We are just days away from Trump’s second presidential term. While his supporters eagerly await the inauguration, opponents are ready to restart the “resistance”. In 2016, the first salvo against Trump was the outbreak of Russiagate – a fabricated story that even the Harris campaign did not dare to mention eight years later. However, the vocal anti-Russia narrative has become a signature of the Democratic Party since then.
This sharp change of the tune towards Russia came surprisingly quickly, in contrast to the Democrats’ softer policy towards the Soviet Union and its successor Russia since the early 1980s. Jimmy Carter’s cautious approach did not go beyond “… to maintain a firm and balanced relationship with the Soviet Union”, and “…clear recognition of the reality of Soviet power” (1980 Democratic Party Platform). In 1984, the Democrats tried to obstruct Reagan’s challenge to the USSR, warning that “…Star Wars is not the path toward a less dangerous world”. After the collapse of the USSR, the Democrats did not deem Russia a priority of their foreign policy doctrine. Clinton found it sufficient that “…we support the continuous evolution of a prosperous and peaceful Russia.” Obama saw Russia as one of the “emerging new powers”, but not a major geopolitical threat (Obama-Romney 2016 presidential debate). He assured “Vladimir” of “more flexibility” (Obama meeting with Medvedev in 2012) – though Russia attacked and took parts of Georgia four years earlier. Even after Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Democrats ranked Russia 5th among the global threats – after Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea (2016 Democratic Party Platform).
What happened in 2016 that urged the Democrats to start a new Cold War with Russia? Russian interference in the U.S. election? The official version is that a Russian organization, linked to the Kremlin, created thousands of social media accounts in support of Trump, which reached millions of social media users between 2013 and 2017. Also, twenty-six Russian citizens and three Russian organizations were indicted. This prompted a strong statement from U.S. intelligence agencies, the FBI investigation, the appointment of a special counsel (Mueller Report), the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, and economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia.
Even if we accept the above version of the story (despite the other blatant failures and political bias of the official intelligence community as Hilary’s email server, Hunter’s laptop, and Bidens’ China/Ukraine business dealings), the scale of the Russian 2016 election interference is ridiculous. Only that? It happens regularly on both sides, doesn’t it? If it started in 2013, why did you react in the middle of 2016, at the peak of the election? Aren’t American practices to influence politics in foreign countries much more serious than that? What, the U.S. is not doing it? Oh, yes, we fund foreign non-profit entities that do the work, and color revolutions abroad. Well, when necessary, we fire rogue prosecutors who dare to investigate “friendly” Ukrainian companies, nothing more.
Speaking of interference, let’s look somewhere else. The traditional media has long backed the Democrats. But in the last 15 years, public debate has been increasingly shaped by social media. Just before the 2020 election, Facebook and Twitter joined the liberal media total cover-up of Hunter’s laptop story and Bidens’ corruption revelations. After January 6, 2021, Trump has been banned from both platforms, and his supporters have been systematically censored. Mark Zuckerberg admitted pressure from the Biden administration on how to cover politically sensitive content, and the former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey publicly regretted giving in on the left-wing activists’ pressure on the company’s policies and decisions. Thus, at least half of the voters were negatively affected by those measures for years. Still angry at the Russians with fake Facebook accounts?
Undoubtedly, the 2016 Russiagate was deliberately devised to stop Trump. However, it became much more than that. Its rise coincided not by chance with the rapid transformation of the Democratic Party. It began with Obama and has led to their current embrace of a radical left ideology, adverse to American political tradition, practicality, and common sense. The one-time party of the working-class Americans and free speech champion devolved into an angry elitist club, pushing for censorship, despising America’s foundation, and sacrificing our freedom to political correctness. The new Democratic Party’s anti-Russian obsession became an integral part of their ideological utopia, similar to the two totalitarian plagues America defeated in the last century. However, the radicals leading the Democratic Party today are not firm believers, but rather mere opportunists who would say and do everything they deem beneficial. All their objectives (DEI, Climate Change, open borders, “soft on crime”) are fake, silly, and dangerous for the country, but carefully selected to keep them in power. That’s why the Biden economy suffers from suicidal “green” restrictions, the crime skyrockets due to “defund the police” measures, America’s military power faints under identity policies, and illegal immigration endangers communities across the country. The raging fiery hell in Los Angeles is a tragic illustration of the price when ideology replaces common sense.
In 2016, the restart of the “Cold War” with Russia was seen by the Democrats as highly beneficial – permanently tainting Trump, and guaranteeing a convenient foreign threat to be used as a universal political excuse. As with the rest of their political objectives, the anti-Russia narrative is also fake, endangers America and the world, and directly benefits our main geopolitical foes China and Iran. As a result – now the three are strengthening their alliance, and a bloody war destroys Ukraine. America counters by…fighting climate change and funding the war.
And here we are – expecting Trump’s second term to bring back common sense in America’s politics. A strong economy, law and order, energy dominance, peace through strength – instead of un-American socialist utopias. Our success will be the best response to Putin, Xi, and ayatollahs – if we don’t want to repeat the Palisades fire on a much greater scene.
