Red/Blue America: When all else fails, liberals jump to blame the Russians

Donald Trump’s election as president hit a new snag last week with reports that the CIA had concluded Russia interfered in the campaign on his behalf, hacking Hillary Clinton’s campaign and releasing information about her in an effort to secure his election.Trump called the conclusion “ridiculous,” but congressional Republican leaders promised an investigation, and some Democrats said the CIA should present its evidence when the Electoral College meets Monday to finalize the election results.How should Americans react if Russia interfered? Contempt or respect: those are the two options before the United States at the beginning of a new presidential administration. When it was still a world superpower, America had the grudging respect even of its enemies. They might have hated us but they at least feared us.
Can the same be said after eight years of Barack Obama’s lead-from-behind administration, with its failed Russian resets and aborted pivots to the Pacific? Vladimir Putin’s free hand in Syria is the back of the hand to the United States.And Democrats expected something better from Hillary Clinton? Something different?So the question is why Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election. Because Trump would be more pliant? What does Putin know about Trump that the know-it-all press and blinkered, partisan Democrats do not?The point is, the press and the Democrats underestimated Trump from the outset of his campaign. Trump was supposed to founder a few months after he announced. Then he was supposed to lose the primaries. Then Republicans were supposed to block his nomination. Then he was never, ever supposed to beat Clinton.And now he’s supposed to be Putin’s puppet? Please.One of the safest bets of the past election was that the Russians - and the Chinese and the North Koreans and the Israelis and probably the British and the French - got the contents of Clinton’s unsecure and unlawful private email server when she was secretary of state.Never mind her lame denials. If hackers could break into the Democratic National Committee’s email with an amateurish phishing attack, you better believe foreign intelligence agencies broke Clinton’s server with ease. She was thoroughly compromised.That’s what Trump was talking about in July. He wasn’t “inviting” the Russians to hack Hillary. He knew - along with anyone with a lick of sense - that the hacking happened long ago.It’s ironic, really. Weeks before the election, the press lost its mind over the possibility that Trump wouldn’t accept the legitimacy of the election. If what Democratic partisans are saying is true, Trump would have been right to question the outcome had it gone the other way. Ben Boychuk is managing editor of American Greatness. Reach him at bboychuk3@att.net.Donald Trump’s election as president hit a new snag last week with reports that the CIA had concluded Russia interfered in the campaign on his behalf, hacking Hillary Clinton’s campaign and releasing information about her in an effort to secure his election.Trump called the conclusion “ridiculous,” but congressional Republican leaders promised an investigation, and some Democrats said the CIA should present its evidence when the Electoral College meets Monday to finalize the election results.How should Americans react if Russia interfered?Contempt or respect: those are the two options before the United States at the beginning of a new presidential administration. When it was still a world superpower, America had the grudging respect even of its enemies. They might have hated us but they at least feared us.
Can the same be said after eight years of Barack Obama’s lead-from-behind administration, with its failed Russian resets and aborted pivots to the Pacific? Vladimir Putin’s free hand in Syria is the back of the hand to the United States.And Democrats expected something better from Hillary Clinton? Something different?So the question is why Russia meddled in the U.S. presidential election. Because Trump would be more pliant? What does Putin know about Trump that the know-it-all press and blinkered, partisan Democrats do not?The point is, the press and the Democrats underestimated Trump from the outset of his campaign. Trump was supposed to founder a few months after he announced. Then he was supposed to lose the primaries. Then Republicans were supposed to block his nomination. Then he was never, ever supposed to beat Clinton.And now he’s supposed to be Putin’s puppet? Please.One of the safest bets of the past election was that the Russians - and the Chinese and the North Koreans and the Israelis and probably the British and the French - got the contents of Clinton’s unsecure and unlawful private email server when she was secretary of state.Never mind her lame denials. If hackers could break into the Democratic National Committee’s email with an amateurish phishing attack, you better believe foreign intelligence agencies broke Clinton’s server with ease. She was thoroughly compromised.That’s what Trump was talking about in July. He wasn’t “inviting” the Russians to hack Hillary. He knew - along with anyone with a lick of sense - that the hacking happened long ago.It’s ironic, really. Weeks before the election, the press lost its mind over the possibility that Trump wouldn’t accept the legitimacy of the election. If what Democratic partisans are saying is true, Trump would have been right to question the outcome had it gone the other way.Ben Boychuk is managing editor of American Greatness. Reach him at bboychuk3@att.net.