Other World Problems

There is a claim started by leading Democrats, the “intelligence” community and the mainstream media which is that President Donald J. Trump is an agent of Russia and that Russian President Vladimir Putin hacked the U.S. election.

This claim is little less than a conspiracy theory because the CIA has given absolutely no evidence to support it and only anonymous reports from alleged CIA operatives have been given.

Despite the fact that there is no evidence to support this claim, it has major repercussions back in the real world.

For starters, Democrats and establishment Republicans have used the alleged ties to Russia to go on a political witch hunt against Trump and his cabinet. Last February, National Security Advisor Gen. Michael J. Flynn became the first casualty in this second installment of the witch trials. Flynn was forced to resign after a stream of allegations arose that he spoke to the Russian ambassador to the U.S while on the campaign trail.

Whether the claim is true or not is of little significance, because the entire point of an ambassador is to serve as a moderator between nations. Are we supposed to restart the Cold War and stop working for peaceful solutions together with Russia? Flynn did nothing wrong either way.

Now Flynn is being forced into giving a false testimony against Trump and his cabinet in order to receive immunity from federal charges for his “crime.” This is the same thing that happened back in Salem when those accused of witchcraft would “confess” and accuse others in order to save themselves.

This also parallels another event — the Red Scare — when we as a nation twice fell into utter paranoia of “Russian-sympathizers” and “Communists.” We even allowed politicians such as Sen. Joseph McCarthy to try innocent people in kangaroo courts. We are now in what seems to be the Third Red Scare and we have to decide how far we are going to let the paranoia go this time. If we do not learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it.

Aside from Trump’s cabinet being harassed because of this witch hunt, there are consequences for this dangerous notion on the international stage.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to put the U.S. first and to avoid conflict abroad. Recently, however, Trump has been forced to be more hawkish and up tensions against Russia, Iran and Syria in order to attempt to “prove” that he is not a pawn of Putin. He has removed Flynn, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon and many other advisors who were more isolationist on foreign policy from positions related to foreign policy. He replaced them with some of the most war-friendly thinkers in Washington.

He went so far as to fire 59 Tomahawk missiles at one of the Syrian government’s military bases, something that Obama never did. Syria’s allies Russia and Iran considered the attack to be a direct act of aggression and threatened retaliation if the attacks continued.

How could Trump be an agent of Russia when he is attacking Russia’s allies and putting the U.S. on the brink of a new Cold War with them?

We need to evaluate the situation as a country, and choose reason and logic over fear and paranoia. We have too much to lose if we do not.