There’s been predictable and justified outrage over President Trump’s remarks concerning foreign interference in American elections, which were:
The president told Stephanopoulos that “life doesn’t work that way” when asked why his son didn’t go to the FBI. Trump also said he would want to hear if another country had information on another candidate and called it “oppo research.”
“It’s not an interference, they have information,” Trump said. “I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI.”
Stephanopoulos then pointed out that FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency should know about contacts from foreign governments.
“The FBI director is wrong,” Trump said. [NBC News]
There’s been references to previous attempts at interference as a critique of Trump’s stance, but that’s not an explicit critique of the issue, so let’s be clear. The use of foreign-supplied information leaves those candidates who accept it vulnerable to later exploitation by the suppliers. Why? Because it’s generally considered poor form to allow such interference in our elections. When a candidate accepts it, the foreign entity can later reveal the candidate’s acceptance, which becomes a lever on the candidate’s behavior – especially if the candidate is wins the election.
But why is it wrong? Let’s not explore the myriad reasons why foreign interference in our elections could be deleterious to our nation’s (and citizenry’s) future, because it’s not relevant to my argument. No, let’s go with the reason being that the American citizenry thinks it’s wrong.
With that in mind, Trump’s pronouncements, which could be interpreted as simply him showing his toughness to his base, assume the quality of an admission of guilt, and an attempt to normalize the behavior, thus getting him off the hook. This is how it’s always done, how it works, diverting the attention of those paying attention from the critical question of Should this be permitted to Oh, well, if it’s always …
Keep this in mind. He’s trying to walk a tightrope, and a push at a critical moment might reveal information about the last campaign which will indicate that he’s utterly mendacious.
