled its entire infrastructure for counterintelligence, cybersecurity, and
disinformation defense—
the very system built over the previous eight years in response to Russian
disinformation, election interference, and cyberattacks.
“It is extraordinarily shocking,” says Jonathan Boomer.
Boomer explains that he and his counterintelligence colleagues in California uncovered
findings that are, in his words, of utmost importance and highest political sensitivity
today.
“Russian intelligence routinely conducts psychological profiling and vulnerability
assessments,” Boomer says.
“They look for individuals they believe are susceptible to recruitment or influence by
Russian operatives.”
And according to Boomer, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel were targeted.
He states that he and fellow FBI agents observed how Russian operatives in
California embedded themselves deep inside the companies of rising tech
billionaires Peter Thiel and Elon Musk—
a pattern that, if confirmed, suggests an extraordinary breach of national security and
long-term strategic manipulation.
Ketamine use, a proclivity for the club scene, rave parties like Burning Man,
gambling, and adult entertainment—
these aspects of lifestyle were viewed by Russian intelligence as
opportunities—potential entry points for agent recruitment.
An extravagant, eccentric lifestyle among the richest and most powerful individuals in
the world.
It makes them vulnerable to Russian targeting efforts.
That, at least, is how the FBI’s counterintelligence division sees it.
It’s how Jonathan Boomer and his colleagues saw it as they began their classified
investigations.
Was there a Russian operation that targeted Elon Musk and Peter Thiel?
Yes.
What do they know about it?
“I’m not allowed to speak publicly about the details or how we obtained the information,”
Boomer says,
“but there is a substantial body of evidence supporting the existence of this
operation.”
So there is evidence?
“Absolutely.”
According to Boomer, FBI agents observed how the Russian influence and
recruitment operation expanded over time, becoming more sophisticated and far-
reaching.
As a result, the tech oligarchs were formally notified that their personal and
professional networks had been infiltrated by Russian agents, and that U.S.
national security interests were at stake—especially given that firms like SpaceX
hold highly sensitive government contracts.
Elon Musk, however, was reportedly unreceptive.
He is said to have downplayed security concerns, such as failing to disclose extensive
foreign contacts that should have been reported under national security protocols.
“So on and so forth,” Boomer remarks, with frustration.
Yet in the United States, there is a law that applies to everyone—including Elon
Musk:
The Logan Act.
This law prohibits all U.S. citizens from negotiating with foreign governments or
officials on matters related to U.S. policy or security without explicit government
authorization.
We know that Vladimir Putin was directly involved,
because the intermediaries who reached out to Elon Musk and Peter Thiel offered
direct access to Putin.
They would not have done so without Putin’s personal knowledge and approval of
the operation.
Jonathan Boomer tells us in the interview that there was direct contact between
Putin and Musk—possibly on multiple occasions.
The Wall Street Journal also reported in October 2024, citing anonymous sources,
that such contact had occurred.
The Kremlin immediately denied the report, claiming there had been no meetings in
2022 between Putin and Musk.
According to the official statement, there had been only one direct conversation, and
that was more than a year prior.
Boomer is not permitted to disclose how he obtained this information,
saying it would expose him to criminal liability.
“What was discussed between Musk and Putin is not publicly known,” Boomer admits.
“But what has happened since that contact speaks for itself.”
The operation was successful.
The spread of Russian propaganda has intensified.
Musk has openly opposed continued U.S. membership in NATO.
He has publicly advocated for the United States to withdraw from the
alliance—
a central goal of Putin’s long-term strategic doctrine.
Removing the United States from NATO would represent a historic success for
Russian intelligence operations.
“The richest man in the world,” Boomer notes,
“with the largest communication platform on Earth, is now calling for the U.S. to exit
NATO and the United Nations—two organizations it helped create.”
And all of this, according to Boomer, has occurred since Musk’s contact with
Vladimir Putin.
What was discussed at those meetings?
“I can’t answer that either,” Boomer says.
Technically, Elon Musk still supports Ukraine’s military—contractually—by
providing satellite services.
But where he once challenged Putin to a duel over Crimea, he now rails against
continued aid for the embattled country,
even going so far as to label a U.S. senator opposing Putin as a “traitor.”
He frequently echoes Kremlin talking points, broadcasting them to over 600 million
users on his own platform: X.
With Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022, X has undergone a dramatic
transformation, says Nina Jankowicz,
a former U.S. official responsible for combating disinformation.
“We are witnessing Russian disinformation being spread on X in ways we’ve never seen
before,” she warns.
It appears that Putin—a former KGB officer—knows exactly how to handle assets
and informants.
According to U.S. intelligence veterans, he may have succeeded in flipping Musk—
convincing him that democracy, the rule of law, and sovereignty are no longer
worth defending.
