Russia’s Trump
It is indisputable that President-elect Trump has been handling presidential affairs in an extremely unconventional manner. As the first president who will enter the White House without any prior political experience, he recently angered the Chinese government by accepting a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Dec. 2. It was perceived to be a threat to the ‘One China’ standpoint that former presidents and the US government have accepted for decades.
However, one of the things most concerning and unconventional about Trump are his ties with Russia. He has always denied any connection to Russia and the Russian government, tweeting, “I have ZERO investments in Russia.” During a presidential debate, Trump claimed that he “didn’t know” Putin, and claimed ignorance of the inner workings of Russia.
Even if Trump denies his ties to Russia, many of his cabinet selections say otherwise. According to Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, many of Trump’s former and current advisors are tied to Russian financiers. His former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has completed millions of dollars’ worth of deals with Russian oligarchs. His former foreign policy advisor, Carter Page, has “business ties to state-controlled Russian oil giant Gazprom.” Michael Flynn, a retired general and Trump’s pick as national security adviser, travelled to Moscow last year to attend a banquet celebrating the Russian government’s propaganda channel Russia Today. Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil and Trump’s choice as secretary of state, earned a “friendship award” from the Russian government. According to the New York Times, ExxonMobil stands to gain deals worth billions of dollars if the US government lifts sanctions against Russia.
Trump may not want to admit his connections to Russia, but Russia has been particularly vocal about their support of him and their hatred of Hillary Clinton. Prior to the presidential election, Putin praised Trump as a “talented person” and “the absolute leader of the presidential race.” In October, the US Government stated that it was confident Russia had played a prominent role in hacking the Democratic National Committee, resulting in thousands of leaked emails that proved to be damaging to Hillary Clinton. However, in early December, the CIA declared definitively to a group of senators that the goal of the Russian hacking had been, in fact, to boost Trump.
Two teams of independent researchers also found that the flood of fake news online during this election season was bolstered by Russia to achieve the very same goal. According to the Washington Post, Russia’s network of “botnets, paid human ‘trolls,’ websites and social-media accounts” perpetuated the image of Clinton as a corrupt establishment politician with health issues through spreading false news with titles such as “FBI agent suspected in Hillary email leaks found dead in apartment in murder-suicide”.
Although many have treated it as such, this important issue regarding national interest and security is not a partisan issue. Officials from all over the political spectrum have announced their concerns about how Trump’s cabinet picks are bound to Russia as well as how his election was influenced by the Russian government. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that “Being a ‘friend of Vladimir’ is not an attribute I am hoping for from a Secretary of State.” On Dec. 13, Minority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) referred to Russian influence in the election as a scandal “as big a deal as Watergate, as 9/11,” and agreed with Mitt Romney on how Russia is a major threat to America.
In a statement regarding the recent CIA discovery of Russian influence in the presidential election, Trump’s transition team announced that “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” Trump and his transition team’s blatant refusal to listen to conclusions gathered by top intelligence agencies is extremely troubling as well as dangerous. It is unclear if this is a calculated move on Trump’s part, or if he is genuinely ignorant of the threat Russia poses to America. Either way, having a president with such close ties to a country America has long regarded as the enemy is unprecedented, and his actions in the years to come will definitely be unsettling.