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It was Collusion, and Much More…
The NY Times is doing its part to expose the whitewash side
of the Trump Russian conspiracy investigation. Today brought another salvo pro-Trump
and its somewhat disorienting analysis and conclusion that there was collusion,
but that Russia Colluded—by themselves.
The OP-ED
by a former CIA and government operative Daniel Hoffman ( July 28, 2017) offers some insights
into the long established methods the Soviet Union and Now Russia have used to destabilize
political systems of their enemies. The article
asserts in conclusion that the Russian effort centered on the Trump Jr meeting
and was meant to create a discoverable and transparent link to nothing
more. The meeting itself would upset the
US electoral system in some way. Trump did not need to collude, the Russians
did it all.
It Takes Two to Collude...Dude
With due regard to Mr. Hoffman’s considerable experience and
accurate insights into the aggressive nature of the Russian cyber war effort, the
logic of the Op-ED falls in on itself. The Trump meeting was easily discovered but it
was not uncovered until long after the impact of the meddling affected the
election results. The logic fails because the Trump Jr meeting was kept secret;
it was not an agenda item on Hillary’s closing weeks. The closing weeks were about
the email scandal, the FBI Director, and focused messaging in key congressional
districts. The cooperation did not require active interplay, but it did require an understanding that the gift was welcomed and it was not free.
Impact on the Election
The Russian interference led
to something, it impacted the election in favor of Trump. The email scandal- a thing that truly led from nothing to
nothing- was amplified by the surrounding noise of negative disclosures from
the cyber warfare. The Russian influence in the election was the fake news, the
pointed messaging, the possibly substantial amounts of money spent on technical
cyber-attacks, and very likely a stream of spending inside of the US.
Truth Will Out
The goal is truth and this will no doubt burn the stack of
lies that Trump has built both in the election and in the current pretense at
governing. Truth may indeed support that Trump campaign officials were simply
useful idiots in the hands of Russian strategists. Truth may expose the levels of
cooperation suggested by the evidence already on the record that targeted
Ukraine, Crimea, NATO, and the Obama sanctions as the price of Russian support
for Trump. If so, the record to date
demonstrates the irrational stretches this administration has reached to
support Russian military and political aggression in Syria, Ukraine, NATO, and
on the burning issue of sanctions.
