President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have both warned about Donald Trump’s friendly attitude towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Obama administration has said the Russians are working to get Trump elected by hacking the emails of political figures and organizations and releasing them to WikiLeaks.
Two weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, “The U.S. Intelligence Community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.”
The statement said that “these thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process.”
Secretary of State John Kerry has said the U.S. will retaliate against Russia for interfering in American elections.
But just four years ago, Obama, Kerry and Clinton bristled when then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney warned that the U.S. needed to be vigilant of Russian ambitions.
All three of them — the president, the now-current secretary of state and the former secretary of state (who is now favored to become the next president) — mocked Romney for calling Russia a “geopolitical foe.”
In an October 2012 debate, Obama scoffed at Romney — telling him, “the 1980’s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War has been over for 20 years.”
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Clinton called Romney “somewhat dated” and said he was “looking backwards.” She added, “In many of the areas where we are working to solve problems, Russia has been an ally.”
Kerry suggested Romney was getting his foreign policy advice from a movie. “Mitt Romney talks like he’s only seen Russia by watching ‘Rocky IV’,” Kerry said.
Vice President Joe Biden piled on as well. “Romney acts like he thinks the Cold War’s still on, Russia is still our major adversary. I don’t know where he’s been,” Biden said in a 2012 interview with CBS.
Like Obama, Clinton and Kerry, Biden is now singing a different tune about Russia, claiming Trump’s friendliness towards Putin is evidence that “He would have loved Stalin.”