A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 2019 Scribner and The Washington Post On Quora, Trump supporter Jeff Blake asks this insincere question:  When will the left finally realize who really colluded with foreign countries to influence the 2016 presidential election? My reply:  News flash, sweet summer child: The “left,” the “center,” and the sane, honest members of the “right” are painfully aware that it was the Republican Party and - especially - the Trump campaign team who colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 general election. It’s only most of the “right,” particularly the die-hard core of Trump supporters and the craven leadership of the GOP, that constantly bangs on the “No collusion, no obstruction” drum. The Red Cap Brigade uses several tactics to gaslight the public and hide the modern-day Republican Party’s cozy relations with the Russians. They range from outright denial (“Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election at all.”) to clever deflection (“Russia  did...

On Quora, Trump supporter Larry "Two Accounts" Walden asks this incredibly rude question about the Mueller Report and the Democratic Party: Now that the Mueller report has been finally investigating, do you think the Democrats are a bunch of clowns? Here's my reply: This question, in all frankness, is rife with far too many issues that make it hard for anyone to understand, much less answer it in a mature, rational way. The first half,  Now that the Mueller report has been finally investigating,  makes no sense whatsoever. The two-volume Mueller Report is not a sentient, self-aware entity that can conduct an investigation on its own; therefore, it can’t investigate anything or anyone. I’m guessing that what the Trump supporter who wrote this pseudo-question really meant to say is,  Now that the Mueller investigation has come to a close, do you think the Democrats are a bunch of clowns? Which, of course, brings me to the crux of the matter. Obviously, th...

Former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III. (Photo Credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation) On Quora, Mike Demsky asks: Is Robert Mueller Really Pro-Trump? Former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is a retired Marine Corps officer, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, a lawyer, and one of the most serious and professional law enforcement officials in the history of the United States. When he was asked to act as Special Counsel in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election, Mr. Mueller did so without a political axe to grind. He is a  conservative.  A registered Republican. Decent. Forthright. A man who upholds the motto of the agency he led for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama:  Fidelity. Bravery. Integrity. I do not believe he went into the investigation thinking, “I don’t like Donald Trump. I will do everything in my power to slime him even though he is as innocent as a newborn baby.” Instea...

On Quora, Adrian J. Zarazua asks: If it’s true that Russia meddled with the 2016 US election then why did they want Donald Trump to win and not Hillary Clinton? My reply:  First of all, there is no “if.” Russian state-run hackers working for Russian Military Intelligence (or GRU in its Russian acronym) worked at the Internet Research Agency (IRA) to intervene in the ’16 elections in favor of now-President Trump. Second, Vladimir Putin had several motives for wanting Trump to win and Hillary Clinton to lose. And none of these motives were because he favors Republicans over Democratic Party pols or because he believed all the innuendoes and myths that the conservative movement has been crafting about Hillary Clinton since the 1992 Presidential election. In any criminal investigation, you have to apply the principle of  cui bono,  or, “who does it benefit?” Or more germane to the matter at hand, what does Putin’s Russia get out of a Trump Presidency? W...

On Quora, die-hard Trump supporter Eda Acuri asked this question yesterday: Why should the American public NOT take the Democrats interpretation of the Mueller's report? Quora has marked this question as being insincere. Here's my reply to Ms. Acuri: First, my fellow American, it’s not “Mueller’s report,” it’s the “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election,” by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III. If you’re going to ask loaded, insincere questions in an effort to defend  “the greatest President in American history,”  as some of you like to call Donald J. Trump, you can at least try for a modicum of accuracy when you write, especially on a public forum like Quora. Second, it’s not the “Democrats interpretation” of the above-mentioned “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election.” The way you phrased that question is as dishonest as it is grammatically incorrect, my friend....

Why are so many Trump supporters acting like the Mueller investigation ending is a victory and proof of Trump’s innocence; when the findings of the report have yet to be made public, and any actions against Trump have not been decided yet? There are several reasons why I believe that many Trump supporters are either literally or figuratively high-fiving themselves in the belief that the President is innocent of collusion after yesterday’s news that Robert Mueller finished his investigation and that a report was handed over to the Justice Department per the rules established for such an inquiry. Obviously, the main reason is that most Trump supporters do not believe that “their” President has done anything wrong, period. To them, he is the Chosen One who will build the wall on the southern border, “make America great again,” and even though he has flaws up the yazoo, “God chose him to lead our country to undo the damage that that Muslim ‘fake President’ Obummer did over eight yea...