If we are going to save our republic it is important that Americans come to terms with what has been obvious to some of us since late 2016, the fact that Donald Trump and his greedy band of co-conspirators may not fit the technical definition of traitors, because a cyber attack is probably not considered an official act of war, but in spirit they are traitors. To understand this is to read the indictments issued Friday by Special Prosecutor, Mueller, and announced by Assistant Attorney General, Rosenstein. While not indicting any Americans for treason or other crimes, Mueller is clear that the Russians had the cooperation of eager Americans connected to the Trump campaign and the Republican party. It does not take a degree in criminology to know that more indictments are coming to a theater near you, and this time they will be for Americans. And you don't need a PhD in psychology to read the dismissiveness and disturbing lack of outrage at the Russians and Putin, as a refusal to admit that, at best, the 2016 election was tilted in favor of Trump and therefore his presidency is illegitimate; or at worst, Trump and those in his campaign and the Republican party worked willingly and with malice of forethought to conspire with a foreign government to subvert our electoral system, and are therefore traitors. The only curtain left to be pulled back is the claim that key Trump advisor, Roger Stone, and others will make, is that they did not know they were working with the Russians. It is not hyperbole to say that we are one election away from a full-blown kleptocracy if we are not already there. Even if control of the House is wrested from the regressive Republican majority this November, and even if the president is either removed or voted out in 2020, the American brand, our nation’s reputation, has been deeply damaged for at least a generation, long after Trump is dead and gone.
Click here for the link to Mueller’s entire indictment. If you don't have the time to read the rather lengthy document—it took me about 20 minutes --then at least know that there is no doubt the Russian military, under orders of Vladimir Putin, had and continues to have divisions dedicated to attacking our electoral system and undermining our republic. They had help from numerous American citizens within the orbit of the Trump campaign and the Republican party, and Mueller has the goods on them.
While it is unlikely we will be able to arrest and try these foreign conspirators, because they live in Russia, and it is even more unlikely that the administration will ask to extradite these individuals, that is hardly the point. The point is that the so-called leader of the free world, who has been verbally and economically assaulting the legitimate leaders of the free world, threatening to withdraw from our military and economic alliances with them, and kissing up to authoritarian rulers of the not free world, is about to meet, in private, with the dark lord of autocrats, the very man who ordered the attack on our country, and continues to do so, Vladimir Putin.
And there is no shortage of enabling Republican lawmakers ready to criticize and attack our own law enforcement and intelligence agencies for defending our country, with absolutely no concern for the fact that we have been invaded by a foreign enemy, whose leader our president seems to think is a viable candidate for his BFF. While Democrats, and a very short list of Republicans, are insisting the president cancel his private summit with the man who ordered the invasion, the White House has announced the summit is still a go.
Some Republicans were actually ready Friday with articles of impeachment for the Assistant AG, which made for very strange optics: Republican lawmakers looking to impeach the Assistant AG for his part in the indictment of Russians and the Russian government, for their attack on our democracy. It makes one wonder which government they actually represent. Just kidding, we do of course know their loyalties, and they are not to the United States. These are politicians who have for many years had their dark silk suits and red striped ties paid for by the NRA with money cleaned at the Russian laundry.
The White House, in the name of the president, issued a statement in reaction to the indictments, celebrating the fact that no Americans, neither the president nor anyone from his campaign were included in the indictments as if that meant they were in the clear. They are not. Mueller is tightening the noose with the precision of a seasoned executioner.
While the president and his GOP henchmen have been very aggressive in voicing their displeasure with those involved in investigating the hacking of the 2016 election, the one thing they have not done is criticize Russia for attacking us. Can you imagine if President Roosevelt had refused to criticize the Japanese for bombing Pearl Harbor? Can you imagine if instead of announcing that December 7, 1941, was "a date which will live in infamy", President Roosevelt expressed ambivalence toward the Emperor who ordered the attack, suggested he might potentially be a good friend and thought the best way to find out was a private summit while the Japanese continued their attacks?
Neither can I.
It is not at all reassuring when the Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, while attempting to downplay expectations in an appearance on Meet the Press by calling the event in Helsinki a “meeting” rather than a summit, also implies he has no idea what Trump and Putin will say and do in their “private” meeting.
“You don’t know what’s going to come out of this meeting,” Huntsman said on “Meet the Press” from Helsinki Sunday, where the two leaders will sit down together, insisting that the one-on-one is not a summit but a "meeting" where for the first time the two leaders will "have a conversation.”
"I hope it's a detailed conversation about where we might be able to find some overlapping and shared interests," Huntsman said.
Good God, Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-un certainly should shed some light on what might happen in Helsinki. Trump agreed unilaterally to cancel joint military exercises with South Korea, and then boasted in return that North Korea would be releasing the remains of U.S. soldiers (they have not) and unequivocally announcing that they were no longer a nuclear threat (they most certainly are). What is it going to take for Republicans to realize this pathological liar and malevolent narcissist is absolutely the worst deal maker in history? What is it going to take for them to realize Trump is the last person we want to represent the U.S., alone in a private room with a seasoned KGB agent? What if Trump agrees to remove sanctions imposed upon Russia for their annexation of Crimea? What if he says something like Ukraine has always been a part of Russia and they have a right to take it back? Would the Republican party begin to show some concern then? Perhaps if Trump agrees to return Alaska to Russia that would get their attention?
Those lawmakers who do not insist that Trump cancel his summit with Putin and instead attack American law enforcement and intelligence agents working to defend us from a foreign enemy are aiding and abetting what should be considered treason. There really can be no middle ground here. Trump is either a traitor or he is not. Just because a cyber attack is not technically considered an act of war doesn’t change the intent to assist a foreign nation undermine our republic by interfering in the election. Trump sure acts like a traitor. The facts in evidence to this point do not provide him cover. History will inevitably judge Trump and the Republicans who chose to protect him. It is up to us to make sure they are not the ones writing the history books. Even if Trump is removed, it is hard to see how this turns out well for any of us. Treason casts a very long shadow.