On Right Turn, Jennifer Rubin pastes[1] the GOP for its continued support of President Trump:
The political implications of Trump’s latest confession are quite stunning. Will the rest of the GOP go along with the position that it was perfectly fine for Russia to help Trump? That would sure be a change from “No collusion” (to “Collusion, so what?!”). I don’t know how a major political party can maintain the view that hostile powers have carte blanche to influence our elections. Every Republican in elected office or on the ballot should be asked his or her view on the matter.
The notion that collusion with a hostile power is no big deal is so preposterous and unpalatable, you would think Republicans would not dare try to defend Trump on this point. But this crowd? They might just try it.
This reminds me of a recent report on the political elite of Britain of which I wrote about here. It’s beginning to appear that Putin has been trading on the lust for power of the conservative wing of the democracies confronting him, buying himself influence with cash and riding the wave of research in political marketing.
The line of strong anti-Russian hawks has finally been broken here in the United States with the election of President Trump, and the selection of John Bolton as his National Security Advisor. In Britain, as I noted in the above post, the opposition leader appears to have sympathy for Russia and President Putin, but Prime Minister May, whatever her defects as leader, at least does not appear to have that particular ill.
While this is greatly damaging to the reputation of Democracy throughout the world, there is one saving grace: Democracies change leaders. The selection of a new class of leaders can easily result in the return to the proper attitude towards Russia: an honest wariness, a willingness to punish transgressions of international agreements, such as the annexation of Crimea, and honest assessments of Russian ambitions and how they’ll impact American interests.
This is what much of the GOP members of Congress are failing to do.
1“Pastes” was slang from, I think, my parents’ youth, meaning to destroy beyond any hope of recovery.
