Who benefits?

Regardless of whether you are a “never-Trumper” or voted for him, the prevalent resistance movement is producing vitriolic discourse and has now become beyond the pale and could easily result in a dangerous outcome. It may not be a real actor as one comedian joked but a “bad actor” carrying out a John Wilkes Booth style tragedy.

To find the current resistance to important progress in our government, we need look no further than former members of the Obama administration. Remember when Obama said, “We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you [Trump] succeed because if you succeed, then the country succeeds…” Then a few weeks later, in a deliberate pre-emptive move, Obama met with Angela Merkel where, speaking before thousands, he tacitly criticized Trump. Trump met with Merkel the next day receiving a cool reception. Some help.

Hillary recently declared, I’m back,” and acknowledged she was “part of the resistance.” She has started an organization called “Onward Together” to support other organizations whose primary goal is to oppose Trump’s agenda. Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has produced an online video that reveals she is unquestionably part of the resistance. In it, she seemed to be issuing a battle cry when she said, “It has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals who have made the difference. They’ve marched, they’ve bled and, yes, some of them died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before. We can do this again…”

We seem to be watching Lynch’s strategies played out across the country. Freedom of speech has been trampled at universities and other public places. In many cases these demonstrations have evolved into riots where there has been significant property damage and personal injuries.

Yes, people have bled, been maced, beaten, and one person did, indeed, die as Lynch may have predicted. Who are the perpetrators of the violence and riots on college campuses? They have been Bernie, Hillary and Obama supporters (Democrats). Who has been shot? The answer: only Republicans. Who did the shooting? The answer is: a deranged supporter of liberals like Bernie Sanders.

The press with their anonymous leakers and, yes, with Russia’s help too, has proven to be a major part of the resistance. Trump has called it fake news. A more precise term would be disinformation, which is information spread deliberately to deceive and cause chaos. Disinformation (dezinformatsiya) has been considered a valuable tool in Russia since Stalin’s time. One of the highest-ranking Russian defectors, Ion Micai Pacepa, wrote in his book, “By its very nature, a disinformation campaign can work only if the seemingly independent Western press accepts intentionally fabricated lies and presents them to the public as truth.”

An example of such disinformation was Christopher Steele’s “Trump-Russian Dossier.” Steele’s sources were current and former Russian operatives. The American press, including authors like Gene Lyons, ran with the now infamous “Trump Dossier” and accepted it as being factual. However, Steele now admits the “anti-Trump” dossier was never verified and should not have been released to the public.

According to a Washington Times article, “Mr. Steele has not spoken publicly about his disputed opposition research project, but for the first time he is being forced to talk in a London court through his attorneys.” The Times further declares, “The fact that Mr. Steele acknowledges that he put unverified “raw intelligence” into his December memo casts further doubt on his research techniques for the entire 35-page dossier.”

Another example of disinformation was revealed in Comey’s testimony when he indicated that information leaked to the New York Times alleging ties between the Trump campaign and a Russian official was indeed, “in the main,” Comey said, “not true.”

CNN reporters has proven over and over again their desire to bring down the president and in their exuberance have run with stories that they have had to retract. It was so egregious that three CNN reporters were forced to resign over a retracted story. This and other stories on the Russia connection are admittedly done in the name of ratings.

Because the left and the media seem to have little else to hang their hat on, they waste little time again returning to the continuing saga of the Trump-Russia collusion. The latest is the Trump Jr. episode. Hillary’s running mate, Tim Kaine, was quick to lead the charge in calling for possible impeachment.

Rather than depending on Tim Kaine to interpret the law, let’s turn to two constitutional law experts, professors Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Turley. Dershowitz, who voted for Hillary, says he has searched and cannot find a statute that would say what Trump Jr. did was in any way a crime. Turley agrees and said, “It is like we have this giant Rorschach test and people see whatever they want to.” They seem to say it may have been naivete and bad optics but no crime as defined by the current law or the constitution.

There are a lot of demanding and grave issues facing our country today. Yes, we have North Korea, which Obama warned Trump could become one of his most serious challenges. In fact one could make a strong case that Kim Jong-un may be a more serious threat than Putin. We have ISIS, Syria, domestic terrorism, the economy, a meager GDP, the growing national debt, inadequate employment opportunities, corporate and personal income taxes, infrastructure needs, and health care to name a few.

The Democrats, with the help of Russia and the press, are skillfully managing to divert attention away from these pressing needs and focusing on things like the Russia collusion story. They may be unwittingly helping Putin accomplish his goal of creating turmoil and chaos in our country.

Serge Tretyakov, a Russian Intelligence officer who defected in 2000, has confirmed that “Russia is doing every thing it can today to embarrass the U.S.” Putin must be celebrating and tipping a few shots of vodka as he watches the vast division and disarray that is paralyzing our country.

Lester Still is a resident of Kalispell.