Russians, Wiretapping, and Leaks… Pres. Trump, It’s Time for a Meeting

 
On October 31, 2016, just days before the election, Hillary Clinton’s campaign put out a press release. Its purpose was to clarify a tweet she had made earlier in the day. In that tweet she claimed that Trump Tower was being investigated for having a computer server with ties to the Russians. Months earlier hackers called, “Guccifer” had tried to hack the RNC and the DNC servers. RNC security stopped them, but the DNC servers didn’t. Hillary’s campaign manager had politically damning emails publicized in the heat of the Presidential campaign. In response, the Clinton campaign sought all sorts of way to limit the effect of the emails, and on Halloween, the effort began to suggest that the Trump campaign was working with the Russian government to ‘hack the election.’

The effort was too little. It was too late. The allegations echoed in an empty chamber outside the party base. There was just too much truth in them, and too much historic distrust of the candidate to overcome and she lost the election.

“Jesus Christ, he could win this thing…” “No, you are not waking up from a nightmare” Hillary Clinton lost.

Democrats wept-openly. 1/3-1/2 the nation was in pure and utter shock. The 8 years of Obama, and the previous two years of Democrat-control over Congress, it was all gone. They woke one day, and found that the people they’d been told were racist, homophobic, xenophobic, Bible thumping, Walmart toads now controlled more governors offices, both Houses of Congress, and the White House. A large portion of the country was emotionally distraught over the idea of a President Trump, and it had become a reality. Americans were hurting, fearful, scared, distraught, and angry.

These feelings were voiced very clearly on internet forums and social media. Hundreds of thousands marched in protest. Debates over the popular vote, and fantasies of VP Biden refusing to accept the electoral votes from some states demonstrate the lengths to which common denial was being physically felt. When John F Kennedy was shot, when 911 happened, schools never had to set up safe spaces for students to weep, but after the 2016 election…half the country defined despair. On Inauguration Day, with America’s leaders from both sides sitting on Capitol hill, a cable news reporter even suggested that if enough of the government were quickly killed, Hillary could still become President.

One of the fantasies that survived was that of ‘the Russians hacked the election.’ Accusations were made. It grew quickly and the Hillary Campaign suggestion that the Trump campaign somehow was related to the Guccifer hacking of the DNC and RNC…that claim grew as well. Mass media outlets that had told their viewers and subscribers that there was no way Trump could be president, well those outlets were all too eager to put anyone on the air who would claim the Trump reign was a foreign attack. The story grew. Calls for investigation grew.

The investigation into hacking the DNC and RNC started six months earlier. Both parties were warned to watch their cybersecurity. The RNC succeeded. The DNC failed. The Obama administration failed to protect either. Leaks happened.

The investigation into claims that the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians was well underway after the election. It’s not clear if it started before or after the election, but by mid-November the DNI, NSA, CIA, DOJ, CIA, and DIA were all investigating. The media and members of Congress claimed the Trump/Russia investigation as underway at least in November. The alphabet-soup-of-agencies denied it, and they still deny there’s an investigation at all. Later, it became painfully obvious that electronic intercepts were being made; i.e. a legal FISA court authorization for investigation had been made. We know this because transcripts of Americans who were ‘incidentally’ caught in the eavesdropping/wiretapping were illegally made public and disseminated to the Press.

Then President Trump read an article and the entire election-denial-debate turned. An article on a right wing media outlet gave links to mainstream and left wing media sources claiming that Trump Tower had been under surveillance before the election. This reminder of pre-election articles coupled with the transcripts released to the press (hard to have transcripts if there was no investigation) set him off. Luckily, to date his temper has been limited to teeny tweetys. That set off the debate about whether or not the Obama Admin had been illegally collecting political information on Trump and giving it to Hillary.

This and that, and more of this then that, and here we are. The state of our union is not strong. We are divided. People are marching in the streets. There has been violence, but winter always abates that. Those in the cities no longer respect those in rural areas, and vice versa. One need only look at the treatment the Vice President got when he said he loves his wife so much he never dines alone with any other woman. In rural areas that’s considered sweet. In the blue voting districts he’s mocked.

Summer is coming, and the American people are getting more divided. Half of the country that was despondent and in denial is now becoming more angry and entrenched in their beliefs that the election was stolen by Russia. The other half believes that the Obama administration has been freely violating people’s rights in an effort to keep power. The most divisive election since Lincoln set off the American Civil War is simmering our nation-turning good people against good people. We’re led to believe that there’re investigations into the Russia/Trump collusion concept, and that there’s investigations into the Obama admin abuse of power/illegal wiretapping and leaking of Americans for political purposes.

