After an extensive investigation, the Robert Mueller report recently concluded that Russia "interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systemic fashion.” (Volume 1, Page 1.)
And yet...that extremely disturbing assessment has been virtually ignored as the discussions about the results of that investigation focus on pretty much everything but that fact.
No nationwide dialogue has even really begun about the extent of the Russian cyber-invasion of the United States. No debate about what should be done, from either the White House nor even among Democrats, at least for the most part.
For some bizarre reason, Vladimir Putin engaged in “information warfare” (Volume 1, Page 4 of the Mueller report), including cyber attacks on our voting systems and successfully installed his own preferred candidate in the White House and nobody seems to care. It seems to me that it is the responsibility of the Democratic Party to get people to care.
Instead...Trump and his corrupt administration have been able to keep the country’s attention diverted away from Russia. And the Republican-owned national news media seem all-too-willing to help him in doing so.
Even among Democrats, there’s a huge double-standard by those who insist that impeachment hearings will help educate the American public about Trump’s obstruction of justice, while they ignore the fact that hearings about Russian could be even more enlightening. An argument can be made that focusing on the findings by Mueller regarding Russia could, in fact, be more beneficial to Democrats than impeachment revolving around obstruction of justice (although, to my way of thinking, investigations and hearings are both would be appropriate).
Lets be clear. It’s been proven beyond the shadow of any doubt that not only has Russia engaged in an out-and-out cyber attack on the United States, but they have also been engaged in ongoing efforts to disrupt the entire Western alliance.
Russia was instrumental in foisting Brexit on the United Kingdom, enabling it to squeak through by referendum with a bare slight majority of British voter support, causing more than two years of chaos in that country’s government. And they are now aggressively funding and supporting right-wing extremists to win seats in the European Union parliament. Extremists whose primary objective will be to...destroy the European Union itself.
And Putin’s already reaped all kinds of success in terms of creating cracks in the NATO alliance, due in large part to the willing participation of Trump and his administration.
It’s unclear exactly how many Americans are aware of the full extent of Russian involvement to wreak as much havoc in America as possible, not to mention throughout Europe, and how damaging both are to the short- and long-term interests of America.
But one thing is for sure: Democrats have done a lousy job of raising that awareness.
So far, both Trump and Putin have been able to sweep it all under the rug for the most part.
Having said that, however, it seems to me that the story of Russia’s ongoing “information warfare” against the United States still has the potential to be a major campaign issue in 2020.
When will there be hearings by the Democratic House of Representatives about the overwhelming amount of evidence of Russia’s attack against the United States and its impact on our security interests?
When will some Democratic presidential candidate with a backbone stand up and start making this a major issue, not just because it will necessarily win them votes...but because it’s the right thing to do?
It seems to me that the presidential election provides a great opportunity to not only sway voters to consider voting for a candidate, but to more fully educate the American public and give them the full perspective about what Russia’s been up to. So far, there’s very little evidence that the public has been fully awakened to the subject.
If the Democratic presidential nominee frames this matter correctly, it seems to me that this could be a winning issue in 2020.
What might that framing look like? Perhaps something like this:
That the election is not only about who will do their part to improve the lives of all Americans, but who will stand up to protect our nation’s sovereignty against cyber-warfare and pernicious subversion of our election systems by foreign governments. It’s our number one priority to protect our sovereignty. Which of the two party’s presidential candidates can Americans trust to stand up to Vladimir Putin? And, just as importantly, which one cannot be trusted to do so?
Making the Russian attack on the United States a major issue also has the potential to impact a wide array of other issues, as well. It is not just a foreign policy matter, but affects things like individual rights and civil liberties, as well as climate change, health care and income inequality. How so? Because the last thing that Vladimir Putin wants to do is improve the lives of average everyday Americans.
With the right framing on this issue, it seems that the Russian invasion of the U.S., and the lack of response to that attack, can give Democrats another major line of attack against this administration next year. With the extremely powerful and nefarious forces that Trump has behind him, we are going to need every piece of ammunition at our disposal to unseat him.
And it can’t hurt to remind everyone at every opportunity about the strong links between Trump and Putin, either. Every time the subject of Russia is raised, so too is the subject of Trump’s integrity (or lack thereof).
Some of the ads write themselves:
“Send Putin a message: Vote Democratic.”
“Send Putin a message: Vote (name of Democratic presidential nominee)”