I’m old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan – once the patron saint of the GOP – demanded that Russia tear down its wall in Berlin. And then, by various means , many of them pure smoke and mirrors, Reagan managed to drive the Soviet Union out of business. We celebrated the end of the Cold War back then. But, it wasn’t actually over. And, it turns out, we didn’t actually win. The Cold War actually ended on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 – when Donald Trump apparently “won” the election. One of the first people to congratulate Trump was who? Vlad Putin.
Not a coincidence.
Putin, let’s not forget, is an intelligence officer by training and by nature. He is a Russian nationalist who believes deeply in Mother Russia and its purpose. He hates the West, its democracy and pretenses to bettering humankind. He’s a cold, brutal thug who governs (such as it is) by playground bully rules. Even during the years of seeming rapprochement between America and Russia – when we told ourselves that we could work with Putin – Putin was plotting to kill us.
From the get-go, Donald Trump has been not just under Putin’s influence, but literally under his thumb. Putin has held the one secret that, up until Tuesday, could still end it for Trump: Donald Trump is a stone cold traitor. That piece of kompromat has been the leverage that’s kept Trump in line. Trump’s greed and ignorance have helped a lot, too.
I also believe that plenty of people around Trump have always worked directly for Putin: Trump’s “lawyer”, Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s wife Melania. Seriously, can anyone explain why Melania stayed married to Trump – a man who continually humiliated and belittled her (before he became president the first time)? Even after he lost, Melania could have gone her separate way – bud didn’t. Does anyone actually think it’s because she loves Trump and loves their relationship?
But then, the entire Republican Party has likewise been minding the store for Putin. It’s a stone cold fact. The GOP knew that Putin OWNED TRUMP even before they nominated him to be POTUS.
They said so – out loud – during a meeting that took place in Washington, DC on June 25, 2016. Someone present recorded the meeting. Almost a year later, they played the recording for journalist Adam Entous, then working for the Washington Post. Entous wrote that then Representative and future Speaker Of The House Kevin McCarthy had first attended a meeting where our intelligence community briefed members of Congress about Putin’s active attempts to undermine Ukraine’s fragile, new democracy. McCarthy left that meeting and entered another – this one of GOP leaders.
Upon entering, McCarthy said, “There’s two people I think Putin pays – Rohrbacher and Trump – swear to God!”
No one present either questioned McCarthy – or doubted him. Instead, he got nervous laughter. That’s what prompted “Swear to God!”.
McCarthy had just implied that their about-to-be presidential nominee – should he win – would pose a grave national security risk. Did anyone there suggest calling the FBI? No. Instead, then Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan asserted “leadership”. He told all present they weren’t going to discuss this any more. That they would keep it their secret. “That’s how we know we’re family,” is how he ended it
What kind of family was he thinking of?
Almost a year later – on May 17, 2017, the WaPo published Entous’ piece. A few intrepid reporters found McCarthy and asked him about it. McCarthy waved it off with “I was joking”.
That, apparently, satisfied the news media.
But, there was a follow up question that never got asked. One among a million follow ups our press still hasn’t asked. They won’t get to going forwards.
Here’s the question: was Kevin McCarthy joking about the other name he mentioned – Dana Rohrbacher’s? No, he wasn’t. Everyone there knew that Rohrbacher was as he’d been characterized “Putin’s Favorite Congressman”. So, McCarthy was not joking about Rohrbacher. Rather, McCarthy was saying that, like Rohrbacher, their about-t0-be =nominee lived inside Putin’s pocket.
And THAT is what the GOP decided to keep secret because they were “family”.
A family of traitors.
The Republican Party then did literally everything it could to prevent We The People from discovering their treachery. Remember Bill Barr mischaracterizing Robert Mueller’s conclusions – so as to steer We The People away from the clear connections between Trump’s campaign and Russian military intelligence?
Hey, remember why Paul Manafort went to prison? For giving Russian military intelligence proprietary polling data that they used to help Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Just for the record, that’s 100% illegal. And, it’s treasonous.
But, along with normalizing a shit-ton of blatant corruption, we (our news media leading the charge) have normalized outright treason.
It is happening right in front of our faces. But, Merrick Garland feared being called “political” for prosecuting any but the front line January 6 traitors. He refused to prosecute all those sitting members of Congress who actively participated in the insurrection’s planning – and its financing, too. Why didn’t Garland prosecute anyone who was in the War Room at the Willard?
Cowardice. Foolishness. Corruption. These things are all enemies of democracy. Alas those forces just won not just a battle, but a war. A war we thought we’d won, but, alas, did not.
With his inauguration, Trump won’t need to fear Putin anymore. He’ll be his own fully corrupt head of state now. And our intelligence community will become Putin’s.
That’s the scariest thing.
Donald Trump got to keep his secrets. None of us will ever get to have any again.
Is there hope? I don’t know yet… the one event that will trigger violent change within the right wing itself – violent change that could lead to its failure – is Donald Trump doing what all humans do: die. He won’t live forever.
And, that will be the moment the forces of decency need to exploit to the max. It will be our last shot at getting our democracy back before the infection has become total.
Otherwise, full props to Putin. He set himself a goal and damned if he didn’t achieve it. He’s very good at what he does. If only we had been half as good at maintaining our democracy.