Nearly Half of Americans Unsure Russia Responsible for US Election Hacks

They initially went to court demanding recounts claiming that Republicans stole the vote in the usual Democrat strongholds of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. And it seemed to work for a while – at least until Vladimir Putin came back to the presidency in 2012. A host of global experts can count the ways.

As a outcome of failed USA leadership it falls short of the murder of 400,000 Syrians or the ongoing slaughter in Iraq, but it is perhaps to Mr. Obama and his Democratic colleagues the worst of possible consequences.

He is an anti-democratic tyrant in every way possible – jailing or killing opponents and eliminating even a shadow of a free press. Intelligence officials have further added to the intrigue with claims that President Vladimir Putin himself played a direct role in the hacking.

At the time, Putin said that the Democratic Party hack was a public service, but Russian Federation was not behind it.

But among Republicans, conservatives (57%) are far more likely than moderates and liberals (34%) to characterize Trump’s views as conservative, while moderate and liberal Republicans are more likely to call Trump’s views a mix of liberal and conservative positions (52% say this). Instead, they’re warning Trump that he can’t cozy up to Russian Federation without creating serious trouble in his own party. Either the Obama White House has the worst internal communications imaginable, or the president has frequently used the “nobody told me” defense to shift responsibility elsewhere. The leaked emails certainly didn’t help the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, and the repeated disclosures appeared to be meant to aid what turned out to be the successful candidacy of Republican nominee Donald Trump. They invariably holler: But President Obama did the same thing! Apparently it was unseemly to mention the Russian invasion of Georgia just a year earlier. “After my election I have more flexibility”. Suddenly the Russians stole the election.

It mattered little that President Obama’s citizenship was never in question and there existed no credible evidence ever suggesting otherwise. It matters because in doing so it attempted to sway the election toward a candidate it perceived as being more in tune with Russia’s own interests. Even some supporters of those actions cite the need to bolster U.S.,-Russian relations, now at the lowest point since the Cold War. He should not be tempted to lift sanctions against Russian Federation.

“The thinking was that we wanted to make sure communism was dead and buried”, said Levin.

Third, Ukraine: Putin wants the West to revoke the sanctions imposed after his 2014 invasion of Ukraine and to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

And now, with Russia’s alleged interference in the election, Democrats are singing Romney’s song, although they’re not giving Romney much credit. “Part of the reason it’s important to show up … is because it then builds trust and it gives you a better sense of how should you talk about issues in a way that feel salient and feel meaningful to people”. Trump defended Putin, calling him “a strong leader”, and questioned whether the United States should defend North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members who did not spend enough money on the longtime Western alliance.

It is indisputable that Trump is enamored of Putin.

Good that both Democrats and congressional Republicans now seem to agree on that much.

Last week, the Washington Post reported that the Central Intelligence Agency now believes that Russian-supported hacks of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta were created to boost Donald Trump’s election prospects.

It’s obvious already that numerous advocates of reversing the electoral vote total and ditching the Electoral College itself are freaked out by some of Trump’s cabinet announcements, particularly those positioned to undo much of the Obama legacy.

Which would be amusing if this were not so serious.