Trying to figure out Donald Trump’s relationship with China is no simple task. He castigates them for taking U.S. jobs, for unfair trade, for manipulating currencies, and generally beating stupid American leaders at every turn. On the other hand, he has his fashion products manufactured there, leases them luxury real estate, and confesses his deep love for them and/or their money.

However, for the purposes of his delusional presidential campaign, China is a bitter enemy that is seeking to destroy America and freedom worldwide. Which makes them a perfect foil with which to bash President Obama. A couple of years ago Trump tweeted that “The Chinese are now hacking White House computers. Why not? They already own the place.”

Ha. What a wit (or at best half). What Trump was referring to was an attempt at “spear phishing,” wherein an email that appears to be legitimate tricks the recipient into clicking on a link that executes malicious software. As usual, Trump got it wrong because there was no successful intrusion into the White House network. The matter was addressed at the time by then-Press Secretary Jay Carney, who said in response to a reporter’s question…

“The attack you’ve mentioned was what’s known as a spear-phishing attack against an unclassified network. Let’s be clear — this is an unclassified network. These types of attacks are not infrequent, and we have mitigation measures in place. In this instance, the attack was identified, the system was isolated, and there is no indication whatsoever that any exfiltration of data took place. Moreover, there was never any impact or attempted breach of any classified system.”

But what makes this interesting now is the report of a massive hack into Trump’s hotel operations nationwide. This was a successful intrusion wherein the hackers accessed the payment systems, potentially stealing customer credit card numbers, expiration dates and security codes. It has been going on for at least a year, only being discovered recently.

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So the question for Trump is: If China “owned” the White House following an unsuccessful hacking attempt, then who owns Trump now? Could it be China, who would certainly have a motive stemming from his hostile rhetoric, and opportunity resulting from their business relationships? It could just as well be Russia or fugitive Mexican drug lord, El Chapo. But even if it’s just some larcenous cyber-thieves, Trump has some explaining to do.