A Dangerous Mouth
If history holds, Donald Trump will claim that the press is making too much of his comments that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton's emails. But that's what he said. Any way you slice it, his remarks are both bizarre and dangerous.
"Russia, if you're listening," he said at a news conference in Florida on Wednesday, "I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing." It was a reference to emails reportedly deleted from Hillary Clinton's server.
Debating what Clinton should or shouldn't have done with her emails is fair political game. Wishing that a foreign power compromise the United States, even if in jest, jeopardizes national security.
Even Trump's vice presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, seemed shocked by Trump's comments and moved quickly to distance himself from them: "If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you that both [political] parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences."
Trump's not a reality show performer anymore. He's one election away from the White House, and as such, anything that comes out of his mouth has consequences.
Words have meaning. The world is listening. And what the world is hearing is a man demonstrating that he is unfit to sit in the Oval Office.
Russia is thought to be responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee's servers, leading to WikiLeaks' public release of nearly 20,000 DNC emails on the eve of the Democratic Party's nominating convention in Philadelphia. That email dump embarrassed the DNC and led to the resignation this week of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Regardless of how Trump says he meant it, a presidential candidate seeming to bless a foreign power and adversary to spy on the United States and a political rival is plainly outrageous. Ronald Reagan rightly took heat for his "we begin bombing in five minutes" joke caught on an open mike as he was preparing to make his weekly Saturday radio address. It was clearly a joke not intended for public consumption. Presidents and would-be presidents must show restraint.
There is an unwritten rule that presidential candidates don't cheer against the United States even if it could damage their political opponent. Coming off a week in which Trump suggested that he would leave NATO countries to go it alone in the event of an attack, his inflammatory remarks Wednesday have him doubling down on pro-Russian and pro-Putin comments.
Foreign governments shouldn't be encouraged to mess around with our domestic politics and national security. Through a spokesman, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan quickly challenged Trump's assertions: "Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug. Putin should stay out of this election."
Unfazed, Trump later doubled down with a series of tweets echoing his comments in Florida.
It is frightening that Trump can't control himself and treats public appearances as an open mike session at a comedy night. The presidency is a post for an adult, not a guy who can’t control his mouth.
Comments