OPINION

Democrats Push 'The Russians Are Coming!' Hoax

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It is time for another presidential election, so it is time for the media and their Democratic Party allies to begin their hysterical warnings about Russian “meddling.” This was their mantra in the 2016 election. It was their rationale for the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. In their warped view, the American people did not truly want to elect an independent businessman who was a non-politician. It only happened because of insidious Russian manipulation.

This ridiculous narrative led to congressional investigations, the two-year failed Mueller investigation and the waste of almost $40 million in taxpayer funds. Of course, Mueller’s team of partisan Democratic Party attorneys found no collusion with the Russians by President Trump or his campaign officials.

After Mueller’s unimpressive congressional testimony, the Democrats launched the Ukraine hoax which led to the president’s impeachment and eventual acquittal. Instead of focusing on the issues and the upcoming presidential race, the media and their Democratic Party partners are looking for another Russian scandal to taint President Trump and harm his chances of re-election.  

They certainly want to distract from what happened on Wednesday night. Overall, it was a disastrous debate in Las Vegas. The six major Democratic Party presidential candidates shredded each other on a range of issues. The only real winner was President Trump, who was not the focus of the debate because the candidates were too busy attacking each other.  

Of course, the Democratic Party lost, but the worst individual candidate performance was given by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was as unprepared as any candidate has ever appeared in the history of presidential debates. His investment of over $400 million in campaign advertisements was rendered meaningless by his horrific showing.

Bloomberg was unable to address a variety of questions, especially those involving the alleged mistreatment of women in his company. This debacle was especially difficult for those Democrats looking to find an alternative to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described “Democratic-Socialist.” Party leaders know that Sanders cannot beat President Trump in the general election. Unfortunately, for Democrats, none of the alternatives to Sanders are strong enough to mount a serious challenge at this point. The hope was that Bloomberg would fill the void left by former Vice President Joe Biden, who has greatly disappointed Democratic Party insiders with his poor showing in Iowa and New Hampshire.

With the Democrats in disarray, the president’s enemies are desperate to find another way to derail his campaign. They can’t debate the economy at this point since it is booming, so they are turning to their familiar tactic of howling about “Russian meddling.” 

The New York Times reported that on February 13, intelligence officials briefed a group of congressmen about Russian attempts to meddle in the upcoming election. The officials told House Intelligence Committee members that the Russians prefer Trump to win re-election.

This finding may not be accurate, according to Jake Tapper of CNN. He reported that a “national security official” believed the intelligence report mischaracterized the findings. Instead of supporting the president the Russians “understand” Trump better and know that he is a “deal maker.” They do not prefer him over whoever will be nominated for president by the Democratic Party.

It makes plenty of sense that the Russians would not “prefer” a president who has rebuilt our military, slapped major sanctions on Kremlin leaders and sent military armaments to countries such as Ukraine. It would make more sense that Russians would prefer a candidate like Senator Sanders to win the presidency for he will cut military spending and pursue policies that will harm the American economy. For good measure, Sanders has praised communist leaders, traveled to communist dictatorships and even honeymooned in the Soviet Union.

The Russian government claimed the reports “have nothing to do with the truth,” while President Trump called it “misinformation” and “Hoax number 7.” The denials did not stop former Obama administration CIA Director John Brennan from accusing the president of “abetting a Russian covert operation.” Hillary Clinton also cited the report to claim that the president was “Putin’s puppet,” who was “taking Russian help for himself. He knows he can’t win without it.”

As usual, there was no evidence to support these crazy accusations. It does not matter to Democrats and the media who will continue to use the “Russian meddling” claim throughout the rest of the campaign.

Clearly, the American people should expect more of these stories from now until Election Day. With a disorganized Democratic Party race and a strong economy, the old Russian hoax is the only way the president’s enemies believe they can stop his momentum. Hopefully, the American people will realize this is a stale rerun and turn the channel. 

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs locally at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and at 10:00 p.m. Sundays on PBS affiliate WLAE-TV, Channel 32, and from 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990-AM & www.Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author ofAmerica's Last Chanceand provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on www.JeffCrouere.com. For more information, email him at jeff@jeffcrouere.com