The Election Is Over - Now What?

The Campaign From Hell is finally over and Donald Trump won.

Now what?

One benefit of not having voted for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is that I can view what has transpired with some degree of detachment.  I don’t make political observations on this blog very often, but I will here.  

WikiLeaks.  I can’t prove that Julian Assange is a Russian stooge doing Vladimir Putin’s dirty work, but he sure played the part very well.  I know Russian television was very keen to hear what he had to say.  I understand that he thinks of himself as one to expose the dirty laundry of the powerful.  I didn’t like it when he did his first “document dump” about the Bush years, and I don’t like what he did about John Podesta’s emails either [just to be consistent].  Just the appearance of some foreign entity meddling with our elections is extremely troubling.  And what is more troubling is that many Americans openly welcomed it, and even encouraged it [as Donald Trump did] because they thought it gave them some political advantage.  While I can appreciate that WikiLeaks tore away the curtain and exposed certain things to sunlight, why did it have to be them, of all people?  I found this statement from Julian Assange very interesting:  

We publish material given to us if it is of political, diplomatic, historical or ethical importance and which has not been published elsewhere. When we have material that fulfills this criteria, we publish. We had information that fit our editorial criteria which related to the Sanders and Clinton campaign (DNC Leaks) and the Clinton political campaign and Foundation (Podesta Emails). No-one disputes the public importance of these publications. It would be unconscionable for WikiLeaks to withhold such an archive from the public during an election.  

At the same time, we cannot publish what we do not have. To date, we have not received information on Donald Trump’s campaign, or Jill Stein’s campaign, or Gary Johnson’s campaign or any of the other candidates that fulfills our stated editorial criteria. As a result of publishing Clinton’s cables and indexing her emails we are seen as domain experts on Clinton archives. So it is natural that Clinton sources come to us.  

Assange asserts that he cannot publish what he does not have.  This begs the question:  from whom did WikiLeaks get their information on the Clintons, and who would benefit from these disclosures?  This brings us to Vladimir Putin.  

Vladimir Putin.  Somewhere, Vladimir Putin is smiling.  When she was Secretary of State, Hillary claimed the Russian Duma election in 2011 was rigged [hint:  she was right – it was].  By challenging the legitimization ritual that is Russian elections [which are neither free nor fair], she challenged Vladimir Putin’s own legitimacy.  Is there any wonder why people think the Russians and WikiLeaks are joined at the hip?  One can’t help but think Vlad is enjoying a bit of schadenfreude.    

Russia.  The only country that is happy about Donald Trump’s election is Russia.  That’s the same country Mitt Romney singled out as our biggest geopolitical foe. Let that sink in for a while…  

Ukraine.  Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have said very nice things about each other.  If I was President Poroschenko, this wouldn’t give me very much comfort.  

James Comey.  The FBI Director demonstrated there are two standards for conduct with relation to classified information.  There is one standard for the well-connected, another for the rest of us.  That made people like me [who handle classified information as part of my job] furious.  We knew that we’d be making big rocks into little rocks at Leavenworth if we got caught doing what she did.  But rightly or wrongly, Comey made his call.  And that should have been the end of it.  But no, he had to say more 11 days before the election.  In July we got the perception that the FBI plays favorites with “the elite.”  Hence the charge the “system is rigged.”  Then last month Comey stepped in it again by making his re-opening of the Clinton email probe public.  With that came the perception that since Comey is a Republican, he was abusing his power as FBI Director on behalf of Donald Trump.  What a mess…Comey needs to go.  Not only has the ghost of J. Edgar Hoover been resurrected, he has brought into question the FBI’s integrity from people of all political persuasions.  Integrity is part of the FBI’s motto:  Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.  As I was taught a long time ago, integrity comes with credibility.  Once you have lost your credibility, it is difficult to get it back.  

“Lock Her Up”?  The case of Hillary Clinton’s emails is closed and ought to remain that way.  I’ve already said my 2 cents’ worth in this space on that subject, so I won’t say anymore.  The great thing about this country is that we don’t throw our political opponents in jail.  But as of January 20, 2017, the Clintons will no longer be part of a protected class.   Maybe the IRS will suddenly become interested in how a “charitable” organization paid $3 million for Chelsea Clinton’s wedding and other various and sundry things.  Was there any “pay-to-play”?  

Stick a fork in her…she’s done.  This is the second time Hillary ran for president, and this is the second time she came up short.  The Democratic Party rewards failure, but they won’t reward failure twice.  She’s 69 years old.  If she tries for a third time, she’ll be 73, and her health probably won’t get any better.  Her time is done.  She’s had “her turn” and she blew it.  Since she won’t be occupying the Oval Office, her ability to reward friends has suddenly come to an end.   

Will the last celebrity to leave Hollywood please turn out the lights?  These people [some of whom I’ve never heard of] said they would leave the country if Donald Trump won the election:  Amy Schumer, Jon Stewart, Chelsea Handler, Neve Campbell, Barry Diller, Lena Dunham, Keegan-Michael Key, Chloé Sevigny, Al Sharpton, Natasha Lyonne, Eddie Griffin, Spike Lee, Amber Rose, Miley Cyrus, Samuel L. Jackson, Cher, George Lopez, Barbra Streisand, Raven-Symoné, Whoopi Goldberg, Bryan Cranston, Rosie O’Donnell, Ali Wentworth [George Stephanopoulos’ wife], etc. 

Can I help you pack?  Can you take the Kardashians with you?   

The Newly Unemployed.  For the first time since I was in college, these people won’t be holding public office – Harry Reid, Joe Biden, and John Kerry.  Between the three of them, they’ve been in Washington for a combined 110 years.  What will they do?  

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is gone.  And this is a good thing.  

Trump University.  Donald Trump goes on trial for fraud.  Luckily for him it’s a civil case and not a criminal one.  I predict an out-of-court settlement to make it go away.