Could all of this have unfolded under the watch of U.S. counterintelligence?
Former FBI agent Jonathan Boomer says yes.
He claims that evidence of tech-sector entanglement with Russian intelligence was
ignored.
FBI supervisors and Justice Department prosecutors, he says, hesitate to open
investigations—
especially those involving potential corruption within the public sector or ties to
powerful politicians and business leaders.
“The Russians are watching very closely,” Boomer adds.
“They’ve learned how to swim around the big fish—
avoiding detection by navigating carefully around those with influence and immunity.”
“I believe this is the greatest failure in the history of American counterintelligence.”
Within the U.S. intelligence community, what’s happening is a dream come true
for Putin and his spy services, says Scott Horton.
“It basically opens the door wide for them to continue their operations.
To me, this strongly suggests massive, direct influence from Putin and the Kremlin—
and a deliberate restructuring of the U.S. government itself.”
Donald Trump has never hidden his disdain for the American system of
government.
He has made it clear he is willing to bring it down.
Following his election loss, a mob he had incited stormed the U.S. Capitol on January
6, 2021—
the symbolic heart of American democracy.
Through repeated and disproven lies about election fraud, he succeeded in
convincing millions of Americans to lose faith in democracy itself.
After Trump’s first term, America was left deeply divided.
“Trump carried out Putin’s business,” said the Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives at the time.
“This president is one of Putin’s tools.”
Putin’s goal has always been to damage the global reputation of democracy.
And Donald Trump has long been his willing surrogate.
“I told the President once before,” said a member of Congress,
“With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin.”
Moscow, Russia. Mid-1980s.
It was a time of upheaval in the Soviet Union—the era of Glasnost and Perestroika.
The country faced immense economic challenges and was beginning to lose the
systemic battle with the West, particularly the United States.
At Lubyanka, headquarters of the infamous Soviet intelligence agency, the KGB,
the chief of the First Chief Directorate (foreign intelligence)—who would later
become the chairman of the KGB—demanded a strategic overhaul:
a new focus on recruiting agents inside the United States.
Vladimir Klyuschev—a superior officer to Vladimir Putin in the KGB—sent a memo to
all foreign stations.
The contents: instructions to focus on recruiting more valuable agents abroad,
especially in the United States.
The KGB plans in decades, not months.
They didn’t expect immediate results.
They didn’t expect every person to be useful right away.
The goal was to cultivate enough individuals—whether in Africa or Manhattan—
so that, in the decades to come, some would rise into influential positions.
A KGB colonel who defected to British intelligence (MI6) in the 1980s brought with
him, among other things, a copy of a personality checklist used for targeting
recruitment candidates.
We have obtained that list.
Klyuschev distributed this character checklist to his agents, directing them to seek out
Americans who matched specific traits.
Targets should be:
Vain
Narcissistic
Ambitious
Unfaithful in marriage
Susceptible to seduction by younger women
Poor analytical thinkers
Corrupt
You read this list—and you think of Donald Trump.
Some time ago, we met with a man who had much to say.
We’re in a suburb of Washington, D.C.
For the first time, he speaks with German television.
“Before I came to America, I was an officer in the KGB’s First Chief Directorate—its
foreign intelligence branch,” he says.
“I worked in the American Division, overseeing and directing operations in the United
States and Canada.”
His name: Yuri Shvets, former KGB Major, who studied alongside Vladimir Putin at
the Yuri Andropov Institute, the Soviet intelligence training academy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Shvets immigrated to the United States in
1993.
Yuri Shvets testified before the U.S. Congress on Russian money laundering.
“We are in a new Cold War,” Shvets says,
“a war that Russia is waging against the West.”
But this war, he explains, is not being fought with tanks and missiles—
it is being waged through subversive operations, known as active measures.
The aim: to destabilize countries from within.
At the heart of this strategy:
The corruption of Western political elites.
And in that regard, Russia achieved a success no one in Moscow had dared dream
of.
According to Shvets, it all traces back to a KGB operation from the early 1980s.
“Donald Trump was recruited using a combination of money and psychological
manipulation.”
“The psychological component was especially effective.
Here was someone with a relatively low IQ, paired with inflated vanity and
narcissism—
a deadly combination, and the dream of any intelligence officer searching for
recruits.”
(This claim, it should be noted, cannot be independently verified.)
But in February 2025, another former senior KGB officer comes forward—via
Facebook:
Alno Mosayev, who later served as head of security for Kazakhstan.
Mosayev claims that the Soviet intelligence service assigned Donald Trump the
codename “Krasnov.”
According to him, everything began in the late 1970s,
when Trump was just starting out as a real estate developer in Manhattan.
