As the noose tightens around the puffy, orange neck of Donald Trump, with no less than four ongoing investigations into his treasonous and otherwise criminal and sadistic sociopathic actions, the question that needs to be brought front and center is this: Exactly in whose service has he been acting all these years?

It is his theft of the classified documents that begs this question more than any other. Did he steal and squirrel them away at Mar-a-Lago just for the heck of it? Did he do it because he thought he could make bank selling them off to the highest bidder?

Or, did he do it as a conscious effort to empower sworn enemies of the United States of America in their efforts to weaken and defeat us?

No other explanation except the last one makes any real sense.

So, this means only one thing: For the first time we know of since the Civil War, this nation has caught a red handed spy who means major harm. Forget that, sadly, he was once president. He’s not any longer, and he is subject to all the same laws that apply to the rest of us, including with all the attendant penalties for treason.

How does the value of his life stack up against those of however many true and courageous patriots and others dedicated to perpetuating democracy who may have lost their lives by now as a result of being exposed through his treachery? It is highly likely he has already put some of our nation’s most important secrets into the hands of enemies to do us great harm.

This simply cannot be allowed to stand at any level. The midterm elections are on top of us now, and there should be no way that Trump’s influence be valued by anyone who is not an avowed supporter of Putin.

That is explicitly why I titled my set of essays published after the January 6, 2021 coup attempt to focus on Putin’s seminal role. Did these rioters mean to be attacking the Capitol to advance Putin’s agenda?

Very few I would imagine, although that is an open question at this point.

How about those who continue to peddle the “Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election being illegitimate? The same thing.

So, the longer the Trump-Putin connection is withheld from major public view, the worse it is for the ability of this nation to recover and heal.

Thom Hartmann, writing in the Raw Story this month, asks in his headline, “When Trump Is Finally Revealed as an Agent of Foreign Governments, Will America Wake Up?” He wrote, “It’s time to tell the truth about Trump; he’s been an agent of organized crime and foreign governments for decades, and he’s continuing to work for Putin, Xi, Erdogan and Putin ally Mohammed bin Salman – undermining America’s faith in democracy – to this day.”

While Hartmann credits Craig Unger and his book, “American Kompromat,” for revealing Trump’s ties to Moscow since 1987, I will repeat once again that I reported the same thing from a different standpoint, citing that Moscow had decided Trump would be groomed as its preferred U.S. presidential candidate since that time.

Hartmann cites how Trump’s first wife Ivana functioned effectively as a spy since they first met in the 1970s, exactly as I see it along the lines of the kind of “red sparrow” documented in the 2018 movie by that same name. His successive wives have been tasked in a similar manner.

Hartman wrote, “Taking us down, particularly through internal division that would “prove” the weakness of democracies, is the ultimate goal of these nations and their president-for-life leaders. It’s becoming harder and harder for Trump and his acolytes to claim that they harbor any loyalty to or love for America or democracy.

“Their hatred of our system of government isn’t just evident rhetorically; they turn out on the streets with AR-15s strapped across their backs and ‘Free helicopter rides for liberals’ displayed on their tee-shirts. When Trump is finally revealed as not just a con man and hustler but an agent of foreign dictators, a spy, and a traitor, will America finally wake up?”