To the editor:
Vladimir Putin couldn’t have picked a more perfect foil to enable him to keep assaulting this nation’s democratic process than the American people themselves if he’d tried. It would be easy — and truthful as well — to say starting with Donald Trump but at the end of the day, the truth is it was the American people he looked at and saw the most opportunity to exploit. And boy, did some of them deliver for him and still do.
He looked at the huge diversity in this nation and the growing divide between those on the right so entrenched with their “conservative values” and those on the left with their comfort for all things liberal and saw the time was ripe for driving a bigger wedge between us.
Putin banked on using the pent up gall and resentment of the right who had to tolerate eight years of Barack Obama in the White House. Oh, the horror of Barack Obama. A man, who despite treating our Constitution, our nation, our citizens and the office he held with great respect and dignity, and spent nearly every waking minute working on this nation’s behalf, epitomized for far too many on the right as the very worst nightmare of liberal success in this country. Starting with Mitch McConnell who swore to obstruct any and every single piece of legislation Obama even remotely supported. Mitch McConnell who — even after Mueller’s testimony to the continuing level of Russia interference in our electoral process — blocked two pieces of legislation the very next day which would have strengthened this nation’s ability to defend against these attacks. Clearly, McConnell appreciates Putin as much as Trump does.
And Putin not only correctly banked on the hyper-reactive loathing on the right of all things Obama but also that loathing being so deep as to allow them to accept Trump’s blatant betrayal of this nation and all who died defending our freedom by supporting and encouraging Putin’s continued assault. Unimaginable, but we have witnessed it nonetheless.
And he also correctly banked on the left’s inability to reconcile with and dismiss the utter lawlessness of Donald Trump, his complete dismissal of our Constitution, our form of government, and his non-stop race-baiting tactics to secure a vote. Wrong is wrong, and Putin knows how to use that too.
As a president, Trump’s a loser for sure — but he was a brilliant choice for Putin to continue to divide and weaken this nation. And other than stopping his never-ending assault on our laws, constitution, his on-going support of Russian interference and the degradation of this nation in the eyes of the world — impeaching Trump would only further Putin’s plan to completely divide and weaken this nation. So, if we don’t impeach Trump this nation loses, and if we impeach him, this nation loses. So brilliant on Putin’s part and so utterly and completely irresponsible on ours.
Obama was far from perfect and not all of his decisions garnered the best results he intended for this nation — but history will show that he dedicated himself not only to securing this nation’s place at the top of the world order, but bringing this nation up and forward into the future. History will not be so kind to Trump — not by a long shot.
But, history will treat the American people much worse if we do not end this chess game Putin has set up and is controlling. And our one and only move is to use the electoral process is he trying to destroy to remove Trump from the White House. God help this nation.
Lisa Voiles
Whiteland