At the time, he was working on renovating the decaying Commodore Hotel and
sought to purchase 200 new televisions.
He turned to a small electronics store in Midtown Manhattan.
“That shop was owned by two Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union,” Mosayev
says.
“One of them—who managed the store—was a KGB agent.”
“At the time, I worked in the KGB’s Washington rezidentura,
and I know that was one of our stores.”
The store made headlines in the 1980s because it became known as a go-to location
for customers from the Soviet Union—mainly diplomats—to purchase goods
unavailable back home, especially televisions.
“Every Soviet citizen working in the U.S., every visitor, every high-ranking official—even
ministers—had to go to that store,” Mosayev explains.
“It was almost an obligation—to buy the equipment there and bring it back to Moscow.”
The KGB was deeply concerned that the FBI or CIA might use other stores to sell
devices embedded with electronic surveillance equipment,
which could then be used to spy on powerful Kremlin officials in their homes or
offices.
To mitigate this risk, the store sold specially outfitted televisions with dual reception
systems, allowing them to work in the Soviet Union.
These devices were roughly 30% more expensive than standard models.
“It made no commercial sense for Donald Trump to pay 30% more,”
“and it made no business sense for the store owner—if he had been a genuine
businessman and not working for the KGB—to offer Trump a 30% discount.”
According to Mosayev, this was no ordinary business deal.
The KGB financed part of the transaction—
using it as a strategic opportunity to initiate contact and begin cultivating Trump
as a long-term target.
From there, KGB agents in New York quickly began gathering intelligence on
Trump:
assessing his character, analyzing his vulnerabilities, and eventually recommending
him to Moscow headquarters as a promising recruitment prospect.
The KGB lured Donald Trump to Moscow to assess whether he might be suitable for
long-term cultivation and cooperation.
“They exploited his vanity and narcissism,” says former KGB officer Yuri Shvets,
“by making him an utterly ridiculous and unrealistic offer.”
The proposal? To build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
“It was complete nonsense,” Shvets explains.
“The Iron Curtain was still firmly in place.
The very reason for it was to prevent Soviet citizens from seeing how people lived in the
West.”
“The last thing the Kremlin wanted was a glittering Trump Tower next to Lenin’s
Mausoleum on Red Square.”
In 1987, Trump traveled to Moscow and Leningrad,
on a trip organized by Intourist—the Soviet state-run travel agency, which is now
known to have been a KGB front organization.
In the middle of the Cold War, the Soviets dangled the prospect of Trump building a
tower in the Soviet Union.
Shortly after returning to New York, Trump ran a full-page ad in three major
American newspapers,
sharply criticizing America’s alliance commitments—specifically NATO.
At that time, Yuri Shvets was stationed for several months at KGB headquarters in
Moscow.
He recalls seeing a dispatch from the New York rezidentura.
“I read the evaluation report,” he says.
“I had access because I was involved in a parallel operation.”
The KGB was ecstatic.
“It was the dream scenario for Soviet intelligence.
The Department for Influence Operations considered it one of the most successful
active measures in years.”
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Donald Trump never left Russia’s sights.
He did business with Russian gangsters and oligarchs—many of them with close
ties to the Kremlin.
When Trump ran for president in 2016, Russian intelligence services launched a
massive operation to help install him in the White House.
During a 2015 visit to Moscow, attorney Scott Horton says he was shown a
document.
He won’t name the source, but he describes it in detail:
“It was an internal Russian document, written in Russian, about 10 to 15 pages long.
It laid out a proposal for an influence campaign to be conducted in the United
States.
It explicitly referenced Trump multiple times, identifying him as the candidate of
interest,
and outlined the goal of building a Republican Party under his leadership and
control
—one that would enable him to do whatever he wanted.”
The campaign included strategies to penetrate socially influential groups to exert
political leverage.
One example: Russian agent Maria Butina, who infiltrated the powerful U.S. gun
lobby, the NRA.
She was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to prison—but ultimately did not serve her
full term.
The Trump administration allowed her to return to Russia, where she was
celebrated as a national hero.
But the influence strategies described in the classified Moscow document, according
to Scott Horton, went far beyond Butina.
“We quickly saw how every point of that plan was executed,” Horton says.
“At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin began
aggressively focusing on a culture war—
targeting homosexuals, transgender people, and similar communities.”
The strategies outlined in the classified Moscow document for bringing the
Republican Party under control went even further than initially understood, according
to Scott Horton.
“We quickly saw every point of the plan being executed.”
At that time, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin began to heavily
emphasize a culture war—particularly targeting homosexuals, transgender
individuals, and other marginalized groups.
“I believe this platform was deliberately developed in Russia to appeal to American
evangelicals,” Horton says.
