It is a fact well known to every student of the Constitution that the Framers’ fourth national institution—the presidential selection system—never functioned as intended. Yet the 2016 presidential election keeps bringing the Framers’ concerns to the forefront, as we lose control of every item on their check list, from insuring that the office would be “filled by characters pre-eminent for ability and virtue,” to blocking demagogues who possess “talents for low intrigue,” to avoiding “corruption’ and “tumult and disorder.” And as of today, we can add perhaps the gravest of their worries: the possibility that “foreign powers [will] gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” Even widespread suspicions of foreign influence would be poison to the confidence needed for sound governance.
But here we are. Building on charges made over the weekend in the blogs and on twitter feeds, the Washington Post in its lead editorial Tuesday claims that Vladimir Putin is deep into “meddl[ing] in a U.S. presidential election” in the full expectation of being able “to reap a geopolitical windfall if Donald Trump is elected president.” Besides noting certain business ties, with personal gains to be made by both Trump and his campaign manger Paul Manafort, the Post alleges what is close to treason:
