Disclaimer: I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not believe conspiracy theories and feel they are a plague on the country. They feed the egos of people who feel insignificant and make them imagine they are secret geniuses who have somehow, with little knowledge and no connections, pieced together an impossibly complex master plot. I am not a secret genius and make no claim to understand what the Republicans are doing or why they are trying so hard to make themselves look guilty of treason.
Here are things we know.
Russia interfered with the election of 2016 to help Donald Trump. It has a long history of trying to intrude into our politics and of election interference.
Every American intelligence agency agrees that Russia interfered with the election. The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee stated it did. The bipartisan Senate Elect Committee recently agreed.
There is a lot of evidence that people from the Trump campaign seemed to be conspiring with Russia in their actions. Russian money has gone to Republican campaigns, to the NRA’s “dark money” fund (which it uses to fund campaigns), and many Russian oligarchs turned up at Trump’s inauguration, including the Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump, Jr. to give dirt on Hillary Clinton and some sanctioned by the US.
The president keeps lying about Russia’s actions and pretending that the word of the country guilty of interfering in our elections should be believed over people who have investigated the matter.
Russia is still trying to meddle, according to our intelligence agencies.
The Trump administration is doing nothing to stop the meddling, nothing to enhance cybersecurity.
Russia released a cyberattack this spring which affected millions of computers, including private home routers, one of the side effects of which is that the malware will sit dormant and a victim’s computer can then be used launch an attack and the blame will appear to be on the victim.
Confronted with the possibility that the president may be guilty of crimes against the country, House Republicans have decided to attack and undermine the investigation into the president’s crimes rather than uphold their separate powers and observe the rule of law.
The Trump administration continues to attack our allies and has threatened to leave NATO (a constraint on Russian power) and has offered France money to ditch NATO—something Russia wants—even though RUSSIA HAS ATTACKED and IS IN THE PROCESS OF ATTACKING US.
A delegation of Republicans only—they refused to take any Democrats—has gone to Russia and assured them (including former Russian ambassador and spy Sergey Kislyak) that the US will do nothing about Russia’s interference and said nothing against Russia’s takeover of Crimea--something Russia wants—even though RUSSIA HAS ATTACKED and IS IN THE PROCESS OF ATTACKING US.
The Trump administration has signaled that it may switch sides in the Syrian war and support the Russian side (supporting Syria’s brutal dictator)—something Russia wants—even though RUSSIA HAS ATTACKED and IS IN THE PROCESS OF ATTACKING US.
What conclusion can one draw from all this except that the GOP is unified in allowing Russia to attack our elections, and they are willing to bow to Russia’s demands?