Today’s Crazy Thought: If Trump were really in cahoots with Putin — e.g. high level secret communication, “We’ll drop sanctions if you sabotage Hillary and give us a billion dollars for 666 Fifth Avenue” — he wouldn’t need these amateurish shenanigans. They’re exculpatory! That’s the ticket. … Update 7/16: Remember that Trump had been saying oddly conciliatory things about Putin for many months before that June 9, 2016 meeting between a Russian lawyer and his son. Seems a bit late for an exploratory feeler from Moscow. If the Trump and Russia were open to colluding you’d think they would already have come to some understanding. Trump had also been the GOP front-runner for many months, after all. …