We need to stop blaming the Russians for affecting our elections. The American voters, apparently mindless all, are doing a pretty good job of that all on their own. Let’s give credit where credit is due.
No Russian is holding a gun to our collective head making us vote for a rotten candidate who will become a Putin puppet and further the Russian cause of destroying our sacrosanct democracy. America is already divided to the point of democratic incapacity choking on its own freedoms. The Russians are just cheering us on. Like cheerleaders.
Flip Wilson was a popular comic in the 1970’s and coined the famous line, “The Devil made me do it!” when attempting to blame a personal indiscretion on a plausibly untouchable demonic nemesis. The reasoning being, ‘I’m weak and stupid, I’m vulnerable ...I was overpowered. The Devil made me do it.‘
Not guilty, obviously.
Granted, the 2016 presidential election was unique in the fact that we had the two most unpopular candidates in American history running for office. There wasn’t even a choice between the lesser of two evils. Both Trump and Hillary were the personification of everything that was bad and wrong with America, and that in itself should have been a giant red flag announcing the demise of democracy as we knew it. But we all just carried on complacently like it was any normal election. If the Russians saw an opportunity to breach this crack in our system, even if they developed and promoted it, can you blame them for taking advantage?
But they didn’t execute a ‘power’ play. They executed a ‘weakness’ play, playing to the weak mind of the American voter already weakened and vulnerable by our freedom of everything. All accelerated by our mainstream media, and especially, our social media which only helps to accelerate an already accelerated drive toward quick and incomplete information, faulty and inaccurate direction, giving way to poor decisions.
The Russians aren’t making our decisions for us. The Devil certainly isn’t. We are.
All you have to do is watch and listen to Trump talk just one time, and take a look at to whom he has delegated authority. Any clear-thinking mind would make the decision that this is not a president. This is an egomaniac nutcase. Yet Americans voted him in.
Go figure. No really, go figure. Because if you figure that out you have the answer we’ve all been looking for. The question being ...WTF?
It’s both simple and complicated. Simply put, President Obama threw out 35 Russian spies, confiscated their U.S. headquarters, and imposed strict sanctions. President Trump offered comfort and apologies. Why? Trump has business dealings and a long-standing relationship with Russia. Trump may have been videotaped cavorting with Russian prostitutes in the infamous “golden shower” escapade ...if you don’t know what that is look it up. Putin has this string on Trump and he’s using it like a puppeteer.
Trump is clearly the bad guy in our American movie. If his actions aren’t enough for you ...really, you sometimes can tell a book by its cover. Just take a close look at him. Look at his trusted advisors Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller, etc. ...there you have it. Now go vote. You’d cast these guys as the creepy sycophant hit-men in a James Bond 007 movie and Trump as their leader, Goldfinger.
Now he’s our leader, leader of the free world, President Goldfinger. Thanks to the American voter, not the Russians, or the Devil.
2020 should be a real zinger of an election season. Some 20+ enthusiastic, God fearing Democratic candidates are all burning themselves out running against one another while Trump sits in his golden tower and laughs at them, and correctly so. They’re all foolish characterizations of themselves, waving their arms, pumping their fists like cartoon characters, and singing songs of integrity, “truth, justice and the American way.” Like a ‘Superman‘ commercial. All they’re doing is watering down the field into a puddle of disassociated rhetoric through which Trump will boldly slosh.
Trump says he likes and respects Bernie Sanders. His aids say he’s afraid of Sanders. “Beware the ides of March.” He’s setting Bernie up for a fall with his sights on Joe Biden as the real threat.
Joe Biden has the best chance of beating Trump if he plays his cards right. If he’s up to it. But I fear he will burn himself out running against Bernie and the rest of the Democratic candidates before he even gets to Trump. Biden should come out of the gates strong directly against Trump like he is the only Democratic candidate. He needs to run against Trump not Bernie and the rest of the newbies.
It’s a new time and a new game for the liberal candidate, and Biden’s own new Democratic party could work against him. The “no touching”, politically correct, LBGTQA, LSMFT liberalization requirements all place a halter on Biden’s freewheeling style that played well in the 50’s. But according Trump that’s when America was “great”, so maybe it will be Joe Biden who ‘Makes America Great Again‘ ...who knows?
But it won’t be the Russians ...or the Devil.
As for the Republicans. They should be ashamed of themselves every last one of them.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
