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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

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