The Russian Connection

In the fevered imaginations of many progressives and a majority of Democrats, the Russians colluded with the Donald Trump campaign, and through their nefarious actions, they, and they alone, are responsible for the defeat of "sure-thing" Hillary Clinton. Although not one shred of evidence supports this fantasy, although a formal report by our intelligence agencies notes that the hacking of embarrassing DNC emails had no effect on election results, although every investigation done so far indicates that the hacks were NOT aimed at the actual vote tally, the Left is relentless in their obsession.

At some level this is all quite amusing. Recall that Democrat icon, Barack Obama, poo-pooed any concern about the Russians during a 2012 campaign debate with Mitt Romney, derisively suggesting "The 1980s Are calling, they want their foreign policy back." Looks like the Dems have decided that the cold war looks pretty attractive right now and that demonizing the Russians (who admittedly are adversaries, not friends) is an excellent way to deflect attention from their precipitous election losses and their slide toward the hard left.

The editors of The Wall Street Journal comment:

The story about the connection between Russia and the Donald Trump presidential campaign is either the most elaborate cover-up of all time, or the dumbest. More evidence for the dumb theory arrives with the news that during his confirmation hearings Attorney General Jeff Sessions didn’t tell Senators about two 2016 meetings with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.

According to the Democrats, these meetings—held in public—indicate spy-thriller level collusion to topple Clinton. Never mind that Sessions was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time or that meetings with foreign official happen all the time in Washington. It's a plot! -- An act of war! -- Sessions must resign!

The Democrats aren't good at governance (the last eight years demonstrate that) but they are very good at political theater—and that's what this is. Their trained hamsters in the media follow suit, hoping to keep the "Russian Connection" alive for a significant portion of Trump's presidency.

I have Democrat friends who argue this is no different that Benghazi or the IRS scandal. They are wrong. In both Obama-era scandals, there was actual evidence of wrong-doing. In one case four people died, an obvious cover-up ensued, and then, with the help of the media, stonewalling succeeded. In the other case, American citizen were intimidated by a government agency, a corrupt justice department decided to look the other way, and then, with the help of the media, stonewalling succeeded. It's been reported that The Washington Post alone has 10 reporters currently investigating the "Russian connection." I wonder how many WaPo assigned to Benghazi and the IRS scandals.

The WSJ editors continue:

If Mr. Sessions was trying to cover up some dark Russian secret, he’s the Jim Carrey of cover-up artists. Surely he knew someone would discover a meeting in his Senate office, which isn’t exactly a drop-site in the Virginia suburbs, and the meeting in Cleveland had multiple witnesses. Like former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn not telling Vice President Mike Pence about his meeting with the ambassador, this is a case of dumb and dumber.

The most important fact so far about the larger Trump-Russia collusion story is that there are so few salient facts. The Russian hacks of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta were embarrassing but had little bearing on the election. The dossier of supposed contacts between Trumpians and Russians published by BuzzFeed has never been corroborated.

Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees investigating the ties have reported nothing of substance. What we have on the evidence so far is a hapless cover-up without an underlying scandal.

The Democrats found themselves in a deep hole after the Obama years, significant election losses due to their weak governance at the state and federal levels have decimated their bench. The election of hard-left leaders of the DNC (one an anti-Semite) indicates a precipitous slide to the left. With the current  hysteria over the Russian connection, the Dems continue to dig the hole—at least in the eyes of almost everyone except their base. Anyone have a bigger shovel?

UPDATE:
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For decades, the Democrats have decried the tactics of the infamous Joe McCarthy and his Communist/Russia baiting tactics. The New York Post comments:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from any investigation involving last fall’s election is prudent — but it won’t satisfy the Democrats now channeling the ghost of Sen. Joe McCarthy.

Back in the ’50s, the Wisconsin senator was famously accused of seeing a Russian under every bed. And now Democrats seem to be conducting the same kind of “witch hunt” as his investigations of Soviet infiltration of the US government.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others are demanding Sessions’ resignation over the news that he met twice with Moscow’s ambassador last year.

Some Democrats say the meetings themselves compromised Sessions — even though senators meet with foreign ambassadors all the time, and Sessions was a member of the Armed Services Committee to boot ...

Driving it all is the fevered far-left theory that a Russia/Trump-campaign conspiracy stole the election from Hillary Clinton — though few Democrats admit that as they rail over the supposed horrors of any association with the Russians.

It's funny, now that Dems tell us that the Russians are Threat # 1 and that GOP senators shouldn't even be talking to them, it's odd that not-a-one has suggested that just maybe Barack Obama was wrong in his pronouncement (that the Russians were no threat) during the 2012 presidential debates. My oh my, how times have changed.