One good thing about Michael T. Flynn's forced resignation this week is it is helping keep attention where I think it is most productive - on Russia's interference with our election, contact during the transition, administration members' links to Russia, and trump's ongoing fascination with Russia's thugocrat Putin.
Like many of us on the Left, I want trump's perversion of a presidency to end as quickly as possible. Russia can be the key to making that happen, in my opinion. Impeachment will require Republicans along with Democrats. While Republicans may go along with or even support many of trump's wrong-headed policies and examples of executive overreach, they must draw the line at foreign intervention in American governance. At least one hopes. Sen. John McCain and a few other Republicans are already making some loud noise on this.
A strong case is quickly developing for ongoing Russian interference and undue influence. Through hacking, leaks, and a huge misinformation campaign, the Russians tipped the election scales in trump's favor. Then we have Flynn and possibly other trump allies in close conversations with the Russians during the transition. Most damning is the assertion Flynn violated the Logan Act by telling the Russians not to worry about any sanctions placed on them by the outgoing Obama administration. Would Flynn have taken it upon himself to do this? Hardly. It is more than probable he was acting on trump's orders.
Many Republicans in Washington would like us to think that Flynn's resignation solves the problem and we should move on. Wrong. This scandal goes much deeper. Why was Flynn allowed to keep his post for weeks after the administration had been told of his transgression, one which exposed him to blackmail from the Russians? Speaking of blackmail, don't forget about the dossier the Russians supposedly have on trump. Or trump's odd willingness to serve as apologist in chief for his friend Putin.
This all started with election interference, which is no longer old news/sour grapes but rather evidence of an ongoing campaign to subvert our democracy, a campaign we must fight with everything we have.
Undoubtedly the coming days will bring more executive orders, pugilistic tweets, and advisers behaving badly. Many of these are distractions, though some must be responding to in real time (such as unconstitutional travel bans based on religion.) For the most part, though, these distractions should be treated as symptoms and our goal should be to eliminate via impeachment, the source - the trump administration. The most direct and bipartisan way to make that happen - Russia.
Remember Russia.
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