Interesting editorial-considering it's from the Wall Street Journal.
Takes a couple of slaps at Democrats but mostly about Trump:
Trump's Putin Illusions
Will someone—calling Ivanka—please tell Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin is no friend of America, or for that matter of Donald Trump? An intervention is needed after the Republican’s mouth-in-foot press conference Wednesday in which he invited Russia to turn over Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails from her private server.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” Mr. Trump said at his South Florida resort. “They probably have them. I’d like to have them released.”
The man who is representing millions of Republican voters between now and November added, when given a chance to reconsider, that “If Russia or China or any other country has those emails, I mean, to be honest with you, I’d love to see them.” So would we, and everyone else in the media if they’re honest, but that doesn’t mean a presidential candidate should appear to invite a Kremlin hack.
The Clinton campaign pounced on the news, and House Speaker Paul Ryan said he disagreed with Mr. Trump’s comments. So, perhaps, did others in the Trump entourage, because the campaign quickly rolled out a statement from vice presidential nominee Mike Pence that took a much more sensible line.
“The FBI will get to the bottom of who is behind the hacking. If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences,” Mr. Pence said in the statement. Let’s hope so, though given how delicately the Obama Administration has treated hacks by China and North Korea, we aren’t so sure.
Mr. Trump’s comments are indefensible on their own, but they are even more concerning because they come in the context of the nominee’s seeming bromance with Mr. Putin. He’s often said he likes the authoritarian for his ability to get his way—military imperialism works that way—and the American seems to think his superior negotiating skills would outwit the strongman.
Get over it, Donald. George W. Bush looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes and found him “straightforward and trustworthy,” only to have Russia invade Georgia. President Obama vowed a “reset” with Russia, and Mr. Putin returned the favor by invading Ukraine and buzzing NATO jets. You don’t have to credit the conspiracy theories that Mr. Putin has something on Mr. Trump to conclude that the Republican needs a crash course in geopolitics. Even as a nominee who hasn’t been elected, his statements are followed around the world by adversaries looking for weaknesses to exploit.
At the same time the press corps should hold Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama to the same standard. Four years ago Mr. Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney for saying that Russia was America’s foremost “geopolitical foe.” Mr. Obama said the 1980s are “calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.” Mr. Romney was right.
As for Mrs. Clinton, she wasn’t merely a candidate when she exposed America’s top secrets on her private email. She was Secretary of State. She thus made herself and the U.S. vulnerable to Mr. Putin’s blackmail. That’s at least as troubling as Mr. Trump’s geopolitical illusions.
wsj.com |
