The nomination of Donald Trump as the Republican presidential candidate was always going to divide the party’s base from its leadership. His election has merely exaggerated it. In the matter of Russian computer hacking to interfere in America’s most recent election, Mr. Trump is dubbing it “ridiculous.” At least two Republican Senators, however, have decided that it is a serious matter worthy of a Congressional investigation. This would pit the Republican Senate against the Trump White House in the earliest days of the new administration. If global stability were not on the line, this would be amusing to watch.
That the Russians hacked various email accounts and databases during the run-up to the election is something about which the US intelligence community is quite certain. Interfering in the elections of other nations has been policy from Moscow since 1920 at least. The president-elect, in addition to skipping the daily intelligence briefings he should get (because, as he put it himself, he’s “smart.”), has decided that the CIA and the others are wrong. The failed casino operator said that these were the same guys who said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (they’re aren’t, that came from inside the office of Vice President Dick Cheney). So, there is already a problem between the incoming president and the people who know things about foreign governments.
On Sunday, President-Elect Trump called allegations of Russian interference “ridiculous” and an “excuse” from Democrats who lost the Nov. 8 election. “Every week it’s another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College [not massive, not really a landslide],” Mr. Trump said on “Fox News Sunday.” “They have no idea if it’s Russia or China or somebody. It could be somebody sitting in a bed someplace.” Of course, if they don’t know, that’s all the more reason for Congress to look into the matter. If Russia is being blamed for something done by, say, China, it makes all the difference in the world. Instead, Mr. Trump wants to move on. Senator McCain said, “I don’t know what to make of [Trump’s comments], because it’s clear the Russians interfered,’ McCain said Sunday on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘Facts are stubborn things’.”
Politico stated, “Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) issued a joint statement Sunday with the incoming Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, and top Armed Services Committee Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island that Russian interference in the election ‘should alarm every American.’ They said Congress must investigate further without allowing it to become a partisan issue.”
Their statement read, “Democrats and Republicans must work together, and across the jurisdictional lines of the Congress, to examine these recent incidents thoroughly and devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against further cyberattacks. This cannot become a partisan issue,” they added. “The stakes are too high for our country. We are committed to working in this bipartisan manner, and we will seek to unify our colleagues around the goal of investigating and stopping the grave threats that cyberattacks conducted by foreign governments pose to our national security.”
This journal finds itself in uncomfortable agreement with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX). “All this ‘news’ of Russian hacking: it has been going on for years. Serious, but hardly news,” Senator Cornyn tweeted Saturday. The Washington Post added, “The Texas Republican seemed to support, however, a wider look at Russia as a global actor rather than one confined to its role in the U.S. election, retweeting a tweet from Graham: ‘Cyber-attacks, undermining NATO, Ukraine, butchery in Syria, etc. I intend to look at all things Russia – not just election influence’.”
Thus far, Mr. Trump has not had to attack other Republicans save on the debate stage during the nomination race. And attacking the Democrats costs him nothing because they don’t have the votes to make much of a fuss. It will be a different matter to deal with people whose votes he will need to legislate, like Senators Graham and McCain.