In an article from July 18, 2017 and titled "How the GOP Became the Party of Putin", James
Kirchick wrote of the email he received from a conservative Republican activist and donor.
“Would somebody please help me out here: I’m confused. The
Russians are alleged to have interfered in the 2016 election by hacking into
Dem party servers that were inadequately protected, some being kept in
Hillary’s basement and finding emails that were actually written by members of
the Clinton campaign and releasing those emails so that they could be read by
the American people who what, didn’t have the right to read these emails? And
this is bad? Shouldn’t we be thanking the Russians for making the election more
transparent?”
There are quite a few error's in this person's assumptions.
There are quite a few error's in this person's assumptions.
It was
not Hillary Clinton’s controversial private server the Russians are alleged to
have hacked although Donald Trump had urged them to do so, but
rather those of the Democratic National Committee and her campaign chairman,
John Podesta.
But here is the crux of the Republican Party's current descent. This reflects unfettered opportunism, moral depravity and near treasonous actions that should leave most people mortified. Instead there are Republicans who think, hey, if it helps us win, why not?
This is of course putting personal gain above the needs of the country. What matters the cost if something benefits my personal advantage?
But here is the crux of the Republican Party's current descent. This reflects unfettered opportunism, moral depravity and near treasonous actions that should leave most people mortified. Instead there are Republicans who think, hey, if it helps us win, why not?
This is of course putting personal gain above the needs of the country. What matters the cost if something benefits my personal advantage?
Regarding his son’s encounter with Russian operatives who were
advertised as working on behalf of the Kremlin, Li'l Donnie had this to say: “Most politicians would have
gone to a meeting like the one Don Jr. attended in order to get info on an
opponent. That’s politics!”
And from elected Republicans, we get incoherent excuses or outright silence. Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies were saying they never even met with Russians; now Trump is basically saying, so what if we did?
And from elected Republicans, we get incoherent excuses or outright silence. Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies were saying they never even met with Russians; now Trump is basically saying, so what if we did?
Why are we surprised? Trump Sr., after all, explicitly implored Russia
to hack Clinton’s private email server. He praised Vladimir Putin’s manly virtues at
every opportunity. And GOP voters are OK with this. After all, this is what they
voted for with 48% of Republicans thinking Don Jr. was right
to take the meeting.
Republican leaders and conservative
pundits not that long ago demanded prison time (or worse) for Julian
Assange; now those same people cannot praise Assange highly enough for releasing the info hacked by the Russians.
The involvement of Russian hackers has either been ignored, or even absurdly looked upon as altruistic Russian efforts tpo meant to save American democracy from the sinister Clintons.
Today, only one-third of Republican voters even believe the findings of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, no doubt influenced by the Trump's own selfishly motivated resistance to this intel.
The involvement of Russian hackers has either been ignored, or even absurdly looked upon as altruistic Russian efforts tpo meant to save American democracy from the sinister Clintons.
Sen.
Marco Rubio (R - FL) urged caution against the wholesale embrace of the Russian
largesse of hacked emails. What could be done against the Democrats today can
be done against the Republicans tomorrow.
Today, only one-third of Republican voters even believe the findings of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, no doubt influenced by the Trump's own selfishly motivated resistance to this intel.
James Kirchick notes that he worked
at a think tank bankrolled by
Republican donors and regularly criticized the Obama administration. So he's not some "bleeding heart liberal" when he voices his disappointment that Republicans would act as willing accomplices of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Mitt Romney, the GOP Presidential nominee in 2012 described Putin's Russia as the United States' #1 geopolitical foe. Now Putin is our best bud? What gives?
While America's political right has historically been very wary of Russia, Putin and his cronies have been wooing the American political right for years and it's been working.
In 2013, Putin enacted a law targeting pro-gay rights organizing and delivered a state-of-the-nation address extolling Russia’s “traditional values” and assailing the West’s “genderless and infertile” liberalism.
That same year, a Kremlin-connected think tank released a report entitled, “Putin: World Conservativism’s New Leader.”
In 2015, Russia hosted a delegation from the National Rifle Association, one of America’s most influential conservative lobby groups, which included David Keene, then-president of the NRA and now editor of the Washington Times editorial page, which regularly calls for a friendlier relationship with Moscow. (Ironic since Russia is not big on the individual right to bear arms.)
Russian intelligence services have been using the internet and social networks to target the American military community. Conservatives love to talk up their support of the U.S. military. Yet those same conservatives are perfectly willing to cozy up to the Russians.
Growing sympathy for Russia among some American conservatives is a very real thing. Pat Buchanan glowingly described Vladimir Putin as "a paleoconservative". Putin's anti-gay rhetoric and agenda resonated with the American right. Once, Putin's authoritarian regime would have been condemned for exporting “godless communism.”
A poll in May showed 49% of Republicans consider Russia an ally. 32% have a favorable view of Putin. It should be noted that Putin is a long time KGB officer with a clearly expressed negative view of America. Yes, 32% of Republicans think this guy is A-OK.
Over on Fox News, Sean Hannity cites WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a reliable source of information or retailing Russian disinformation. Fox’s rising star Tucker Carlson regularly uses his time slot to ridicule the entire Russian meddling scandal and portray Putin critics as bloodthirsty warmongers.
Putin has been described as “the pre-eminent statesman of our time" by Weekly Standard senior editor Christopher Caldwell.
Conservative Republicans once regarded Russia with suspicion and distrust. So how did they wind up bending over to let Putin routinely fuck them up the ass?
