Russia and Trump ~ follow the coincidences

“Coincidences mean you're on the right path.” quote by Simon Van Booy, British author.

Litany chronology ~ Jason Sattler "echo" opinion published in myCentralJersey.com. Moreover, this opinion article is reinforced by this Politico graphic article (link)

There are two options: Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia worked together to help elect our current president of the United States, or we are witnessing the greatest coincidence since the Big Bang. Call it collusion. Call it a collaboration. Or, even better (even worse!), call it a “conspiracy against the United States” — since that’s probably what the indictments will keep calling it.

Just don’t call it a coincidence, especially if the FBI is interviewing you.

If you want to argue that Russia randomly to decided to endure unknown risks to do almost everything it could to put Trump in the White House, and that Trump was just too hapless to properly conspire, even after decades of schemes where he got richer while others got burned, here are just some of the fantastic events that you have to believe are only “coincidences.”

In 2013, after decades of struggling to do business in Russia and in the midst of plotting what many assumed would be another vanity run for president, Trump announced he planned to hold his Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. The 67-year-old reality TV star tweeted in June, “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow — if so, will he become my new best friend?”

The next month, the Internet Research Agency registered in Russia to begin what a recent indictment filed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office called “information warfare against the United States of America.”

Though the Trump/Putin meeting in Moscow never happened, the courtship continued.

In 2014, Trump opportunistically attacked Russia’s policies when it was convenient to criticize Barack Obama, but he refused to say a negative word in public about Vladimir Putin — a policy he pretty much only extends to his businesses, his relatives and his anatomy.

In April 2014, after the U.S. had levied sanctions on Russia for “violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the Internet Research Agency allegedly began its U.S.-focused “translator project“ with a goal of spreading “distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.” 

Coincidentally, (? there's that word again!) that became a major theme of Trump’s presidential campaign that he officially launched in June of 2015.

As Trump continued to praise Putin and question NATO, the backbone of Soviet and Russian containment for more than half a century, social media trolls backed by the Kremlin rained support on Trump.

In October 2015, two weeks after Trump’s Twitter account tweeted an article entitled “Putin Loves Trump,” Trump signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow (something he never disclosed during the campaign).

In March 2016, Paul Manafort, a Trump Tower resident with a long history of lobbying for Trump interests and foreign despots, joined the Trump campaign. For some reason, Manafort was willing to work for free despite apparently owing as much as $17 million to pro-Russian interests. That same month, the Gmail account of Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta was hacked.

After the Democratic National Convention, Trump famously said at a press conference: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 (Clinton) emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Trump could only be sure Russia would be “rewarded mightily” if he knew Russia was aiming to harm Clinton.

And on and on it goes. That’s just a sample.

If you don’t see the conspiracy by now, you just don’t want to.

Jason Sattler, a writer based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors and host of The Sit and Spin Room podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @LOLGOP