The Russia/Trump campaign connections will be, if they aren’t already, the left’s Benghazi. One side will scream for blood, the other will think it’s not that big a deal. For the duration of the presidency this will hound and annoy him, but nothing short of leaked audio purporting to be Trump and Putin collaborating to steal the election will matter. Even then, they’ll probably just resort to the now familiar fake news claim. Shitbags like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and perhaps Sessions will be sacrificed here and there, but that will likely be the extent.
It’s hard to predict what, if anything, could be bad enough to completely derail Trump’s presidency [1]. Trump-haters (like me!) will continue to loathe everything about him and need little ammunition. On the other side, the old guard neocon branch of the Republican party will have no choice but to let go of their Russia-hatred, as their constituents prove to not give a fuck. Seeing those spineless cowards helplessly wring their hands at Trump’s embrace of Putin and Russia has been simultaneously amusing and pathetic [2]. While their party was hijacked by a reality TV star, they failed to realize Russia hasn’t been our national bogeyman since 9/11. They will adjust accordingly to save their own asses.
Every day, Trump, denizens of his administration, and his fawning media sycophants will say and do horrible things. To me, the Russia angle is a red herring. He already won, and, just my opinion here, would’ve won without Russian help. To the extent that Russia influenced the outcome doesn’t matter.
The horrifying results of November’s election notwithstanding, I can’t help but smirk at the idea of another country daring to manipulate our hallowed political institutions. Hopefully those most upset are aware of our rich history of doing the same thing.
Aside from our national nightmare, there will obviously be geopolitical ramifications. At best, a new cold war may be avoided if Trump and Putin continue fawning over each other. But Russia is already starting to get nervous with hitching their wagon to a petulant, thin-skinned man-child. to At worst, The Baltics, Georgia, and Ukraine are fucked, and another large area of the globe will be thrown into chaos. Fun times.
[1] Maybe, just maybe Tom Arnold will be the source of our salvation
[2] It certainly is weird that the right is totally cool with white, authoritarian strongmen. *insert thinking emoji
***This post is way too short to have footnotes and I’m disappointed in myself for using them
I feel like it’s something I could have cared about if not for the sheer inundation of corruption and incompetence already pouring out. Now it just feels like another drop in a very shitty sea.
I am actively hoping for Trump to do or say something that causes an economic meltdown and stock market crash. Another exploratory gesture towards not repaying the national debt might do it, or else a trade war with China. Economic hardship might be the only thing that could persuade Trump’s base to abandon him, which in turn would be the only thing that could embolden the spineless GOP to join Democrats in an impeachment move.
While another economic crash would cause incredible hardship around the world, that hardship would still be less than the destruction caused by a war to beef up Trump’s ego (likely) or the ecological devastation caused by much more of his rolling up of environmental regulations (certain). I’m not sure whether Pence would be any better with the latter problem, but as a more or less “conventional” Republican, I think he’d be much less likely to commit the former.
I agree. He’s bad enough – what’s a bit of perjury atop a shit sriracha sandwich?
I’m also very disappointed to see the democrats appear to be adopting the same kind of tactics against the republican president as the republicans adopted against the democrat president. I think they’re pursuing a fail strategy and would be better off attacking him relentlessly for his corruption, lies, and stupidity. The tit for tat strategy is just going to result in tit for tat for tat for tat for tat.