The news outlets last week proclaimed we are in the midst of a “historic” conspiracy. We may be, but not in the way the media would have you believe. The continued trumpeting of Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as collusion between the Russians and Trump’s campaign team to assist in that interference just got louder. While this claim has been around since election day, it was energized this past week with the firing of the FBI Director. Reporters are so convinced that a Russian connection to both the election and to President Trump are a given, the word “historic” is now being used to describe this story.
On the other hand, there is a counter claim to the above that is just as sensational in scope. This counter claim is that the entire narrative of Russian interference in the election and collusion with the Trump campaign is completely fabricated. If there was no Russian interference in the election, then this false narrative has grown to such a size and scope that as a deception, it is just as “historic” in its own right.
The constant daily drumbeat of the press and many politicians proclaiming Russian election tampering drowns out other potential interpretations. Among these is the real the possibility of the conspiracy being manufactured and false. A simple common sense analysis of the hard evidence that does exist from the 2016 election points squarely to a conclusion of no involvement by the Russians of the sort being described by the press.
Here is our take on what is alleged vs. what has transpired:
First is the claim that Russia managed to affect the outcome of the 2016 election. We’ve already written about the extremely low likelihood of this having occurred, and the reasons why, in our prior post titled Russian Meddling.
Second is the additional claim that Trump campaign personnel colluded with Russia early on, aiding them in affecting the 2016 election. The media highlights past business communications between Trump associates (namely Manafort and Page) and Russia as evidence of collusion relating to the election. Ignored however, is the more believable and likely scenario that these were simply legitimate business communications since these men also worked for international companies and regularly dealt with international clients.
Lastly is the accusation that Trump officials, namely General Flynn, improperly communicated with Russia after the election. General Flynn knew he would be filling (and ultimately did fill) the National Security Advisor position in the new administration. His job would naturally include regular communications with many foreign officials, including those from Russia. He did run afoul of chain-of-command reporting rules within the new administration and was fired for that. However, his communications with the Russian Ambassador were not out of context with the work role of his new position.
Democrat leaders and the media are locked into the unsubstantiated but nevertheless sensational interpretation of all the above: Secretive collusion with the Russian government leading to an altered US election result. As if this wasn’t enough high drama, they are using the firing of the FBI director to feed that storyline as evidence of a major cover-up to this historic conspiracy. Really? Consider the following if you believe this story to be true:
- The Trump team, despite all the accusations of amateur behavior and complete lack of government experience, has been able to successfully conceal all evidence of collusion with the Russians for more than a year now. And they’ve done it with the most powerful investigative forces in the world arrayed against them.
- It’s been more than 6 months since the election and no trace of Russian intrusion has been found or reported in any of our election systems.
- With leaks occurring just about daily from within the current administration, how likely is it that details of a grand conspiracy with Russia to alter the election, the reddest meat of all potential leak material, has thus far remained completely bottled up?
We conclude the essence of this collusion and election meddling story to be false. It continues only by way of innuendo. The most discouraging aspect of this story is that there seems to be no legitimate goal for continuing it other than to erode public confidence in our election system and undermine the President. A very sad state of existence indeed for both the media and the Democrat party.
6 Responses
What I find creepy is the way this false narrative of “Russian meddling” went totally silent for the six weeks or so immediately following Trump’s Syria strike, which was then followed by his going soft on Dreamers, first failure with the healthcare repeal, and the climax- calling himself a globalist (“I’m a nationalist and a globalist”)
However, the moment the old Trump returns, dumps Comey, who was rumored to be a Hillary shill all along, the media blitzkrieg of “Russian Puppet!” comes back with a vengeance. Almost as if there’s some force in Washington telling him to get in line and don’t make any waves as president, or else… Makes me wonder what sort of leverage they could have on him.
Yes – when the story is fake, it can be started and stopped at any time, with no danger of being surprised by a “new” event occurring in the story. And while I can understand the Democrats wanting the false Russian narrative to continue, what bothers me are the self-destructing Republicans (like McCain) who are helping them push it. Disgusting.
Two things with this- 1: McCain has been dying to get us involved in another Mid East ground war for like ten years now, I’ve researched the profits he and his war profiteering pals made off the second Iraq war. The guy is a traitor, no bones about it.
2: I’m not sure it really matters if a politician is Republican or Democrat anymore. The left pushes, the “right” gives ground happily. Nobody’s fighting, it’s all stale theater. The biggest concern I’ve had since the election is that a Trump victory has lulled Republican voters into a false confidence. “Our guy won! We can go back to sleep now!” I had several fence riding millennials fired up about politics before November 8th, and the day after he won, all that energy burned out. Everyone assumed since he won he’d take care of business and the game was over. So far, all I’ve seen is a supposedly populist president give ground, give ground, give ground. Everything is a compromise. Ann Coulter wrote an excellent piece on it a while back, essentially, we expected a bull in a china shop, a great negotiator. Instead, we’ve gotten practically nothing. A neutered healthcare repeal, a neutered tax reform (“greatest tax cut to the middle class in history!”) zero border wall construction, minor deportations, dreamers stay, failed Muslim terror-state ban (which was Many of my friends say he’s playing the long game, putting pieces into place to leverage on the opposition later down the road. But eventually you have to say, when are we going to start this “winning?”
Yes we voted in a Republican. But so far he hasn’t really acted much differently than Hillary herself would have. The only difference is, a whole generation of future conservative voters are now asleep again, because “our guy won.”
If he puts additional boots on the ground anywhere in the middle east for any reason, or fails to begin real construction on the wall by the end of the year, I’d bet my socks he’ll be a one term president.
Very well said Jared. I think the biggest thing to watch during the next 4 months is what will happen with the 2018 budget bill. True progress, or not, on the items you mention (Healthcare, Tax reform, boarder wall, etc.) will have to be concretely reflected in the budget. At this point, Trump has nothing more to lose and should drive a very hard bargain as regards the budget. He might do well during the summer to educate the public not to fear a government shut down so much. The reality is that more than 80% of all government services, including the military, remain funded and functioning during a “shutdown”. The Democrats and media will of course scream “Armageddon”, but it will come off as just another over-the-top wolf cry, indistinguishable in severity from all the prior ones. There’s no better way to shrink the size of government in a quick hurry. This is one of those cases where it would benefit the President to telegraph this next move. Then neither the Democrats nor the recalcitrant Republicans can say they didn’t see it coming.
Sigh. I am becoming frustrated with these daily crisis. I WANT the government to repeal Obamacare and enact tax reform. These distractions are killing me and killing the agenda I support. I do think the Russia thing is overstated at worst. But Trump doesn’t seem to help himself: I don’t care that he fired Comey. The timing was bad, and the contradictions between Trump and his minions were bad (Comey was fired at recommend of DOJ, no, the decision was made long before). Im not sure about the report that Trump leaked info during Russia meeting. But he did seem to contradict his own advisor (can’t remember his name). And then Trump intimating that he has “tapes”! WTF? The message from the WH needs to be much more disciplined. For a guy that hates the media, he certainly throws them a lot of red meat. I’m going to go rock in a corner now and mourn my 401k losses..
Hi Barb – I feel the same frustration. It got even worse just now as I see a special prosecutor (Mueller) has been appointed to investigate a totally made up story. A cowardly cave-in to the cry babies and a complete waste of tax payer dollars. The phrase “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” comes to mind. I do agree with you about the needed discipline. If it were me, I’d get rid of a lot of the WH staff, especially the Obama hold-overs. Trump seems to operate best with a small, close team and he needs to get back to that. Much easier to control leaks that way as well.