So what did Russia do to influence the election and does it matter?
The answers are that from what we can tell, the Russians tried to shape the media space in such a way as to help Donald Trump. How this fact matters depends on what lens you’re using to examine the situation.
Does the Russian interference “delegitimize” Donald Trump? No more so than having lost the popular vote by the same margin that John Kerry lost to George W. Bush. Trump is going to be the president. Period. He will be duly elected and sworn in in such a manner as to satisfy all Constitutional requirements. Like it or not, that makes him legitimate. Whatever Russia did.
But Russian revelations do create two tests early on, one for the Republican party and one for President Trump.
First, Trump: Throughout the campaign, Trump found himself on opposite sides of just about every issue, sometimes within days. Or even minutes. Single-payer healthcare, the free market, immigration, ISIS, Syria, jailing Hillary Clinton, abortion, NATO, Mexico, China—even The Wall. The only issue on which he was completely steadfast—literally the only issue—was his admiration of Russia. Will Trump’s kowtowing to Putin continue in office? By not responding to President Obama’s response, Putin has forced Trump into an early decision.
Second, Republicans: In early 2009, Republicans were fond of asking, “What if Bush had done it?” They’d look at some Obama bumbling—”57 states” or “I won”—and say, “Hey, would people think this was so charming if President Bush had said it?” And the answer, of course, was absolutely not. If you grafted Obama’s tenure onto the Bush administration, Democrats (and their media allies) would have spent the past eight years in a state of permanent apoplexy. But Obama was their guy, so instead, they celebrated it.
Now the shoe is on the other foot. And Republicans ought to watch Trump’s behavior with regards to Russia and ask themselves, “What if Obama had done it?”
