A foreign government influenced a U.S. Presidential Election. Where is the Outrage?

The 2016 Presidential Election will long be remembered as historic and infamous, in no small part, due to the involvement of Russian intelligence organizations carrying out a significant influence operation. Such an operation was dedicated to undermining and discrediting one of the candidates, while propping one favorable to Russian interests.

In the words of the Director of National Intelligence’s January 6, 2017 declassified Report on Russian Hacking:

“We assess the influence campaign aspired to help President-elect Trump’s chances of victory when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to the President-elect. When it appeared to Moscow that Secretary Clinton was likely to win the presidency the Russian influence campaign focused more on undercutting Secretary Clinton’s legitimacy and crippling her presidency from its start, including by impugning the fairness of the election.”

Russian intelligence agencies gained access to emails written by senior DNC officials and members of the Clinton Campaign, and then released these via WikiLeaks. These emails underscored for many in Middle America what was insidious and distasteful about our politics. From Donna Brazille teeing debate questions up for Clinton, to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz using the DNC apparatus to support HRC and appear to work against the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, to nearly everything John Podesta said—all reinforced the beliefs that many Americans had about our insiders only political process and highlighted how it felt like a rigged system.

The belief that our politics was a power game for the elites was one of the nerves that Donald Trump’s candidacy scratched at, and with every issuance from WikiLeaks, the furor in Middle America grew and added popular support to his platform. This is one of the foundational elements of an influence operation—using an adversary’s own words to drive popular sentiment against them. Given HRC’s strong and sustained opposition to Vladimir Putin, and Putin’s accusation that HRC’s State Department undermined his 2011 “election”, it’s not hard to imagine he would use the full power of his vast intelligence apparatus to orchestrate some political get-back and prop up a candidate that would be neutral or favorable to Russian objectives.

But it didn’t stop there. The Russians also executed a highly effective propaganda campaign consisting of negative and utterly false stories about Secretary Clinton that, sadly, counted on our propensity to believe everything we read simply because it’s published online. Too many of us believed these stories, no matter how ludicrous they seemed, because it seemed to fit a negative narrative that people wanted to believe. Perhaps the most visceral was the “story” that the Clinton Campaign was running a child sex ring in the basement of a local Washington D.C. restaurant. This is too ridiculous to believe, and yet 28-year old North Carolina resident Maddison Welch decided to “self-investigate” the matter with a firearm. Luckily, no one was hurt but this should highlight to all of us the very real dangers the Russian disinformation campaign could have.

Regardless of the outcome, the simple fact that an adversary meddled in our elections should drive us as Americans into a fury. We should be outraged and we should be demanding action from our legislators.

What I find absolutely astonishing is that Republicans, the Party of Reagan, the party that claims responsibility for defeating the Soviet Union and ending the Cold War, doesn’t seem concerned that a former head of the KGB successfully influenced a U.S. presidential election. Apart from Senators Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ), there is almost no reaction from the party. Instead, in the current legislative session, Republicans have focused on loosening ethics rules and repealing the Affordable Care Act.

A foreign government has influenced a U.S. Presidential Election and the majority party is doing nothing about it.

Certainly, there could be clandestine operations underway as we speak that we would, hopefully, never learn about. But that doesn’t relieve Congress of its responsibility to the American people to condemn this action, punish Russia publically, and enact policies to prevent this from happening again. One could argue this is a much more pressing national security concern than, say, repealing Obamacare.

I find it similarly shocking and troubling that the American people do not appear to be that concerned. I don’t read about Congressional phone lines blowing up with constituents demanding action over this. I don’t see social media uproar. I don’t see marches, protests or demonstrations. In fact, apart from the statements by the aforementioned senators, and Representative John Lewis (D-GA) declaring Trump’s presidency illegitimate, I don’t hear much of anything. In short, where is the outrage?

That any foreign government, let alone the Russians, could execute an influence campaign of this magnitude should be extremely troubling for all of us. We should all be demanding action. We should be furious that Vladimir Putin manipulated us and our electoral process, and we should be similarly furious at our legislators for not making this issue a priority. We should demand action.

But, for some reason, we aren’t.

I disagree with Rep. Lewis. Trump was fairly elected and is a legitimate president. There is no evidence that the Russians actually affected the outcome. Would HRC be President Elect without the intervention of the Russians and WikiLeaks? We can’t say for certain. Personally, I believe there is enough anti-government sentiment amongst average Americans that Trump most likely would have won without Russian interference. But, I say “most likely” for a reason, because it’s not an absolute certainty. Yes, Hillary Clinton is the ultimate political insider and many (myself included) simply didn’t trust her and her motives for seeking office. Trump’s message of opposition to the system may have had just as much resonance with Americans who felt betrayed by the process, but it’s the fact there is still reasonable doubt that should trouble us.

I applaud President Obama for taking action—expelling Russian diplomats and seeking sanctions, but these are likely temporary measures that will be undone once President Elect Trump takes office. We need more. We should demand more. We, as Americans, need to be the guardians of our democracy and cannot allow a foreign government to interfere with it.

House and Senate Republicans, if you do not take swift and decisive action on this you can no longer claim to be the Party of Reagan. You will have abdicated his legacy.

Dale M. Nelson, Lima Charlie News

Dale M. Nelson is a 1999 graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Telecommunications. He also holds a Master’s of Science in International Relations from Troy University. Dale is a former United States Air Force officer with eight years active duty service, attaining the rank of Captain. His military specialties included Logistics, Operations Planning and Crisis Action Planning. In his civilian career, Dale has managed a portfolio of technology programs for the Defense Department including satellite communications networks, cyberwarfare and information operations systems. Mr. Nelson is also a novelist. He currently lives with his family in Washington D.C.

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