Rachel Maddow: my new hero.
Ms Maddow is on MSNBC five days a week. I recommend her show, and her blog: MaddowBlog.
She’s been following the money for a while now, tracing the hidden channels that the Russian oligarchs (presumably with Putin’s knowledge) have been using to funnel money into Trump’s failing businesses.
After around Trump’s seventh bankruptcy, when he once more bailed, leaving his investors to die, most sensible banks stopped lending him money. Trump the Business was looking pretty punk, but then, mysteriously, he was flush with cash again. It wasn’t a question of whether he’d gotten shady financing, just whether it was China or Russia.
So Maddow’s show on Feb. 27 was a wonderful bit of reporting. She lays out the story in shocking detail. I can recommend that segment first. It’s pretty clear that the Dmitry Rybolovlev, a Russian oligarch who Maddow called the “King of Fertilizer”, paid Trump $100M for a decayed white elephant of a home in Florida that Trump had bought for $40M, two years before. This was the biggest home sale ever. And yet, Rybolovlev never bothered to meet Trump, he never visited the home, and he didn’t do any of the repairs that were damaging the property value. And the money arrived just at the time that Trump needed a really big infusion of cash to offset his recent business losses.
Anyway, I had a list of good articles, but forget that. By the time you clicked on any of those links, her blog would already have a score of newer, equally fascinating articles to read.
This is really good reporting. And while the issues can get complicated, Maddow does an excellent job on her TV show in explaining it all. And she does it on weekdays at 9 PM ET on MSNBC.
It’s really low-tech, too. It’s just her, the camera, and a few background images that never seem to change. And she’s fascinating. I don’t know how she does it.
