Back in July, in the words of Senator Nancy Pelosi, “Congress passed a bill on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis requiring the Administration to impose defense and intelligence sanctions on entities purchasing Russian military equipment.” This legislation, we were told at the time, was necessary, among other things, to both punish the Russians for having meddled in the 2016 U.S. election, and to ensure that they never do it again. The legislation, which was titled the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, moved through both houses of Congress with overwhelming majorities, passing the House on July 25, 2017 in a 419 to 3 vote, and then passing the Senate two days later in a 98 to 2 vote. Trump, who had lobbied against the bill, said that it would “(encroach) on the executive branch’s authority to negotiate” and “(make) it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people.” In spite of his objections, however, he went ahead and signed the bill into law. As of yesterday, though, the President had yet to put any of the Russian sanctions outlined in the bill into effect. And, yesterday, for those of you who didn’t have it marked on your calendars, was the deadline placed on him by Congress… the date by which the Trump administration was to have taken action.
As the deadline approached last night, the Trump administration, through a State Department spokesperson, offered the following explanation for their inaction.
You read that right. The statement actually said, “Sanctions on specific entities or individuals will not need to be imposed because the legislation is, in fact, serving as a deterrent.” So the threat of the legislation was so effective, in the opinion of the Trump administration, that, really, we don’t even have to act on it… which I might be able to accept, if not for the fact that Russia, even in the estimation of Trump appointees, remains a very serious threat. Take, for instance, this new headline from Time.
So CIA Director Mike Pompeo, a Trump appointee, says he “fully expects” Russia to attempt to interfere with U.S. midterm elections, and yet Donald Trump has decided not to take action to prevent it from happening… Trump, for all intents and purposes, is essentially inviting the Russians to do it again, without fear of consequence.
Here, from around the internet, are just a few responses.
Senator Claire McCaskill: “Congress voted 517-5 to impose sanctions on Russia. The President decides to ignore that law. Folks that is a constitutional crisis. There should be outrage in every corner of this country.”
Congressman Eliot Engel: “I’m fed up waiting for this Administration to protect our country and our elections… They chose to let Russia off the hook yet again.”
Senator Nancy Pelosi: “Congress gave Donald Trump the tools to hold Russia accountable. He chose to reject implementing sanctions – showing brazen disregard for an action with overwhelming bipartisan support… Instead of holding Russia accountable for its attacks on our country undermining our elections, the President is waging an all-out attack on our patriotic intelligence and law enforcement communities making our country less safe. The White House’s repeated decisions to let Putin have a free pass make Americans question, what do the Russians have on the President, politically, financially and personally?”
Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov: “Incredible. Trump defies Congress to protect Putin, who attacked the US election to help Trump. Those are plain facts. Is is possible to believe he isn’t compromised?”
Russian state television host Olga Skabeeva: “Trump is ours again!”
Why would a man in Trump’s position refuse to act? Why would a president deny to follow though on legislation that almost unanimously passed through Congress? Or, more to the point, why would a president, besieged by rumors that he’s essentially being controlled by a hostile foreign power, not take the opportunity, when it’s offered to him, to stand up against said foreign power? As far as I can tell, there’s only one explanation, and it’s that Donald Trump really is under the complete and total control of Russia. I don’t see any other logical explanation as to why he wouldn’t act to protect our nation from such a clear and present danger.
In a more perfect world, Americans would be up in arms about this. Our Congress, almost unanimously, passed legislation to punish Russia for their election meddling in 2016 – election meddling which, by they way, everyone in the U.S. intelligence community agrees happened. And yet our President has chosen not only to stop these sanctions from moving forward, but to attempt the rollback of previous sanctions put in place by the Obama administration… This is really happening right now, in our country… Russia is a threat. And our President is unwilling to do what is necessary to safeguard the United States… This isn’t about 2016. This is about our future, and protecting the integrity of our democratic institutions. The first question asked of any member of Congress from this point forward should be, “What do you intend to do about President Trump’s refusal to act on the Russian sanctions demanded by Congress, and his refusal to deal with the real, ongoing threat posed by Russia?”
If you want, though, we can also talk about the State of the Union. Personally, I didn’t watch. From what I hear, though, some folks really liked it.
