Let me see if I've got this straight.
Cambridge Analytica acted as a go-between to conceal high level coordination between the Trump campaign, PACs / donors, and Russian interests, as well as a clearinghouse for stolen voter data, including that obtained by Russian hackers.
Cambridge Analytica acted as a go-between to conceal high level coordination between the Trump campaign, PACs / donors, and Russian interests, as well as a clearinghouse for stolen voter data, including that obtained by Russian hackers.
Not to mention stolen e-mails and other data from the DNC / Clinton campaign. These were weaponized by Russian elements using leaks (Guccifer / Wikileaks), social media (bots), and staged events and targeted at specific individuals in specific voting districts for maximum effect.
The Russian "active measures" campaign, funded by Putin friendly oligarchs but directed by Cambridge Analytica, ginned up fake sites and news stories, which were targeted at impressionable left and right-wing voters based on profiles made from various stolen data sets.
Russian cooperation was based on shared economic interest and assurances from Trump concerning foreign policy and sanctions if they succeeded. Hence, Trump changed the GOP platform position on Ukraine after securing their involvement.
More than likely, there are Saudi and other elements at work here which are obscure to me, if only because the Trump family sought to use the White House to enrich themselves and their friends from day one. Jared Kushner has been particularly ham-fisted about this.
This is all extremely illegal and Trump himself was no doubt aware, in general or about specific actions, as this is a fairly small and tight-knit group we're talking about and Trump is an ass about making decisions himself, even though he's frequently wrong.
This was also extremely blatant, and they relied on Fox News propaganda and the GOP in Congress to run interference. Unfortunately for them, Trump's attempts at damage control only invited more attention, and non-US investigators are not so constrained.
It remains to be seen if Republicans are acting solely on mutual greed and partisanship or if someone has blackmail material on various Congressmen. (Remember the RNC was hacked, too.) Likely, Ryan and McConnell would be compliant in any case.
We also know Russian operations targeted the left (all that "crooked Hillary" nonsense) and supported Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein as spoilers, and it remains to be seen how much coordination occurred between the pro-Trump conspiracy and the Sanders and Stein campaigns.
Conspiracy theories are gauche but we're dealing with a fairly small group of oligarchs and Trump buddies with interlocking interests, most of whom already knew or were in business with each other.
A look at Trump's cabinet picks shows what a small world these people inhabit. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if he keeps appointing family members and other people who are in on it because who else could they trust?
To be clear, I think Trump was a convenient idiot for the Mercers, Russians, et al., but he knew what was happening and it was illegal based on his bungled cover-up and alternate bragging and panicky rages. He simply didn't care. Perhaps he didn't expect it to work.
Russians have been keeping Trump financially afloat for years, so they already own him, and he's been engaged in shady mafia business his whole life. He probably didn't even care what they wanted in exchange for publicity and grifting off a presidential campaign.
