Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Trump

     In the film, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Control, who is head of MI 6, wants to uncover which of his four colleagues is actually a mole planted by the Russians at the top of British Intelligence.  He sends an agent, Jim Prideaux, to Hungary to meet with an Hungarian general who knows the name of the spy, but Control's plan is foiled by his Russian intelligence nemesis, Karla.  

     Watching the film's byzantine plot, which has driven some viewers to theatre exits well before the movie's conclusion, we learn that Bill Hayden, the number two official in British Intelligence, has long ago been "turned" by the Russians into a double agent working on their behalf.   And although it seems implausible that such a plot could unfold in real life, we have been observing an analogous, though contorted, storyline nevertheless produce a disturbing correlative.   To wit: the news conference in Finland where Trump defended Putin and Russia's hacking of the 2016 election.

     Unlike Bill Hayden, who was only an official in Britain's spy agency, the Russians have managed to insert their mole at the very top of the United States Government, President Trump.  Fantastic as this may sound, the evidence has been mounting for two years and today it rose to the level of a national-security emergency.  

     Anyone watching that conference couldn't help but be astonished by Trump's flagrant contradiction of U.S. intelligence reports documenting with overwhelming factual evidence Russia's interference in the 2016 election.  Yet, Trump stood at the podium and announced that "I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be" Russia who hacked the election.  When pressed by reporters whether he believed Putin or America's intelligence agencies, Trump replied that there are "two thoughts" about the hacking, and then he shifted the topic to one of his favorite bogyman, Hilary Clinton's "missing" emails.    

     Trump's performance in Finland followed his attacking America's European allies the previous week.  He criticized Germany, claiming that country "is captive to Russia," faulted Theresa May on her handling of Brexit, and stated that the European Union is a foe of the United Sates.  All this while he remained silent on Russia's aggression against Ukraine, annexation of Crimea, the poisoning of British citizens and the cyber attacks on the United States' election.  

     Putin must be smiling broadly these days back at the Kremlin.  He's achieved more than the villain Karla in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" could have dreamt of in his machinations against the West.  He's inserted his man at the pinnacle of the most powerful country on earth.  Now the rest of us will have to wait and see if the party Trump leads will have the honesty and courage to foil Putin's success and remove the Russia mole from the White House.