I have a thing I’m worried about for the mid-term elections coming this November: Republicans using the specter of Russian interference to invalidate Democratic victories. Let me put it together for you:
1) Last Monday, CIA Director Mike Pompeo repeated his warning that Russia will try to interfere in the 2018 election, just as they did in 2016.
Asked if his concerns extended to the upcoming US mid-term elections in November, he replied: "Of course. I have every expectation that they will continue to try and do that, but I'm confident that America will be able to have a free and fair election [and] that we will push back in a way that is sufficiently robust that the impact they have on our election won't be great." [BBC 2018-01-29]
And yet, no one in the administration is acting to counter the Russian interference. I know some look at Pompeo’s statement as taking some kind of stand against Trump, but I disagree. Trump has acknowledged Russian interference — he just doesn’t care about it. Trump does not tolerate disloyalty, so I suspect Pompeo is not standing against Trump, but is doing his bidding.
2) When Greedy Old Pedophile Roy Moore lost his election in December, he did not accept his loss. Not only did he refuse to concede (an act which carries no legal weight whatsoever), but he went on to attempt to challenge the election results as invalid by alleging voter fraud, but his challenge was denied.
3) The MeToo movement showed, in very little time, how easily a mass concern can be corrupted. Al Franken went down as a sacrificial lamb because the mob demanded it. The day the #metoo hashtag took off, I predicted we’d see the movement corrupted by turning it on innocent men. This does two things: It takes out supporters of the movement, like Franken. It also confuses and undercuts the movement, and destroys it as a threat to the men who fear it — it’s like crying wolf over and over. It saps the movement of credibility, which its very foundation: believing women.
This leads me to conclude that it is far too likely that Republicans will employ similar tactics to use concern over Russian interference to challenge Democratic victories. It’s pretty easy to look at a blue win in a district that’s been red for decades and claim there must be something wrong. If the country has been worked up into concern over Russian interference in general, it would be easy for that to be used to attack underdog victories.
Someone please tell me why I’m wrong about this. Or tell me how to stop it. Because I have no idea what to do about defending against it.