The Flipping Begins

One of the things we know about Trump’s more ardent supporters, and even a fair number of folks who dislike him or are indifferent to him, is that they see the Russia investigation as either a plot on the part of vindictive, sore-loser Democrats, a media concoction, or as largely incomprehensible background noise without any real significance. They haven’t paid much attention to it, they don’t understand it, and, so, they don’t really believe it. Maybe Russians got into the 2016 election, and maybe not. In any case, what’s the big deal?

So let’s set the record straight on that with the following three easy-to-understand points.

One -- They did it.
That the Russians did interfere with the election, and in a fairly big way, is not in dispute. That ship has sailed. It is attested to by the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and a dozen or so other government agencies whose job is to protect the country from just such activities. It is accepted as settled fact by the House and Senate Intelligence committees, by most members of the House and Senate, by the military, and by the Trump-appointed Secretaries of State and Defense. And by Facebook, which we now know ran Russian created and paid for advertising designed to influence the election results. So, Trump supporters, let’s understand: A hostile foreign government carried out a cyber attack on your country, by messing with the single most important component of our democracy – elections. They did that, and you should be appalled and angry, and you should be demanding to know what your government is doing about it.

Two -- Americans helped them do it.
While that was happening -- during the campaign and transition -- at least 12 Trump associates had contacts with Russians. There were at least 19 face-to-face interactions with Russians or Kremlin-linked figures. There were at least 51 communications -- meetings, phone calls, email exchanges, etc. And these Trump associates lied about all of this, issuing blanket denials of any contacts with Russia. On at least nine occasions, Trump and his senior officials denied that there had been any contacts whatsoever with Russians during the campaign or that there were any ties between the campaign and Russians. That these people have something to hide in this matter, which involves multiple interactions with Russians, many with close ties to the Kremlin, is simply beyond dispute.

Three -- Donald Trump is involved

Donald Trump stopped the FBI’s investigation of Russian election interference in its tracks, or tried to, by firing the head investigator, James Comey. Amid all the nonsense cooked up by the Trump team regarding the reason for the firing, Trump admitted in front of millions on national TV that he fired Comey because he wanted the Russia investigation stopped. Instead of expressing righteous anger at the invasion of our sovereignty and launching a no-holds-barred effort, with the full backing of the executive branch, to get to the bottom of it, he did his best to stop to the investigation of it. He did not want the investigation to go forward because he knew this: it would reveal something he did not want people to know. There is no other explanation. The betting here is that it has something to do with ties to Russian oligarchs and/or the Russian Mafia (which in turn have ties to Vladimir Putin), and/or indebtedness to Russian interests.

So…

The Russians invaded our country, they were given aid and comfort by American citizens in that invasion, and the president is determined to keep everyone from knowing anything about it. Easy to understand. Very important. The media didn't do it, the Dems didn't do it. (Note: Defenders of the regime keep saying there is no evidence of collusion with the Russians on the part of Trump people. On the contrary, there is a mountain of evidence. What there isn’t is proof.)

Yet.

There will be. Trumpers are whistling past the graveyard if they think the dots aren’t going to be connected and the whole truth found out (as Gen. Flynn and others tell all to save their own skins.) The guess here as to what we will learn: Various Russian interests, including Putin, are being hit hard by economic sanctions and want them lifted; and they saw in Trump and his people a group that could be talked into, or coerced into, or blackmailed into lifting them. So they went to work to get him elected. The Trump folks were more than happy to accept and facilitate their help.

And now, the Russians want to be paid.