The Russians Did It?
This is an admission against interest. I am dumb. Actually, I must be very dumb because, trying as hard as I can, I cannot understand the brouhaha over “Russian interference” in our election.
Every complainer admits that there is no evidence of tampering with votes at the polling places or manipulating the vote counts. There seems to be only one concern. That is the assertion that Russia attempted to influence public opinion in favor of Donald Trump.
The most troubling aspect of this concern is its hypocrisy. Nations have been interfering in the politics and creation of governments in other nations forever. In the last several centuries,we have been the most active manipulator.
Do the words Contras, Sandinistas, and Oliver North ring a bell? They were the news makers back in 1982 when we funneled 19 million dollars in military aid to the Contras who were trying to overthrow the government in Nicaragua. Now that is what dummies like me call interfering in the internal affairs of another country.
If 35 years ago is too long to remember, let’s move up a couple of years to 1989. Maybe Operation Nitty Package or Just Cause will stir some memories. This so called operation was the insertion of U.S. military personnel into Panama to kidnap President Manuel Noriega and bring him back to the U.S. to be tried for cocaine trafficking, racketeering and money laundering. He was convicted and sentenced to 40 years confinement.
(As a side note, I must be more lucky than dumb. As an active duty Army officer, I had contact with Noriega. On an assignment in Panama with the U.S. Army War College in 1973, Noriega, who was then Vice President of Panama, was one of the briefing officers during the visit. Thank goodness the current batch of witch hunters were not seeking publicity back then.)
Nicaragua and Panama are just two recent examples of U.S. interference in the governance of other nations. Rest assured that there are many, many more examples of such interference, most of which are not as open as these two. Just wonder what role the U.S. played in establishing Konrad Adenauer as Chancellor of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
This very abbreviated history of the U.S. interference in the governance of other nations makes the hyper concern over some suspected Russian interference in the November election very hypocritical. Chuck Schemer, Nancy Pelosi and others are claiming with dead serious faces that we can do it, but other nations cannot.
Moreover, what did Russia do to help Trump roll over 16 primary opponents? When did Putin and other Russians become interested in Trump? Would they have done whatever they did regardless of who was chosen as the Republican candidate? Were their interests and actions pro Republican or just anti Clinton?
What difference did daily contact between Russian operatives and dozens of Trump advisors make? If that happened, the only thing it proves is that Russians are better at politics than Americans.
Let’s get real. The reputed smartest woman in the world was a lousy political candidate. She was outsmarted by some lesser beings.
Ma Clinton assumed that she was so loved and admired in the so called swing states that always voted democrat that she would be wasting time to campaign there. Trump, just like a general looking for the weak points that can be breached in an enemy’s defenses, saw this big gap in Clinton’s strategy and exploited it.
He may or may not have been helped in this strategy by the Russians releasing information hacked from Clinton and Democrat Party files, but that does not explain Republicans taking control of 2/3 of the state governments.
So here’s the perspective.
Democrats have lost control of the House, Senate, White House, and 2/3 of the state governments. They say the Russians did it.
How can this be? Can someone please explain it in simple language that I can understand? Remember, though, that I am a dummy. So keep it simple.
enough
