Collusion Continues

The Mueller Report has arrived, and according to Attorney General Barr, it does not contain sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to warrant an indictment. That should come as no surprise. Given the scale and the importance of the "active measures" attack they waged against the U.S. during the 2016 election, it would have been very foolhardy of Russian intelligence operatives to invest any degree of strategic trust in an ally as foolish and unreliable as Donald Trump and the confederacy of dunces surrounding him, who could have undermined the effectiveness of the attack with one errant tweet or offhand remark. But we should be very clear- the fact that Trump did not criminally conspire with Russian intelligence does not indicate that he is innocent of colluding with Russia's attack on American democracy. Indeed, quite the opposite is true.

This truth is so obvious that it should not need explaining. What was the ultimate goal of the Russian attack? To divide Americans against one-another and undermine their faith in democracy. What has been the effect of Donald Trump's response to the Russian attack?  To divide Americans against one-another and undermine their faith in democracy. In every aspect of his conduct since news of the Russian attack first broke, Donald Trump has failed in his duty, not merely as President, but more basically as a loyal citizen of the United States.

The President and his enablers act as if mistrust of the executive was first invented when Donald Trump was elected. But some portion of the electorate has been suspicious of every president since (and including) George Washington. It is the right of Americans to be wary of their leaders, our nation was founded on suspicion of government power. Under those conditions it has always been incumbent on responsible leaders to act in ways that defuse suspicion and actively cultivate trust. All presidents have failed to some degree in those efforts, but even Richard Nixon upheld this principle when he resigned on realizing that he could not redeem the trust of a critical portion of the electorate.

In the history of this political dynamic, Donald Trump is unique and unprecedented. Given the clear evidence that Russian intelligence attacked our election in support of Trump's candidacy, there was only one reaction open to a responsible president of the United States: to unequivocally condemn the attack and to call for a complete and transparent accounting of what had happened, no matter how unflattering it might be to Trump and his campaign. Trump's reaction has been the polar opposite. He has persistently denied the facts of the attack, the responsibility of the Russian government, and the need for an accounting. He and the people around him have repeatedly lied about their contacts with officials of the Russian government and members of its ruling oligarchy, and viciously inveighed against anyone trying to investigate the facts. In this way he has set one half of the country angrily against the other over basic questions of security and civic duty that should be a ground of consensus (i.e. that an attack by a hostile power is a serious threat, and must be redressed). In other words, he has thrown gasoline onto the very fire of civil discord that was the original aim of the Russian attack from the outset.

With the release of the Mueller Report, ironically, the collusion continues. The Special Counsel's investigation has provided us with the most thorough account yet produced by any US agency of the Russian attack on our election. Yet despite the fact that Trump claims to have been "totally exonerated" by the investigation's outcome, the President has denounced it as "an illegal takedown that failed" and that must itself be investigated. Thus even in ostensible "victory" Trump is undermining Americans' defenses against the Russian attack. He refuses to fulfill the duties of his office, protect the American people, and strike a note of unity rather than discord.

Why has Trump colluded with Moscow in this way? I do not pretend to know. Perhaps it is out of vanity, or stupidity, or some bizarre calculation of political advantage. The Mueller Report suggests that it was not done at the direct order of Vladimir Putin. But this does not mean that Donald Trump has not colluded with Russia, only that we do not know why he has done so.

Many questions remain unanswered. We may (thankfully) be confident that Trump did not criminally conspire with Russian intelligence (though the published emails of his son suggest that his campaign was willing and eager to do so). But this does not settle the question of whether the President is in some way compromised by or beholden to Russia. We still do not know why he fawns so obsequiously on Vladimir Putin, to the point of taking the Russian despot's side over that of his own intelligence agencies. We do not know why Trump has been so reluctant to enforce sanction measures against Russia, or so weak in his response to Russian aggression against the Ukraine, or so accommodating of Russian strategic goals in the Middle East and Europe.

The Mueller Report suggests that Trump is not being blackmailed with proof of a conspiracy to get him elected in 2016. But to suggest that this closes the issue of Russia and the Trump White House is like declaring a stabbing pain to the abdomen harmless because appendicitis has been ruled out as a cause. The President and those around him continue to lie about their ties to Russia, they continue to pathologically defer to Russian interests, and they continue to assist the active measures being deployed by Russian intelligence against our democracy. Having eliminated one possible explanation for these strange phenomena, others need to be explored.  Are the president's finances structured in such a way that make him indebted to Russian interests? Does he have business dealings that promise him profits from Russia or its allies? The American people are entitled to answers to these and other questions.

The Mueller Report itself would be a good place to begin looking for them. Given the robust powers assigned to the Special Counsel's office, Robert Mueller was in a better position than virtually anyone else to explore Donald Trump's enterprises and commercial interests. His report might contain information that would help us make sense of the President's strange and destructive behavior- it should be made available in its entirety to the voting public. Beyond this, we should finally see the President's tax returns, as he promised they would be revealed more than two years ago. Donald Trump claims to have been "completely exonerated," but this is a sham: by continuing to duck and hide, he persists in aiding Russia's campaign against the U.S. The only escape from that condition lies in the transparency that Americans have demanded and had a right to expect from every other president. Until Trump provides us with that transparency, he is not merely a man acting as if he were guilty, but will remain (for motives unknown) guilty of collusion with Russian intelligence in undermining our democracy.