Some Talk About Trump

So the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a probe into the alleged interference by Russian president dictator Vladimir Putin in the 2016 U.S. presidential election against Hillary Clinton and on behalf of Donald Trump.  And the House of Representatives is also conducting a very similar investigation...as is the Senate...and the Justice Department...along with CIA, NSA, and Treasury Department investigations. On top of all this, the Democrats are calling for an independent special prosecutor to conduct what I tally up to be an eighth investigation of the same thing.  But it was well-reported and readily available to the American public, well before the election, that Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's onetime campaign manager, and retired general Michael Flynn, a strong Trump supporter and campaigner, had strong ties to the Kremlin.  And suspicions that Russia was behind the hacking that led to the WikiLeaks release of sensitive and politically damaging Democratic Party emails were also broadcast and were common public knowledge before the election.  But folks still went to the polls and voted for Trump in spite of this, putting him on top in the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan...and electing him as our legitimate 45th president.  And now, more than half a year after the election, we're still going on with the allegations and controversy...but where's the proof that Trump's campaign was actively colluding with the Russians?

If you have read this blog over the course of the last election campaign, you already know that I don't care for Donald Trump: I'd still vote for his opponent, be it Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, were the election held today...I'd even happily choose Ted Cruz, a man of much greater personal integrity than Donald Trump, over him were it just between those two.  But I'm not buying wholesale into all of the conspiracy theories and calls for impeachment that some of my Democratic friends are enthusiastically putting out there.  Donald Trump may not be "their" president as far as they are concerned, but he is mine.  I want him to be successful and strong...and to do what is right and good for the American people.  To the extent that he has gone back on his word during the campaign, I have no problem criticizing him...for example, his rush to support the House Republicans' health care bill that essentially nullified affordable coverage for many of those with preexisting conditions was reprehensible and a violation of his own stated principle in his book The Art of the Deal whereby it's sometimes important to walk away from the negotiating table if the outcome isn't something you want.  Trump criticized Obama as being too eager for the Iran nuclear deal, but he showed that he himself was too eager to get a health care bill...any bill...passed by the House.  There are other things I disagree with our current president on...but I agree with some of what Trump is doing, too...maybe I'll expand on this in a future article.  But now back to this Russian affair...

The notion that one country...or the leadership of that country...would try to affect the outcome of another country's free elections sounds insidious and wrong, right?  Then why didn't I hear cries of protest when President Obama unsuccessfully pushed for Benjamin Netanyahu's defeat in the last Israeli elections...and for British voters to reject leaving the European Union (which they did anyway)?  And although he is no longer president, didn't Obama also very publicly endorse one candidate over the other in the recent French presidential election?  My own concern about the Russians was focused on whether they might have hacked into the vote tabulation process...but that was looked into and dismissed.  Ultimately, it is the American voter who needs to process the information they receive and make rational choices at the polling place.  There are many voters who had good, well-thought-out reasons to support their candidate in 2016, be it Trump or Clinton.  My problem, however, has always been the wishy-washy, irrational last-minute deciders who wait until the very end to make up their minds and allow spurious and emotionally-laden news stories to unduly influence their vote.  Sometimes this goes in favor of the Democrats (like in 2012) and sometimes it works for the Republicans (like in 2016).  And the Russians aside, if you are going to blame someone for Hillary's defeat, I think ex-FBI chief James Comey is much more culpable with his phony October surprise about more emails resurfacing.  That instantly deflated the strong momentum she had built up following her impressive debate performances against Trump and her surge in the polls disappeared.  And no, I don't think it's scandalous or impeachable that the president just fired Comey...this guy was way too much of a political showboat for the position he held...his ignoble exit has been long overdue...

So let the investigations continue, and I surely have no problem with an independent prosecutor looking into Russian attempts to influence the last election.  And if something tangible comes out of any of these many investigations that directly links our president with Russian subterfuge, then I'll take it seriously.  But only if that happens...