Trump, Russian Hacking, and Basic Patriotism
I was going to write that in the past, leading politicians would not take advantage of foreign countries’ interference in the US, like the likely Russian hacking, twice, of DNC emails. Rather than stating that, Trump was delighted in the chaos that they were causing in Democratic party ranks. But in addition to that, today, Donald Trump doubled down on that by wishing that Russia had hacked Clinton’s server, and had all of the personal emails that she had erased, and would publish them on the internet.
In the first place, hacking computers, and publishing information on them, are crimes. Where is the “Law and Order President” that Trump claims that he would be in not condemning this. If the Russians, or anybody else, had Clinton’s erased or total emails, encouraging them to publish them is actually encouraging a crime.
The issue in the Congressional investigation and FBI investigation was whether Clinton mishandled classified material. What Trump wants to see is Clinton’s personal emails, something every American is entitled to keep private. Does this mean that a President Trump would feel free to snoop and publish any American’s computer or cell phone files at his own whim, without a national security threat, or a due process of law?
Doesn’t Trump or any of his Republican cohort recall the Watergate scandal. There, President Nixon directed the Plumbers group to break into DNC headquarters in the Watergate building, to steal records, which was the early form of computer hacking. Nixon was investigated and almost impeached for that, but he resigned instead. How far we have come in that what was once an impeachable offense is now a praiseworthy burglary by Trump.
The fact that Trump thinks of his own advantage over the attack on the security of the US election system is totally unpatriotic.
The opposite situation exists in the narrow Trump advisory group. He has surrounded himself with foreign policy experts that are really on Russian payrolls. His campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has advised the Russian leader of Ukraine. His national security advisor, Lt. General Michael T. Flynn, has worked for the Russians as a news analyst on RT, a Kremlin news outlet. Since Trump has had difficulty obtaining business loans, he may have turned to Russian or Eastern European sources. While Trump will not release his tax returns, it would be nice if the public could see the tax records of Manafort and Flynn.
