Does President-elect Trump yet realize that winning the election means that he is president of all the people, not just the minority of Americans who voted for him?
He wishes a happy New Year to all, "including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do." Gloating, taunting, and essentially calling those who didn't vote for him a bunch of lost dummies is anything but presidential. But there never was an indication that he would switch from campaign mode to presidential mode.
When Bill Clinton whipped the elder Bush in 1992, he kept hands off until he took office. When the younger Bush replaced Clinton in 2000, he continued the practice of keeping hands off until he took office. And when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, he continued the practice, emphasizing that we have one president at a time.
No so, Donald Trump. He refuses to wait until January 20, 2017. He is making every effort to countermand President Obama on everything from election results to foreign policy. The idea of a gracious touch of class is foreign to Trump.
The CIA, the FBI, and the entire American intelligence community affirm evidence pointing to Russian interference with the intention of discrediting the American electoral process, and with the objective of aiding Trump.
The President-elect contends that this is an attempt to delegitimize his election, insisting that we should ignore this and move on. He misses the point entirely. Nobody, including the Democrats, is suggesting that the Russian actions, real or alleged, were the determining factor. From the Democratic side, everything that could have gone wrong did - it wasn't just the Russians.
The point, however, is that evidence strongly indicates that the Russians were intruding. For Trump to totally dismiss the entire intelligence community, and insist that he has information that nobody else has on hacking the system, is taking hubris to a new level. He is expressing more faith in the Russian president and in his own unspecified sources of information than he expresses in the entire American intelligence community. One doesn't have to be a rah, rah fan of the CIA to realize that this is dealing a severe blow to the morale of our own American personnel.
Even some Republican members of Congress are expressing outrage and promise to "look into it."
Obama has responded by kicking some Russian diplomats out of the country. Republicans concur, but can't resist taking some cheap shots at the president, insisting that he is "weak," and should have done this some time ago. Never mind that had Obama done this before the election, these same cheap shot artists would have accused him of unduly influencing the election.
This is another case of "damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't." It goes with the territory, as the thin-skinned Trump will discover, if he hasn't already.
So Obama is taking heat for kicking Russian diplomats out of the country now, rather than having done it earlier. The usual drill would be for Russia to respond in kind, and kick a few American diplomats out of Russia.
Instead, Mr. Putin takes a page out of Trump's playbook and does the opposite of what is expected. He not only doesn't kick any American diplomats out of Russia, he invites children of American diplomats to a Russian Christmas party.
How nice. But Putin didn't get to be head of the KGB by being a swell guy and a good sport.
Our high powered network and cable media celebrity nitwits seem baffled by Putin's unconventional behavior. It really isn't that hard to figure out. Putin is throwing a bone to his admirer, Trump, and biding his time till the inauguration, waiting for a friendlier American president than Obama - or what Mrs. Clinton would have been.
Trump has long expressed admiration for the "intelligence and strong leadership" of Putin, contrasting it to alleged "incompetence and weakness" of our own president. That's pretty mean stuff, even for a campaign. But to continue to put more stock in Putin than in your own president, and our own intelligence community once you have won the election, is beyond the pale - please forgive the shopworn cliche.
Sure, we're all for better relations with Russia. But let's not give away the shop. These two strong men are acting like real pals. Normally, when two super competitive, type A, domineering personalities want to fight it out and "prove" their manhood, they move to the golf course, the tennis courts, or wave around the numbers in their bank accounts. But these two strong men control nuclear weapons. Trump made clear that he is ready for a nuclear arms race. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Meanwhile, the media nitwits babble away, wondering "what this means." It's all too clear. If the rest of us are not worried, we should be.
Of course the Congress has to get into the act. Assorted Republicans, as they blame Obama for being too weak, insist that actions against Russia should be stronger. The media clones, in their incessant effort to maximize drama, dutifully inform us that Obama's actions "put Trump in a box," pitting his coziness with Putin against Republicans who want stronger action.
It could as well be argued that it gives Trump, the self-professed deal-maker, an ace to use in future deals with Putin.
We will see if Republican lawmakers are serious about taking on Trump on these matters. Those coming from districts having voted strongly for Trump are scared stiff of him. There will doubtlessly be plenty of grandstanding, and some sound and fury, mostly meaning nothing.
After all, Congress is controlled by Republicans. While Democrats fall in love, Republicans continue to fall in line.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in The Monroe Times.
