Let the Blob be the first to inform you that the president’s recent trip to Europe has caused a bit of a stir. Let’s get to it.
I believe there is and has been real, strategic evil coming out of Russia. At minimum, their goal is to weaken the West and paint democracy as fraud. They gambled that if they could infiltrate enough of our institutions and corrupt a strategic group of individuals, our own partisan division and political apathy would do the rest to bring us down. They’ve had impressive success so far.
In the past, bad actors sought to achieve such ideological goals through acts of war. Think of the invasion of Poland. Think of Pearl Harbor. Think of 9/11. These were not random acts of violence. The perpetrators were advancing specific goals. But nations can’t fight wars in that mode anymore. A military encounter can too easily become mutually assured destruction. Putin is showing us that our military might isn’t all that relevant because it threatens us as much as it threatens him. So the modern war is war on information, and it is waged on the internet.
Trump and his cronies aren’t just stupid—they are in on the plot. It seems obvious now—Russia has been playing this long game of erosion for years. Furthermore, by sowing wild conspiracy theories the entire time, they made it less likely for reasonable people to believe what is happening before their eyes. And how amazingly effective that has been. I believe the evidence is pretty compelling, but still I feel like a nut for throwing this out there. (Soylent Green is people!!!! But seriously has anyone investigated where the funding came from for Soylent, because it feels plausible for that to be part of Vlad’s sick joke.).
The strategy is classic divide and conquer. They have exploited our existing divisions, while weaponizing our media and stoking violence. The Russian connection to the NRA is not a coincidence. Wouldn’t the easy availability of guns be in their interest if this plot is as dark as it seems?
Speaking of weaponized media, do we think Mark Zuckerberg is a useful idiot or a witting accomplice? Would the Russians have put all their eggs in the Donald Trump basket? Mark Zuckerberg was laying groundwork for a political career, visiting all 50 states on a listening tour. We know that Facebook was compromised during the campaign.
Politicians are bought and paid for. Read Dark Money by Jane Mayer. We can’t even see where the money comes from. It goes through elaborate and hidden funnels. Without transparency, how do we know Russia has not funneled money to Paul Ryan? Mitch McConnell? Can their behavior really be explained by partisanship alone? I’m suspicious many high level Republicans are wittingly complicit. They know how far the money trail goes. Hence their obstructions and conspicuous lack of curiosity.
From the Washington Post over a year ago:
A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress—House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy—made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian president Vladimir Putin
“I think there’s two people Putin pays: Rohrabacker and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by the Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacker is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.
Vladimir Putin is banking on our internal divisions to accomplish most of his dirty work. The critical question seems to me: can ordinary Americans overcome that division, apathy, and fear?
Realizing this makes me strangely hopeful. I think we can. I think it could get very ugly, but this seems like the only way to redeem not just America and our reputation in the world, but democracy itself.
I love this country. I love what we stand for. I love being able to publish my snark without worrying about the government coming after me. Our freedom is precious. I believe this is the fight of our lives. And how convenient—we can now fight wars from our couch. I think we need to. As a country, we must adapt our defenses, which will require communal effort on a grand scale.
So what do we do now?
Organize. We need to make people understand the severity of the threat.
Expose the extents of the operation to the public.
Exercise our rights—use ‘em or lose ‘em, folks.
Seek help from our allies. America has been attacked.
Make clear that having voted for Donald Trump does NOT constitute treason. Trump voters got caught in a large apparatus designed to fool them. We need our fellow Americans on our side.
Make offer to any person actively complicit (accepting money, misleading the public, hacking into servers, etc): come clean NOW. You will regret not doing this.
Make clear that anyone who continues to cover-up and collude will be treated as an enemy of the state.
Direct all effort toward resistance.
Keep faith.
And what do we do after we win?
We must fundamentally reform campaign finance. The American people must speak louder than money, be it foreign or domestic.
We must break up the mega-conglomerates. We are experiencing the real threat monopolies pose to democracy. They put too much power, information, and money in the hands of too few. Even if their company missions are supposedly altruistic, they are vulnerable to being co-opted by bad actors, putting us all at risk. It’s time for Facebook, Google, and Amazon to decentralize.
We must educate, educate, educate—invest in the continued learning of history, government, science, ethics, art, and logic.
We must maximize our cyber security.
We should consider implementing a mandatory national service program for young people. Imagine the dividends if all eighteen-year-olds did a year of service in a state other than their own. The sheltered kid from the suburbs can learn that the city doesn’t have to be a dangerous place. The kid from the Bay Area can learn that Texas has more than gun-toting cowboys and oil barons. They can all benefit from a year to breathe and think before rushing off to college. The people that host them can learn to appreciate the next generation. We have such beautiful diversity in this country—it is our greatest asset. We can pop the bubbles we are currently stuck in by inviting each other to come see us where we live. If we know each other, we cannot be made enemies of each other.
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Someone once asked me if I am an optimist or a pessimist. I think sometimes it can be hard to tell. I actually struggled to answer because I wasn’t sure. But I know now that I am an optimist. To me, being an optimist does not mean always taking the rosy view of things. It means having hope. As the contours of the enemy become clearer, I feel less anxiety and more confidence. It’s easier to win when you know what you’re fighting.
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