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Finally, a European Leader Said Out Loud What All of Them Are Likely Thinking About Trump
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In a little-covered but striking speech last week, the president of Portugal—the centrist leader of a NATO ally—referred to President Donald Trump as “a Russian asset.”
Is the charge worth taking seriously? Yes, if it’s also taken literally.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the European leader who made the remark at a conclave of Portugal’s Social Democratic party, was clear and nuanced about what he meant. He emphasized that he was not calling Trump a Russian “agent,” as some conspiracy theorists have speculated. Rather, he said, “the supreme leader of the world’s largest superpower is objectively a Soviet or Russian asset,” in the sense that he “has strategically benefited the Russian Federation” and thus “operates” as a Russian “asset.”
Scholars and denizens of espionage make the same distinction. An agent is a paid and witting spy; he formally, sometimes covertly, works for a foreign government. By contrast, an asset might serve a foreign government without even knowing that he’s doing so. This type of asset is sometimes called a dupe or a useful idiot.
De Sousa made his remarks not long after Trump’s summit last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where Putin opposed a ceasefire in Ukraine, and Trump—who had threatened “consequences” unless the meeting produced a........
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