Russia is a “strategic competitor” of America. As such, it is an Opponent, and has been for most of the last century. While opportunities for cooperation with Russia should be explored, we must always remember that it is an Opponent. Therefore, it should come as no surprise if we were to learn that Russia attempted to interfere in any U.S. Election. According to U.S Intelligence Agencies, Russia has done so before (including prior to the 2016 Election), and we should expect that it will attempt to do so again. As a result, we must act to ensure that those attempts are unsuccessful.
What is remarkable, however, is that the Losers in the 2016 Election (Obama, Hillary, the Democratic Party, the Left Media, and the rest of the Left) now claim that Russia stole the election from Hillary in order to elect Trump. This is a unique claim. Moreover, the way in which Russia is alleged to have done so is also unique: That they released true information about both Hillary and the National Democratic Party, and that the public, finally realizing who and what they really were – and stood for – decided to elect Trump.
Put aside for a moment the fact that what Russia is alleged to have done should have been the job of an American Press that during the election was largely invested in defeating Trump, rather than objectively reporting on Hillary. How believable are those now making these claims? The Intelligence Report released last week (found here) was long on conclusions, but glaringly short of actual facts to support those conclusions. In particular, there is no evidence that voting machines were hacked, that any votes were changed, or that the hacked emails released by WikiLeaks were altered. Significantly, there was also no assessment of the impact of Russian activities on the results of the election.
The last point is critical in terms of evaluating the claims made by the Losers in the 2016 Election alleging that Russia stole the election from Hillary. Our Intelligence Agencies did not even conduct an assessment to determine if that was the case, and the actual quote from the Report is worth emphasizing: “We did not conduct an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election.”
Therefore, anyone inclined to believe the claim that Trump won the election due to Russian interference must necessarily believe in the veracity – and good judgment – of those now making these claims. Remember that those making these claims are not U.S. Intelligence Agencies, but rather Obama, Hillary, the Democratic Party, the Left Media, and the rest of the Left. Based on what they have done and said with respect to Russia in the past, how believable are these same people now?
Historically, the Losers in the 2016 Election have been very accommodating towards Russia. That all seems to have changed when they woke up on November 9, and realized that Trump beat Hillary. Prior to that date, Obama said little and did less about Russian efforts to conduct espionage in this country, or to spread disinformation and propaganda. The same could be said of Hillary, the Democratic Party, the Left Media, and the rest of the Left. That Russia and its predecessor, the Soviet Union, had conducted such operations against America for most of the last century did not seem to concern them.
Prior to November 9, Obama and the rest of the Left expressed little concern about Russia’s move to modernize and expand its military forces, including its strategic nuclear arsenal. Under Obama, America’s response to this challenge has been weak. America’s strategic forces are – and have been – badly in need of modernization. However, under Obama, America has not built or even ordered a single new nuclear capable bomber, ICBM, or SLBM equipped submarine. Obama has also been weak on missile defense, believing such defenses encourage the building of nuclear weapons. Putin’s response to Obama’s weakness was to modernize and expand Russia’s strategic nuclear forces anyway.
Prior to November 9, Obama and the rest of the Left did little as Russia invaded some neighbors, and intimidated others. In Syria, in spite of Obama’s worthless “red lines”, Russia enabled its ally to kill hundreds of thousands of its own people. Obama has also done much to cede U.S. influence in the Middle East to Russia and its ally Iran, and for most of his Presidency he seemed to be working to weaken NATO.
Less recently, during the last two decades of the Cold War the Left and the Democratic Party both earned a well deserved reputation for being soft on Russia. They worked to undermine the efforts of Republicans generally, and Reagan in particular, to check the spread of Soviet influence. There is also evidence that Jimmy Carter and Edward Kennedy, two “Elder Statesmen” of the Left and of the Democratic Party, actively solicited Soviet aid in preventing the election, and then the re-election of Ronald Reagan. Articles discussing the evidence for that solicitation can be found here, and here. If true, those acts by members of the Democratic Party hierarchy come dangerously close to treason.
Such is the history of Russia and the Left. Re-read the last few paragraphs and ask yourself whether or not Putin would be delighted to face Obama or another Democrat for four more years. As a result, and to quote Hillary, it “requires the willing suspension of disbelief” to trust much of anything that Obama and the rest of the Left have to say regarding Russia. With their past, they simply cannot be trusted.
Why then would the Losers in the 2016 Election continue to make these arguments, for which there is so little factual support? The answer is that this is part of their continuing post election effort to prevent the inauguration of Trump, or if unsuccessful, to delegitimize him. Stage 1 of that effort involved the failed attempt to directly contest the results of the election. Stage 2 was the failed attempt to threaten and intimidate the Electoral College in an effort to steal the election from Trump. After those failures, in order to delegitimize Trump, the Left, with Obama taking the lead, is now essentially claiming that Russia “stole” the election from Hillary to elect Trump. While this serves the short term political goals of the Left, it is very bad for America.
In last week’s Intelligence Report, our Intelligence Agencies concluded that Russia’s first goal in allegedly interfering in the election was to “undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process . . .” This seems to be the same goal of Obama, Hillary, the Democratic Party, the Left Media, and the rest of the Left. Many years ago, Soviet Dictator Lenin is said to have described his witting and unwitting supporters in this country – all on the Left – as “useful idiots.” It appears that the useful idiots may have returned. Or, maybe they are just idiots willing to “undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process” in order to advance their short-term political goal of weakening Trump.