The Russian Threat

It’s like something out of a dystopian, Cold War-era novel—two major American presidential candidates, either of whom have a realistic chance at becoming the leader of the free world, and both are indebted to Russia.

On one side, there is Donald Trump, a candidate who seems unable to go more than a few weeks at a time without heaping lavish praise upon Vladimir Putin as a “strong leader”, praise that may in fact be the most consistent policy issue of the entire campaign. And the lovefest goes beyond mere words—the hiring of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort being the most notable example. Manafort, of course, had extraordinarily close ties to pro-Russian elements in Ukraine, and worked closely with pro-Russian former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych for a decade. Other ties between Russia and Trump exist, as well, including evidence that Russia has significant investments in the Trump Organization—something confirmed by Donald Trump, Jr. in 2008. And, of course, Trump’s frequent questioning of the importance of the NATO alliance.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton attempts to portray herself as the Mitt Romney of the 2016 election, calling out Trump on his Russian ties and openly discussing the likely role Russian hackers had in the DNC leak from earlier this summer. But she herself has a multitude of troublingly close ties to the Kremlin, if never going so far as to openly praise Putin himself. She has been an active participant in Barack Obama’s open appeasement of Russia over much of the past eight years, from the Russian “reset” to the toothless response to the Russian seizure of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine.

Moreover, shady connections between the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, and Russia in the Uranium One deal, as well as other instances, discredit Clinton as being any sort of strong voice against Putin’s continued powermongering.

The simple fact is that in this bizarre election, a little more than two decades after the end of the Cold War, both major party candidates will likely seek to further appease Russia if elected. It is a certainty that Putin will attempt to further expand his influence in the Middle East, sow further discord in Ukraine, and tighten his grip on Crimea, and neither Trump nor Clinton will effectively challenge him on those scores. Should Putin, emboldened, begin to look further abroad, to say the NATO allied Baltic nations, there is no guarantee that either Trump or Clinton would stand firmly with our allies there as well. In this respect, both will only continue and expand on the Obama legacy.