Hello again, friends! Dr. Waddy will be disappearing into the wilds of western Sicily tomorrow, and he may or may not find that the insidious internets have made it there... In the meantime, he has written this analysis of the Trump-Russia "crisis", including some thoughtful advice for patriots and Republicans on how to handle it. See what you think. It should be appearing soon in The Daily Caller, FYI.
End Congressional and Media
Obsession with Trump-Russia Hoax Now
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy, Associate
Professor of History at SUNY Alfred, blogs at: www.waddyisright.com
Up to now, I have not written
extensively about the allegations of collusion between the Trump
campaign and Russia for the simple reason that the accusations are so
specious, opportunistic, and defamatory that I did not want to
dignify them by acknowledging their existence. In some ways, I wish
President Trump had done the same. It is generally better to ignore
baseless, incendiary claims like these than it is to show
perturbation, and thus encourage your tormenters.
Today, though, I would first like to
make two points, which I hope will help bring this “matter”
(thanks to Loretta Lynch for this suggested terminology) to a close.
First, President Trump was never under investigation by the FBI for
colluding with Russia. Vast amounts of allegedly damaging material
have been leaked about “contacts” between Trump supporters and
Russians in the last few months. Absolutely none of it corroborates
the central claim of Trump haters: that Trump, or anyone close to
Trump, conspired with the Russians to hack the DNC or John Podesta,
subvert the election, or otherwise act against the interests of the
United States. Various figures associated with the Trump campaign
talked to various Russians, true – but that is proof of nothing.
If evidence to prove Trump-Russia collusion hasn't materialized yet,
despite the best efforts of the intelligence community, the FBI, and
the mainstream media to find it, it seems highly unlikely that it
will appear in the future. Indeed, it is virtually inconceivable,
since the allegations of collusion never made any sense to begin
with. Even Democrats are beginning to acknowledge this fact by
subtly pivoting from charges of collusion to charges of obstruction
of justice. In other words, the well has run dry for those who
believe that President Trump can be taken down based on phony charges
of collusion with Russia. It is time for this leftist narrative to
disappear into the dustbin of history, where it belongs.
Second, while we learned relatively
little from former FBI Director James Comey's recent testimony in
Congress, we did receive an intriguing summary of the left's new
anti-Trump attack plan, based on charges of obstruction, and it is
worthwhile to recap just how thin these accusations are. James
Comey, who made it plain that he disliked President Trump from the
beginning, kept notes allegedly based on his meetings with Trump. He
then seriously compromised his professional ethics and broke the law
by leaking those notes to the New York Times,
in order to draw attention to pressure that the President supposedly
placed on him to drop the investigation into General Flynn, Trump's
former National Security Advisor. Comey alleges that Trump said, “I
hope you can see your way clear to letting this go...” And that
mild statement, vigorously denied by Trump himself, and
uncorroborated by any third party, is apparently most of what a
charge of obstruction would be based on – that, plus the fact that
Trump fired Comey.
Now, is there
plenty of evidence, from Trump's private and public statements, that
he dislikes the Russia inquiry in general and considers it a
politically-motivated sham? Absolutely. A charge of obstruction of
justice, however, in order to stick, must be backed by more than
this, and more than the biased testimony of an aggrieved,
grandstanding Trump-hater. It bears repeating that there are
multiple, ongoing investigations, in Congress, in the media, in law
enforcement, and in intelligence circles, related to Russian
interference in the 2016 election, and President Trump has taken no
official action to impede any of them. Neither his (alleged)
statements to Comey nor his dismissal of Comey had the slightest
effect on any of these inquiries, except perhaps to add fuel to the
fire of the left's Trump-Russia witch hunt. Yes, Trump abhors the
selective leaks that have poured out of these investigations; he
resents the false narrative that has been spun based on mere innuendo
and often on inaccurate and sloppy reporting; and he strongly and
rightly defends himself and his closest advisors from baseless
accusations. None of that behavior, however, meets the legal or even
the commonsensical definition of obstruction of justice. All of it,
instead, is exactly the sort of reaction you would expect from an
innocent man, exasperated by the underhandedness of his political
enemies. Democrats would like to suggest that exasperation is proof
of guilt. Far from it: it is proof that President Trump is a living,
breathing human being with a normal instinct for self-preservation.
And that, as far as I know, is not yet a crime.
The irony is that
the inquiries into Russian meddling in the election, and the contacts
between Trump campaign officials and Russians, were encouraged by
many Republicans in Congress at the outset. Perhaps they imagined
that the investigations would be a convenient way to stigmatize the
government of Vladimir Putin, which many in Washington seem to
despise. Perhaps they harbored some resentment against President
Trump himself, and took pleasure in his discomfiture. Whatever
Republicans' motivations were for helping to open this can of worms,
they must now face the fact that the Russia inquiries, as a whole,
have become a fiasco, a travesty, and an unnatural obsession for the
media and for the left. Months have passed, most of the juiciest
morsels of information have long since been leaked, and we are no
closer to proving collusion, or treason, or obstruction, than we were
initially.
Therefore, I call
on Republicans in Congress, and throughout the nation, to support:
- the termination of all Congressional inquiries into Russian meddling and the Trump-Russia connection
- a strict “no comment” policy from Republicans vis-a-vis these matters, with all further questions to be directed to the special counsel's office and/or White House lawyers
- the replacement of Robert Mueller as special counsel with someone free of ties to James Comey, and without any vested interest in the outcome of the investigation.
In other words,
Republicans should unify and drive a stake through the heart of the
ridiculous political sideshow that this “matter” has become. Let
President Trump do his job; let Republicans and Democrats in Congress
do theirs; and, if any law has been broken in connection with Russian
meddling or obstruction of justice, let the FBI and the special
counsel investigate and act accordingly. That, I daresay, is how
this business should have been handled in the first place.
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