“The idea was to create a shared cause—a common hatred of homosexuals—that
could unite them.
And I believe the evidence clearly shows that this plan was fully implemented.”
Once the influence operations had laid the groundwork for pro-Russian narratives in
the U.S.,
Russian intelligence actions grew more aggressive in the lead-up to the 2016 U.S.
election.
Beginning around June 2016, Russian operatives began releasing the first batches of
stolen emails from Democratic Party institutions.
“At that point, they transitioned from mere information gathering to a direct attack on
our democratic system.”
On June 14, 2016, the Democratic National Committee publicly announced that it
had been targeted by hackers.
Tens of thousands of documents and emails had been stolen—
including internal communications tied to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary
Clinton.
Russia’s goal was to undermine the American public’s faith in the democratic
process.
And, as multiple assessments concluded, Putin and the Russian government
actively sought to boost Donald Trump’s chances of winning the 2016 election.
After his victory in November 2016, Donald Trump received a visit from the FBI
Director in New York.
“At our very first meeting,” says former FBI Director James Comey,
“the President had no questions whatsoever about what he could do to protect our
country.”
Just four months later, Trump fired Comey.
Shortly afterward, a highly unusual meeting took place in the White House—
a meeting that did nothing to dispel the growing suspicions surrounding the President’s
ties to Russia.
In the Oval Office, Donald Trump welcomed the Russian Foreign Minister and the
Russian Ambassador to the United States.
No other Americans were present.
U.S. media were barred—only a Russian state media photographer was allowed to
document the event.
During the meeting, Trump reportedly told his Kremlin guests that he had resolved
the problem with “that nutjob Comey” by firing the FBI Director.
“The first thing that crossed my mind was:
What are the Russians doing in the Oval Office with the President—
with no other American in the room? That has never happened before,” Comey later
said.
“And then came the news that he had called me a nutjob.
Personally, that didn’t bother me—I know I’m not a nutjob.
But what did strike me was the fact that the President was speaking about an
American—
to one of our adversaries—in those terms.”
“It was one of many behaviors that made me question how our President thinks and
acts toward Russia.”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a high-profile indictment:
Twelve officers of Russian military intelligence (GRU) were charged with
conspiring to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.
Just three days later, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki, where they
held a private, one-on-one meeting with no witnesses.
An unprecedented event in U.S. history.
To this day, no one knows what the two men discussed.
But during the press conference that followed, Trump stunned American investigators
by making a startling public statement about Russian interference:
“My people tell me they think it was Russia.
I asked President Putin—he says it wasn’t Russia.
And I don’t see any reason why it would have been.”
Donald Trump, side by side with Vladimir Putin, against his own intelligence
agencies—and against America’s allies.
On the day before the Helsinki meeting, Trump had referred to the European Union,
alongside China, as a “foe” of the United States in trade matters.
Throughout his first term, Trump repeatedly attacked America’s Western allies,
making no effort to conceal his disdain.
He clashed with NATO partners, threatened to leave the alliance, and openly
advocated for closer, friendlier ties with Russia.
In his second term, this position has only hardened.
His attacks on allied nations, especially in Europe, have grown more severe.
“Don’t forget,” Trump said,
“the European Union was founded to take advantage of the United States. That’s the
reason.”
“I’ve tried to explain this to some of my friends in Europe, and they just don’t get it.
They think you’re crazy if you talk about these things.
But to me, it’s never been clearer—there’s a convergence of interests between the
tech bros, Trump, and his inner circle…”
And they align in a way that is profoundly hostile toward Europe.
Europe is viewed essentially as prey—
something to be punished, humiliated, and weakened.
Europe is in shock, struggling to comprehend what has happened.
Friends have become enemies.
The force with which Europe is now being hit stems from a convergence of
overlapping interests:
Trump seeks to punish those who have angered him and revel in the feeling of
exerting dominance.
Putin aims to dismantle NATO in order to increase Russia’s relative power.
Russian power thrives on the disunity of the wealthier, stronger states along
its borders.
That’s why Putin does everything he can to sow confusion and chaos—to
weaken Western cohesion.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s interest lies in destroying the regulatory authority of the
European Union.
If the EU can be paralyzed, shrunk, or even dismantled, each member state would be
forced to follow the American model—
a model where tech companies write their own rules.
That is exactly what Musk wants.
With no subtlety, Musk interferes in political processes across Germany and
Europe,
using his platform X and his celebrity status as a megaphone.
He supports radical parties across the EU whose goal is to undermine the postwar
European order—
a goal he shares with Vladimir Putin.
At the center of this geopolitical game is Germany—
seen as the linchpin of modern liberal democracy in Europe.
The European Union cannot function—politically or economically—without
Germany at its core.
And so the game largely revolves around Germany.