On the day the Electoral College meets to certify the Nov. 8 victory of 70-year-old President-elect Donald Trump, the press continues to hammer the narrative that Russia handed the real estate tycoon the election. Trump labeled the idea “ridiculous” Dec. 11 that Russian hacking changed the outcome of the election, yet the press insists before the Electoral College meets today that the election isn’t legitimate. Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Campaign Manager John D. Podesta insists Russian hacking changed the outcome. Speaking to the editor of the New York Bedford-Pound Ridge Record in local bookstore Dec. 18, former President Bill Clinton gave a different take than the media hubbub over Russian hacking. “James Comey cost her the election,” said Clinton, agreeing with Hillary’s own assessment after the Nov. 8 election.
Mainstream press hammered Trump’s 44-year-old Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus for not buying today’s narrative about Trump winning because of Russian hacking. Republican electors have been deluged with various anti-Trump groups, convincing them to become “faithless” electors. Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein tried but failed to get recounts in key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, insisting voting systems were hacked. While Wisconsin took Stein’s cash completing the recount without any real change, Michigan and Pennsylvania rejected Stein’s wild speculation about vote tampering. “The whole thing is a spin job,” said Priebus, referring to media allegations of Russian election tampering. “And I think what the Democrats ought to do is look in the mirror and face the reality that they lost the election,” rejecting the media’s Russian hacking theory.
Whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin favored Trump is anyone’s guess. Hillary insists Putin had a vendetta against her for questioning Russia’s 2011 parliamentary elections, causing Moscow street-protests. Suggesting that Putin influenced voters in battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania is preposterous. Exit polling indicates voters went for Trump because he spent more time campaigning in the states, offering voters more economic hope. Only after Trump won the election did the Clinton campaign come up with the Russian hacking theory. If Bill Clinton blames Hillary’s loss of FBI Director James Comey, then Russian hacking didn’t play much of a role. Exposing dirty tricks in the Hillary campaign wasn’t Russia’s fault. Whether WikiLeaks got Podesta’s or the DNC’s emails from Russia doesn’t excuse Hillary’s shenanigans.
Priebus got it right that no one in the Hillary campaign wants to take responsibility for running a failed campaign. Voters wised up to collusion by the mainstream media, practically standing on their heads to get Hillary elected. When it all backfired Nov. 8, Hillary’s loss said more about a voter backlash against the mainstream media, tired of the media influencing elections. Blaming Russia’s undue influence completely ignores voters’ disgust with extreme media bias against the Trump campaign. However improbable, the Hillary campaign and media continue to reject the election results, trying to influence the Electoral College. Once the Electoral College certifies Trump’s win today, the media will continue to hammer Trump for everything he does or says. Exposing extreme bias to the public, Trump finds himself battling the broadcast and print media.
Convening a Senate Committee to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 election, won’t convince anyone without proof. President Barack Obama went on record that Russian influence in the 2016 was directed by Putin himself. “Where’s the evidence,” asked Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, noting Obama’s threat to retaliate against the Russians. “It seems like the president is under pressure from Team Hillary, who can’t accept the election results,” drawing attention to the fact that neither the FBI nor CIA has offered any proof to their theory that Putin influenced the election. Exposing Hillary’s campaign dirty secrets about sabotaging Sen. Bernie Sanders 0I-Vt.) or Democratic operative Donna Brazile feeding Hillary debate questions didn’t help Hillary’s credibility. Going after the minority vote, Hillary forgot about the silent white working class majority.
Making a big deal out of Russian influence in the 2016 election, Hillary’s campaign led by Podesta is at odds with Bill Clinton over why Hillary lost the election. Blaming Hillary’s loss on Comey, Clinton can’t admit that his wife was her own worst enemy using an unsecured private server while she ran the State Department. Voters didn’t like hearing she had paid a Denver-based tech firm to wipe her server clean after receiving a Congressional subpoena. Whatever the views of the CIA or FBI, there are plenty of reasons why Hillary lost the election, least of which alleged Russian tampering. Foreign leaders have preferences in presidential elections. If Putin preferred Trump, it doesn’t mean Russian tampering, whether or not they supplied WikiLeaks with hacked emails. Hillary campaign officials did far more tampering with the Electoral College than Putin did in the general election.