He wishes a happy New Year to all, "including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do." Gloating, taunting, and essentially calling those who didn't vote for him a bunch of lost dummies is anything but presidential. But there never was an indication that he would switch from campaign mode to presidential mode.
When Bill Clinton whipped the elder Bush in 1992, he kept hands off until he took office. When the younger Bush replaced Clinton in 2000, he continued the practice of keeping hands off until he took office. And when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, he continued the practice, emphasizing that we have one president at a time.
No so, Donald Trump. He refuses to wait until January 20, 2017. He is making every effort to countermand President Obama on everything from election results to foreign policy. The idea of a gracious touch of class is foreign to Trump.
The CIA, the FBI, and the entire American intelligence community affirm evidence pointing to Russian interference with the intention of discrediting the American electoral process, and with the objective of aiding Trump.
The President-elect contends that this is an attempt to delegitimize his election, insisting that we should ignore this and move on. He misses the point entirely. Nobody, including the Democrats, is suggesting that the Russian actions, real or alleged, were the determining factor. From the Democratic side, everything that could have gone wrong did - it wasn't just the Russians.
The point, however, is that evidence strongly indicates that the Russians were intruding. For Trump to totally dismiss the entire intelligence community, and insist that he has information that nobody else has on hacking the system, is taking hubris to a new level. He is expressing more faith in the Russian president and in his own unspecified sources of information than he expresses in the entire American intelligence community. One doesn't have to be a rah, rah fan of the CIA to realize that this is dealing a severe blow to the morale of our own American personnel.
Even some Republican members of Congress are expressing outrage and promise to "look into it."
Obama has responded by kicking some Russian diplomats out of the country. Republicans concur, but can't resist taking some cheap shots at the president, insisting that he is "weak," and should have done this some time ago. Never mind that had Obama done this before the election, these same cheap shot artists would have accused him of unduly influencing the election.
This is another case of "damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't." It goes with the territory, as the thin-skinned Trump will discover, if he hasn't already.
So Obama is taking heat for kicking Russian diplomats out of the country now, rather than having done it earlier. The usual drill would be for Russia to respond in kind, and kick a few American diplomats out of Russia.
Instead, Mr. Putin takes a page out of Trump's playbook and does the opposite of what is expected. He not only doesn't kick any American diplomats out of Russia, he invites children of American diplomats to a Russian Christmas party.
How nice. But Putin didn't get to be head of the KGB by being a swell guy and a good sport.
Our high powered network and cable media celebrity nitwits seem baffled by Putin's unconventional behavior. It really isn't that hard to figure out. Putin is throwing a bone to his admirer, Trump, and biding his time till the inauguration, waiting for a friendlier American president than Obama - or what Mrs. Clinton would have been.
Trump has long expressed admiration for the "intelligence and strong leadership" of Putin, contrasting it to alleged "incompetence and weakness" of our own president. That's pretty mean stuff, even for a campaign. But to continue to put more stock in Putin than in your own president, and our own intelligence community once you have won the election, is beyond the pale - please forgive the shopworn cliche.
Sure, we're all for better relations with Russia. But let's not give away the shop. These two strong men are acting like real pals. Normally, when two super competitive, type A, domineering personalities want to fight it out and "prove" their manhood, they move to the golf course, the tennis courts, or wave around the numbers in their bank accounts. But these two strong men control nuclear weapons. Trump made clear that he is ready for a nuclear arms race. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Meanwhile, the media nitwits babble away, wondering "what this means." It's all too clear. If the rest of us are not worried, we should be.
Of course the Congress has to get into the act. Assorted Republicans, as they blame Obama for being too weak, insist that actions against Russia should be stronger. The media clones, in their incessant effort to maximize drama, dutifully inform us that Obama's actions "put Trump in a box," pitting his coziness with Putin against Republicans who want stronger action.
It could as well be argued that it gives Trump, the self-professed deal-maker, an ace to use in future deals with Putin.
We will see if Republican lawmakers are serious about taking on Trump on these matters. Those coming from districts having voted strongly for Trump are scared stiff of him. There will doubtlessly be plenty of grandstanding, and some sound and fury, mostly meaning nothing.
After all, Congress is controlled by Republicans. While Democrats fall in love, Republicans continue to fall in line.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in The Monroe Times.
