The numerous and shocking allegations of law-breaking, national security threats, collusion with our adversaries, sheer sadistic cruelty, and just plain bad business decisions, could easily have each been "Breaking News" on 24-hour cable news channels for a week each, stretching throughout the campaign season. Eichenwald was occasionally brought on for a few minutes on a couple of shows to give a snippet of what he had found - sometimes to an anchor who failed to understand their significance -but nothing could compare with the steady drumbeat of Wikileaks hacking dumps and unsolicited FBI opinions that we were treated to throughout the season. Yet arguably, these findings are infinitely more serious than anything lobbed against Hillary Clinton. Some of the most concerning examples are:
"Kremlin has file of compromising information on Trump, with surveillance videos taken while he was in Moscow, including in his hotel."
"Several of Trump associates currently under FBI investigation on allegations of illicit connections to Russia/Ukraine."
"Trump's refusal to abide by settlement in housing discrimination case required government to sue him again to force compliance."
And, perhaps most ironically:
"Trump's companies destroyed or hid 1000s of emails and documents demanded in official proceedings in defiance of court orders."
In keeping with the focus of the Clinton campaign's argument for our loser of the popular vote's temperament being disqualifying for the presidency, I've seen lots of liberal arguments emphasizing his racism, misogyny, violent rhetoric (not to mention allegations of sexual assault), homophobia, ant-semitism, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views. And of course, all of those issues are of the greatest urgency. But they're not the only ones. Clearly, Eichenwald's research suggests that this person is a national security nightmare waiting to happen. And his questionable financial dealings and reported conflicts of interests have implications for the financial stability of the US, as well as the world, in addition to their national security implications.
When I was growing up in the 1960's, with the Vietnam War raging, I remember that the hallmark of Conservatism was a fear and hatred of Communism, a distrust of the Soviet Union, and a fierce concern for national security. Our fifth grade teacher gave us a lesson in the Domino Theory of Communism(a notion quite at odds with what I was hearing at the dinner table at home!) What happened to those conservative values? Where is the GOP on this threat to our nation? Is the potential of anti-choice judges, a doubling down in income inequality, more give-aways to the rich, and the continued buying of elections worth it? What good is all of that, if our sovereignty is at stake?
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