In Response to: Journalist Ioffe ’05 Critiques Coverage of Russian Influence, Arguing Putin’s Power Is Overrated
Of course Ms. Ioffe is correct: Whatever effect Russian activity had in the last election for president, it is true that the kind of politics and appeal of Trump have been around for a long time, since George Wallace, the Birch Society, Pat Buchanan very much, and the non-urban GOP which has always been xenophobic, anti-Semitic, reactionary about most things, inclined toward a dim Christian view of everything, and inclined toward conspiracy theories. If Trump falls because of Russia, it will be because he has a past of dirty dealings with Russian money-laundering and other illegal financial crimes.