cut it out, liberals.

The Russophobia passing through the liberal sphere in the U.S. is comic, if not rather sinister. The discovery that Putin is Dr. Evil is a little belated, and heralded with the usual U.S. amnesia. Hmm, what country was it, long ago and far away, that supported Putin's patron, Yeltsin, an incompetent drunkard, as he ran for president of Russia? Ah, yes, that was the Americans under Clinton. They were quite proud of using the media, which was pretty much under oligarchic diktat, to wage the kind of one sided campaign that makes for the election of world historical bandits. Did the Clinton administration think twice about, say, helping a government that was waging a dirty war in Chechnya? No. As a reminder of how Russia went from Yeltsin to Putin, a good amnesia lifter is this article by Tony Wood in the LRB.

The mania of the Russophobe contingent has drawn in remarkably unsavory characters, who first made their mark flogging Islamophobia, or promoting ever more American intervention and war. Trump no doubt has a secret with Russia - which seems to me to be flouting U.S. sanctions on Russia, a common enough business crime. Because it is a business crime, CEOs are rarely treated to prison for it - like, say, truly horrendous things, like being late on paying for your parking tickets in Ferguson, MO. Instead, they do the trial, sign the agreement that they weren't guilty, pay the fine, take the tax deduction, and hire the Justice department flunky after a suitable time interval at a grossly bloated salary. This isn't called bribery, but meritocracy. Trump, being extraordinarily stupid, hasn't gone this route.

There are literally hundreds of ways the American dream has failed the majority of Americans. There is, actually, one successful way for the Dems to campaign: promise that their voters will be richer. Which is a thing the government can easily jumpstart. The reason wages were high in the 60s and 70s and lag now to the point that we are looking like the 1910s is that neither party cares. The GOP maliciously doesn't care, while the Dems don't care in the nicest, concern trolling way. Well, cut that out Dems. And don't expect Russophobia to bring you to the promised land. Cause that is just stupid.