Mitt Romney, the GOP Presidential nominee in 2012 described Putin's Russia as the United States' #1 geopolitical foe. Now Putin is our best bud? What gives?
While America's political right has historically been very wary of Russia, Putin and his cronies have been wooing the American political right for years and it's been working.
In 2013, Putin enacted a law targeting pro-gay rights organizing and delivered a state-of-the-nation address extolling Russia’s “traditional values” and assailing the West’s “genderless and infertile” liberalism.
That same year, a Kremlin-connected think tank released a report entitled, “Putin: World Conservativism’s New Leader.”
In 2015, Russia hosted a delegation from the National Rifle Association, one of America’s most influential conservative lobby groups, which included David Keene, then-president of the NRA and now editor of the Washington Times editorial page, which regularly calls for a friendlier relationship with Moscow. (Ironic since Russia is not big on the individual right to bear arms.)
Russian intelligence services have been using the internet and social networks to target the American military community. Conservatives love to talk up their support of the U.S. military. Yet those same conservatives are perfectly willing to cozy up to the Russians.
Growing sympathy for Russia among some American conservatives is a very real thing. Pat Buchanan glowingly described Vladimir Putin as "a paleoconservative". Putin's anti-gay rhetoric and agenda resonated with the American right. Once, Putin's authoritarian regime would have been condemned for exporting “godless communism.”
A poll in May showed 49% of Republicans consider Russia an ally. 32% have a favorable view of Putin. It should be noted that Putin is a long time KGB officer with a clearly expressed negative view of America. Yes, 32% of Republicans think this guy is A-OK.
Over on Fox News, Sean Hannity cites WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a reliable source of information or retailing Russian disinformation. Fox’s rising star Tucker Carlson regularly uses his time slot to ridicule the entire Russian meddling scandal and portray Putin critics as bloodthirsty warmongers.
Putin has been described as “the pre-eminent statesman of our time" by Weekly Standard senior editor Christopher Caldwell.
Conservative Republicans once regarded Russia with suspicion and distrust. So how did they wind up bending over to let Putin routinely fuck them up the ass?
Because Putin and Russia’s intelligence operatives have manipulated them into bending over. Rememeber that James Kirchick is a conservative Republican. And this is his assessment of what state the Republican Party was in when the Russians began poking around.
An intellectually and morally desiccated carcass populated by con artists, opportunists, entertainers and grifters operating massively profitable book publishers, radio empires, websites, and a TV network whose stock-in-trade are not ideas but resentments.
When conservative bloggers are willing to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars from Malaysia’s authoritarian government to launch a smear campaign against a democratic opposition leader they know nothing about, how much of a jump is it to line up and defend what at the very least was attempted collusion on the part of a brain-dead dauphin like Donald Trump Jr.?
Surveying this lamentable scene, why wouldn't Russia try to “turn” the American right, whose ethical rot necessarily precedes its rank unscrupulousness? It is this ethical rot that allows Dennis Prager, one of the right’s more unctuous professional moralists, to opine with a straight face that “The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does.”
Why wouldn’t a “religious right” that embraced a boastfully immoral charlatan like Donald Trump not turn a blind eye toward—or, in the case of Franklin Graham, embrace—an oppressive regime like that ruling Russia?
Whoa.
Then James Kirchick observes that if Republicans put country before party, they would want to know what the Russians did, why they did it and how to prevent it from happening again. But that, of course, would raise questions implicating Donald Trump and all those who have enabled him, questions that most Republicans prefer to remain unanswered.
Because, ultimately, who cares? Republicans won. Even if in the long haul America loses, Republicans won. and that seems to be all that matters. No matter the cost, win!
And that's all that matters: winning. Defeating the enemy. The problem is that for Trump, the foreign power that elected to interfere in our election is not the enemy. No, for Trump, the enemy is anyone that would dare undermine his self view, his fragile ego's hold on power. For Trump, the enemy is over half of the country he's supposed to lead.
An intellectually and morally desiccated carcass populated by con artists, opportunists, entertainers and grifters operating massively profitable book publishers, radio empires, websites, and a TV network whose stock-in-trade are not ideas but resentments.
When conservative bloggers are willing to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars from Malaysia’s authoritarian government to launch a smear campaign against a democratic opposition leader they know nothing about, how much of a jump is it to line up and defend what at the very least was attempted collusion on the part of a brain-dead dauphin like Donald Trump Jr.?
Surveying this lamentable scene, why wouldn't Russia try to “turn” the American right, whose ethical rot necessarily precedes its rank unscrupulousness? It is this ethical rot that allows Dennis Prager, one of the right’s more unctuous professional moralists, to opine with a straight face that “The news media in the West pose a far greater danger to Western civilization than Russia does.”
Why wouldn’t a “religious right” that embraced a boastfully immoral charlatan like Donald Trump not turn a blind eye toward—or, in the case of Franklin Graham, embrace—an oppressive regime like that ruling Russia?
Whoa.
Then James Kirchick observes that if Republicans put country before party, they would want to know what the Russians did, why they did it and how to prevent it from happening again. But that, of course, would raise questions implicating Donald Trump and all those who have enabled him, questions that most Republicans prefer to remain unanswered.
Because, ultimately, who cares? Republicans won. Even if in the long haul America loses, Republicans won. and that seems to be all that matters. No matter the cost, win!
And that's all that matters: winning. Defeating the enemy. The problem is that for Trump, the foreign power that elected to interfere in our election is not the enemy. No, for Trump, the enemy is anyone that would dare undermine his self view, his fragile ego's hold on power. For Trump, the enemy is over half of the country he's supposed to lead.
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