Trump-Putin bromance.
It must be hard for mainstream Republicans to hold their noses while keeping their eyes and mouths taped shut amid the blast of blather emanating from their presidential candidate Donald Trump.
But the latest — his invitation for America’s widely condemned rival Russia to hack Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton’s emails — has crossed a new political Rubicon.
Trump blows off his shout-out to Russian hackers as “sarcasm.” But he has put further distance between himself and the Republican playbook with a suggestion that the U.S. could recognize Russia’s forceful annexation of Crimea, which violates international law. Relaxation of sanctions could follow, and presumably business as usual: something Trump has reportedly done with Russian and former Soviet oligarchs for years.
Although the Soviet Union is long gone, such ideas would have the late Republican anti-Communist witch-hunter Joseph McCarthy spinning in his grave. Not to mention Ronald Reagan, who took credit for bringing what he called “the evil empire” into a new era of — albeit illusory — freedom and democracy.
Trump has less affection for Reagan’s democracy and has made no secret of his admiration for Putin’s “strong” leadership style. But that’s an alarming prospect for the U.S., and a disastrous view of foreign policy.
Russia was recently condemned in a systemic, state-sponsored doping scandal that came close to disqualifying all its athletes from the Rio Olympics.
To keep down political opposition, the Kremlin locks up its enemies on spurious charges. Whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in custody after exposing a massive state-linked tax fraud. A prominent opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, was brazenly murdered and the mastermind never brought to justice.
Several journalists and regime critics have also died in executionstyle killings. And a British judge went so far as to say Putin “probably” approved the gruesome polonium poisoning of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London.
That is leaving aside Russia’s military adventures in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
To increase his control over Russian and foreign opinion, Putin has eliminated most of the independent media and pumped up state-funded international media. And he employs a complex of trolls to spread disinformation and hammer home the Kremlin’s line.
Some of these tactics might appeal to Trump, who considers opposition an inconvenience and bully-backed deal-making the norm.
That’s why some mainstream Republicans have spoken out against the dangers of a Trump presidency, most famously hardliner Ted Cruz. Mitt Romney, John Kasich and John McCain also joined the Dump Trump movement.
As the election steamroller moves on, the party of Abraham Lincoln has good reason to remember the revered Republican’s words: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedom it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
Donald Trump’s shout-out to Russian dictator crosses a new political Rubicon