The American people need the President to lead now-Republicans need it, and Democrats need it. Believe it or not, we all expect it. Members of Congress, intelligence committees, 17 different intelligence agencies, a year of investigating the hacking, and there’s no end in sight. There has to be finality, a resolution, a finding, and the American people have waited, but patience is not unlimited. The Federal government is stuck, and cannot move until the issue of Russia/Trump collusion is resolved. The same is true for the Obama administration misuse of intelligence for political spite (see also Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes vs Gen Flynn).

The FBI and CIA and DNI and so forth all say they can’t even acknowledge that there are investigations. It’s clear there are investigations, and the American people are united in demanding them-both sides want both issues resolved. America needs it to be resolved. We will not unite as a nation when the next crisis happens. The next time New York is attacked, people will feel bad, but before the fires are out there will be political blame.

Now, anyone and everyone can see the sentiment on the internet. Real Clear Politics shows both sides, and it’s amazing. One side tells half the story. The other side tells the other half of the story, and people get divided based on the simplicity or hyperbole in the articles, not the whole story of any issue.

Where it gets real is not in virtual reality, but in reality. It’s not in what we read or see on TV, but rather it’s who we talk to. Married couples are actually getting divorces over political divide. Families are driven to silence when they get together at weddings, funerals, or parties. Dare to mention anything political while waiting in line at the grocery store, or at a gas station, or at work, and the knife’s edge of heated argument is instant. Americans are ready to fight with Americans at a moment’s notice.

The United States of America needs to close the books on the 2016 election. The Trump/Russia issue and the Obama/wiretapping issue both need to be resolved; immediately. Waiting another year for the email hacking to get a debatable report, or two years for the Obama/wiretapping to be investigated, it won’t work. Look at April 2016, and remember that Americans were divided, but we could joke and get along. In April 2015, there were political divides, but Americans could talk to Americans. Yearly, even monthly now, the tension and divide are worsening.
Only one person can stop this. Hillary Clinton cannot and could not stop this and unite the country. Like President Obama, she only knew or wanted to lead the half the country who viewed the world through a leftist prism. Donald Trump told us he was different. He’s a businessman-not a career politician; not someone who only knew how to preach to their political choir. Donald Trump told us he was a deal maker, a closer, a man who could get things done. He told us he wanted the job. He told us he knew how to deal with big problems.

President Trump, needs to step up, or go golf. This is it, you’ve had a couple of months now, and it’s time to tackle the biggest things facing the nation. ISIS is a threat. The economy runs on a razor’s edge. The debt/deficit is an imminent threat to economic collapse. Illegal immigration is a problem. Healthcare is freaking insane! Yet none of these problems are as important as restoring the most powerful thing this nation has: our unity. Conversely the nation is getting weaker and weaker because of political divide based on endless investigations. Time to wind it up.

It’s time for President Trump to do some of that business man stuff. You know who the players are. You can “strongly suggest” that they quietly show up at Camp David. You alone can demand of the agencies to see the documents in question. Call ‘em up. Get FBI Director Comey, DNI Clapper, DCI Brennan, AG Sessions, and General Flynn. Have the Secret Service pass the invitation to President Obama. Get word to former Dep Nat Sec advisor Ben Rhodes, but make sure to tell him not to tell his brother, the President of CBS. Call up former NatSec advisor Susan Rice personally, invite her, and ask her not to tell her husband the producer at ABC lest news of the meeting leak. Have the White House counsel there, let everyone bring their own, and then tell the lawyers to wait outside while the grownups speak plainly. Heck, bring some Congress critters too-preferably intel committee leadership, but not majority leaders or speaker (They only care about whipped votes, and they love dividing the country by firing up their bases regardless of national cost).

When everyone’s together, be a leader. Tell them the country is divided, and both issues are going to be resolved. Bring the documents, put ‘em on the table, and ask the questions. Does anyone see any evidence of collusion with the Russians? If not, then this ends. Then ask, who leaked Flynn’s transcripts. They can either fess up, or face your wrath. Lastly, get everyone on board to have a joint press conference, and for each one to individually make calls to press and pols saying the two issues are closed.

President Trump may have taken an oath to be President of the United States, but he is not. The country is not united. He’s got the paper, but that’s it. If he wants to really run the United States, he has to unite them. Putting people in a room for a few days, and resolving these divisive and dangerous issues is his job. It’s what the world expects him to be capable of doing.

Time for Donald Trump to step up and preside.