Our view: As Russia subverts U.S. politics, where’s Trump?
When presidents take office, they vow “to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” and, by extension, the nation. It’s the only oath specifically spelled out in the supreme law of the United States.
Implicit in that oath, a unanimous Supreme Court held in 1972, is the power to “protect our government against those who would subvert ... it by unlawful means.”
Subverting the U.S. government is precisely what a coterie of Russians and Russian entities did in the 2016 presidential election, according to the indictment filed last month by special counsel Robert Mueller.
And the subversion continues. An army of Russian bots, or automated accounts on social media, were used to inflame public emotions over gun control after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. America’s intelligence chiefs fully expect Russian President Vladimir Putin’s digital siege to target November’s midterm elections.
Yet President Trump has done woefully little to counter the Russian attack on America’s democracy. Don’t believe us? Just ask his own National Security Agency chief.
In astonishing testimony before the Senate this week, Adm. Michael Rogers said America’s premier cyber-warfare branch has the ability to help counter Russian hacking efforts, but has never been ordered to do so by Trump.
“We’re taking steps, but we’re probably not doing enough,” Rogers said. The Russians, he added, “haven’t paid a price, at least that’s sufficient to get them to change their behavior.”
In response, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeated a ludicrous assertion that Trump “has been tougher on Russia” than his predecessor.
President Obama surely could have done more, but at least he alerted Americans to the Russian interference, told Putin to back off, imposed sanctions, seized Russian compounds, and ordered diplomats expelled.
Trump, who continues to denounce Mueller’s investigation as a witch hunt, has done none of these things in response to Putin’s campaign of subversion. Trump actually feigned gratitude when the Russian president responded to congressional sanctions by ordering the U.S. Embassy in Moscow slashed by 755 people.
And Trump — who has insulted more than 400 people, places and things on Twitter since he declared his candidacy — continues withholding condemnation of Putin, who on Thursday delivered a bellicose speech touting Russia’s new nuclear capabilities.
The nation awaits Mueller’s determination as to whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, along with any evidence that Trump might have violated the law or his oath of office.
Meanwhile, in the absence of forceful presidential leadership, it’s up to Congress, the states and intelligence agencies to do the best they can to protect and defend America from Moscow’s information warfare.