By Tim Baldwin
The CIA said that it believes Russia helped Trump win the election by releasing information about Hillary Clinton to Wikileaks. Assuming Russia released hacked information to Wikileaks, the CIA’s assumption is not supported by the facts and recent political history.
Most people in America did not need Russia or Wikileaks to inform them that Hillary is untrustworthy and – stated more bluntly – corrupt. The movement Trump captured and used began during (and even before) the primary elections. Trump trounced the established and crowded Republicans choices. This movement continued into the general election.
In some ways, Trump’s success was a continuation of the conservative movements in the recent past: Moral Majority, Contract with America, Ron Paul Revolution and Tea Party. In some, more subtle ways, it was a continuation of Bernie Sanders’ anti-corruption movement.
Trump didn’t need Russia’s help to win. He won handily, even in states that the global corporate media never believed (or never stated) would go his way. Like Trump or not, Trump’s election reflects a deep and long-seated frustration and resentment Americans have developed for decades with career federal politicians who have more in mind than America’s best interest. In short, Hillary can blame herself and others like her for Trump’s election.
By Joe Carbonari
Donald Trump will be our next president. The question is: did the Russians interfere with our electoral process in a significant way? Even more important to ask is: could they, and would they, if so disposed? Most importantly, what can we do about it?
The Russians have a history of meddling in elections around the world. We also have made some significant efforts to affect outcomes, in what we consider acceptable ways. Putin feels that we meddled unduly in Russia’s 2011 elections and helped foment the anti-Putin demonstrations which marked it. We feel that our efforts were acceptable.
The ability to hack nearly anybody and anything is held by a number of nation states and some disturbingly competent freelancers. The actual hacking can be disguised but not fully hidden. How the “take” from the hacking is used is what is in question. The Russians have plowed new ground in this area.
They clearly favored Trump over Hillary Clinton in our election. Did their efforts make the difference? Hard to say. It was close. Three critical states barely broke for Trump: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. Russian efforts may not have been sufficient to make the difference, but in an even tighter election they obviously could. Pretending they cannot is a disservice to ourselves and to the world. We must take actions to control and to counter our vulnerabilities. Trump comes with warning signals. They are not ridiculous and they should not be ignored.