Physician, Investigate Thyself

“We are coming on the air tonight because in a few moments, President Trump will be giving a speech...expected to address safety and security of American elections — a topic of course that the president has talked a lot about for years now, at times almost constantly. And honestly, much of what the president had said on this topic has been false. Most notably, of course, the claim that he won the 2020 election, when of course he did not.” - CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil

Yes, the President's speech was Thursday night, and of the three major networks, only CBS, predictably, decided to air it on it's over-the-air operation. I wanted to watch them because since the takeover by the Ellison family of MAGA supporters, and the installation of Bari Weiss as head of news, I feared the worst.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at the calm way the panel set fire to the Trump straw men during the speech, only 15 minutes of which they aired when it became obvious it was turning into a Trump rally. I have had enough producers hollering into my earpiece on the air that I could practically hear this one yelling, "OK, let's dump the speech and go to analysis!"

Part of the reason it went well is due to the presence of Major Garrett on the panel. I used to interview him regularly on the radio in Houston when he was with US News and World Report magazine. And I'm sure he was tired of my intro question every time about why they hadn't promoted him to Colonel yet.

When the President went into scary sounding things like the notion that China had obtained the voter rolls here in America, he calmly explained that it didn't take a massive secret internet hack. Anyone can get them. You can get them. All it takes is money. That's why you get a candidate flyer in the mail for someone you have no interest in during a campaign. That's because that candidate's team bought the list and you're on it.

When the President went into fearsome talk about some durned foreigners voting for Democrats, he calmly explained that it happens so rarely as to be a non-issue. And he had the numbers. He also explained the presidentially-intended confusion over voting machines. They aren't on the internet and can't be hacked. And they all produce a paper result that can be checked.

Tony Dokoupil is married to Katy Tur, the very liberal anchor at MSNOW, or whatever they are called these days. I am hoping that after this performance he won't have to sleep on the couch anymore.

And to those who are angry that ABC and NBC didn't interrupt programming to air it, well, it's happened before.

• September 2022: Major networks bypassed President Joe Biden's “Battle for the Soul of the Nation” speech in Philadelphia, classifying it as a highly political pre-midterm speech criticizing his opponents.
• November 2014: ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox all declined to air President Barack Obama's primetime address on executive actions regarding immigration, citing a desire to avoid interrupting popular shows for what they viewed as a non-emergency policy speech.

Of course, now, the President wants the Federal Communications Commission to punish those that didn't carry it.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwaynejohnboybillybob Mullin said of the non-carrying networks, “How shameful is that?” Of course he is commenting on this since ICE has nothing else to deal with right now. Oh, OK, maybe two fatal shootings this week, and one today where an ICE detention center employee shot a woman protester in the back.

Yeah, but this is about TV, podnuh!

Now, the irony of all this is that while the President focused on China's role in trying to influence elections, he ignored Russia. That is for the very good reason - that they did that same thing on his behalf.

Yuri Shvets, a former KGB major, chief intelligence operative in Washington and prominent intelligence analyst, alleges that Donald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset for over 40 years. According to Shvets, the KGB first targeted Trump in the 1980s, identifying him as highly susceptible to influence due to his "vanity, narcissism, and greed."

Did Russia try to influence the 2016 election on Trump's behalf? Forbes Magazine reported...

"Russian President Vladimir Putin directly ordered the hacking of the Democratic Party’s servers with the goal of leaking damaging information that would hurt then-candidate Hillary Clinton and provide a boost to President Trump’s campaign, the final report from the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election released Tuesday found, among other damaging findings." 

Dr. Timothy Snyder in his book "The Road to Unfreedom," quotes a Russian journalist telling him the Russian propaganda machine went all out to "...show Trump in a positive way and Hillary Clinton in a negative way." The results of the 2016 election drew a round of applause in the Duma, the Russian Parliament.

So, yeah, it happens, and no doubt there are some outside actors that favor the Democrats. And in this age of social media, there will be some attempts, with varying degrees of sophistication, to achieve that success.

But that is not changing an election result. It isn't switching votes.

In reviewing Snyder's book, British journalist Max Dunbar wrote...

"Putin’s appeal to Trump was obvious anyway: a fellow authoritarian strongman who shared a love of power, and an aversion to people of colour, assertive women, free expression, and critical media. The Trump model has unlikely imitators.

The Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn is seen as a kindly socialist but with its antisemitism, its love of strong leaders and its dislike of uppity women and journalists, his movement is basically Trumpism with sandals."

So, this goes on all the time, and we have certainly tried to influence elections in other countries as well. So why is it being rehashed now? Two reasons actually.

One is the mid-term elections are coming up, and the country has soured on the economy, foreign policy, and the wretched excess of both the President's greed and his unbound relationship with the truth. So, you need to scare people enough to allow some kind of federalization of the election. Is declaring some sort of national emergency too far-fetched? Maybe, maybe not.

The other is that Trump still cannot accept, even 6 years and one victory later, that he ever lost. Let's face it, at the top of the MAGA food pyramid are sour grapes.

The White House, what's left of it, has released some documents to prove all the fear-mongering. Ironically, among the documents is one discussing Russian attempts to smear Joe Biden...

[REDACTED] President Putin and senior Russian officials are overseeing efforts by proxies– [REDACTED] –to spread claims about former Vice President Biden as well as Ukrainian politicians and alleged Ukrainian influence in the 2016 US election. These claims include that when the former Vice President was in office, he engaged in criminal activity in his dealings with Ukraine and individuals tied to Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, Derkach, Kilimnik, and other proxy actors affiliated with the Russian Government are advancing such narratives with US officials and other prominent persons as well as online, including through personal interactions and audio and documentary film releases via US and Ukrainian media outlets.

[REDACTED] These figures are conspiring to intensify their efforts as the election approaches to orchestrate a high-profile corruption scandal implicating former Vice President Biden and the Democratic Party at the peak of the 2020 US presidential campaign. Their aim is to defeat the former Vice President and ensure the President’s victory.

This activity was even before the President's phone call to threaten Ukraine funding if President Zelenskyy didn't open an investigation into Biden. You know, that "perfect call?"

So, is anyone buying this? There are toadies on Capitol Hill that will march in lockstep over a cliff if it means he won't endorse a challenger. Looking at you, though it's hard, Tommy Tuberville.

And, there is a certain segment of voters who will believe anything he utters.

After all, they bought into the idea that Antifa Ninja Frogmen ruined the reflecting pool. Hey, anything can happen.