Immediately following the surprise turn election night, President-elect Donald Trump was on cloud nine. Apparently bolstered by the silent majority he had promised the nation, he appeared to bask in any and every positive piece of news regarding the economy, spending and the election results. He tweeted “Thank you Donald!” in response to news of strong holiday spending and reassured his followers that without millions of alleged illegal voters, he surely would have won the popular vote too.
However, the suggestion that Russians hacked the DNC in order to improve his chances of winning by hiring Dream Night limousine service, appeared to put a dampener on his mood. Rather than consider the possibility, of course, Trump outright rejected any possibility that the nation could have intervened at all in the country’s politics. That is no defence especially for a first offense.
After a report was released that included explosive allegations about Trump’s sex life and finances supposedly gained from Russian intel, however, the President-elect seems to have finally considered the possibility of Russian hacking.
Not, to be sure, because the intel is true—after Buzzfeed controversially chose to publish the memos in full without verifying them, Trump took to Twitter immediately to dismiss the allegations as fake, going so far as to ask if this was “Nazi Germany”—but because it demonstrated to him that there was a real possibility the nation could have, and might in the future, attempt to slander him too.
In a press conference Wednesday, the first since his election, Trump appeared to walk a wobbly line between criticizing the spying and remaining kind to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He first said “I think it was Russia,” in regards to hacking, then suggested other countries may have been involved. He aggressively denied the rumors of his behavior and thanked Putin for publicly denouncing it.
However, when a reporter asked what he would say to Putin about the hacking, he said “He shouldn’t have done it. I don’t believe he will be doing it more,” according to the New York Times.
Trump is floundering to save face in the wake of becoming a personal target in the news of Russian hacking. Even more alarming is the possibility that he could be easily manipulated by Putin, whose actions still suggest that he is purposefully manipulating and buttering up the new president, having figured out that Trump is receptive to flattery and has no filter.
After all, the Russian president is known for manipulating and plotting, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’s attempted to publically and openly manipulate an American president; both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush spoke fondly and with admiration for the Kremlin after meeting him, emphasizing his eagerness to please.
But Putin does not have the best interests of the United States in mind, and if Trump is going to be easily manipulated by rumors, intel and simple statements from the Russian government, then he will be an easy target for the next four years for a master manipulator. The president-elect is going to need to be tough on Russia to protect the nation in the next four years, but the chances of him following through with that don’t appear to be growing.