This Isn’t A “Political” Struggle—It’s A Battle Against A Hostile External Aggressor That Hinges On The Ability Of Our Law Enforcement, Intelligence Agencies, And Military To Effectively Combat—In Essence, We Are At War:
Many Americans do not appear to understand the true threat represented by the Trump presidency. We have been attacked by Russia. This was the unambiguous subtext of the message delivered by Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller, on May 29th, 2019. And, though many have framed his speech in terms of partisan politics, his strongest emphasis was on protecting the American homeland from further, similar attacks.
“As alleged by the grand jury in an indictment, Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system.”—Special Counsel Robert Mueller, May 29th, 2019.
While many pundits immediately launched their narrowly-focused responses to the Mueller speech, be certain that many in Law Enforcement, Intelligence, and the Military heard his message as an unambiguous cry for action—not for partisan political action, but for decisive and effective action to end a threat to the American homeland that is being undertaken by Russia. One could easily imagine Special Counsel Mueller, a former Marine, barking out orders to subordinates on an active battlefield, as the context is symbolically the same. That was essentially the message delivered beyond the detailed legal issues he addressed. Russia has attacked the heart of one of our primary institutions, and the risk continues.
For all the jingoistic rhetoric being launched about in the media and in our political institutions, little is being done to directly address the attacks. Years ago when numerous security experts warned us about the risks posed by electronic voting machines, few people in positions of authority paid heed. Now, we are just beginning to see some in government and media discussing the possibility that votes may have been changed by Russian hackers during the 2016 election. This threat needs to be investigated and addressed, and the vulnerabilities created by these voting machines need to be addressed immediately.
The extent to which this may have impacted the election isn’t known, and won’t ever be known until the situation has been fully investigated. Thus far, no one is conducting any meaningful investigations into whether or not votes were changed in favor of any candidates or causes. The issue is a “political hot potato” that no one is willing to run with. But, until that possibility is fully addressed and dealt with, the warnings of Robert Mueller on Wednesday May 29th are going unheeded.
The substance of the report generated by Special Counsel Mueller and his team leave little doubt that they believed that Donald Trump and his campaign cooperated with, and were guided by, those attackers. The lack of “legal sufficiency” of the collected “evidence” to “indict Donald Trump for collusion” doesn’t negate the obvious implications. Trump defenders can try to distort reality in whatever manner they wish to, but the nature and frequency of Trump officials’ contacts with known Russian governmental agents and Russian operatives can’t be erased. The subsequent political attacks by the Trump administration on the institutions and agencies tasked with defending America against external threats are more than mere coincidence: they are confirmation of the malicious intent of an administration that is hostile to the interests of its own people.
If the American people want to effectively confront our enemies in the context of the War we are engaged in, they will need to change tactics and demand that more resources be dedicated to identifying and correcting the vulnerabilities that allowed Russia to infiltrate and manipulate our election process against us. We can’t assume that this attack was routine or innocuous. This was an attack that was well-planned out, and confirmed by American Intelligence agencies—all of which were disregarded and attacked by the Trump administration.
Removing Donald Trump from office won’t automatically address those vulnerabilities. Neither will the issuance of subpoenas by congress, nor the jailing of Trump administration officials. The only reasonable immediate response to an attack is to suppress the most immediate elements of that threat. That requires us to secure our election process first, address the foreign relations issues that are created when a nation attacks us, then go after potential agents or operatives working within our borders for the purpose of halting their threatening actions. We can deal with the political implications after the immediate threats are neutralized.
Since we can’t rely on the Trump administration to act to address those threats, we need to demand that congress, and the agencies tasked with protecting us from such threats, use every tool at their disposal to circumvent, and neutralize the administration’s efforts to block an effective response to Russia’s attack on our homeland. That means we need to wait on all the “no one is above the law” rhetoric, and get to demanding that those entities “SECURE THE DAMN SYSTEM NOW.” We’ll only have time to deal with the crimes in the future if there’s a nation left to defend. Retribution is not as important as survival. People shouldn’t serve ideologies. Ideologies, political or otherwise, are meant to serve people. If they’re not serving our interests well, then they weren’t all that “ideal” to start with. Forget the jingoism and “patriotism” and other idealistic nonsense—DEMAND IMMEDIATE AND CONCRETE ACTION TO PROTECT US.
There is, of course, a need to deal with the criminal behaviors of all within the Trump administration. However, the first concern shouldn’t be retribution—it should be the gathering of tactical and strategic information necessary to determine how, why, and when our American assets were attacked. The people in the Trump administration should be approached in this context. They will have the most relevant and salient information of all for the purposes of ending the threat. This is the only way to ensure the future safety and integrity of the American political process, and the safety and sanctity of the American people, lands, and the safety and sanctity of the world we live in. The political circus desired by America’s “political junkies” can wait. We need to ensure that the attacks are stopped first. If not, we’ll lose this War for certain. Think hard and long about that, and then act accordingly.