When is a Conspiracy Theory not a Theory?
Answer, when is is backed up by facts. It helps if the facts are widely known and from reliable sources. This is seldom true, which is why I’ve been skeptical of conspiracy theories in the past. This essay may, in fact, be no more than theory. I invite you to read it, think about it, fact-check it.
I begin with a question: Lacking military and economic assets to launch an external attack, how would an enemy destroy the United States?
Answer, from within. Use US institutions against it. Weaken or destroy links to friendly nations. Do so covertly so as to avoid the risk of open war. That has been tried before, unsuccessfully.
Do we have such an enemy?
Consider recent events in Eastern Europe, the Russo-Georgian War of 2008. Consider the annexation of Crimea. Consider the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Facts, easily verified.
Conclusion, Russia, directed by Vladimir Putin, is expansionist. It is actively engaged in an attempt to bring the former nations of the USSR under Russian control. There is no reason to suppose Putin’s ambitions will stop at that. Some conjecture, but based on fact.
How can Putin remove the greatest obstacle to his ambitions, the United States of America?
Consider American alliances, American trade partners, and American institutions. Consider American weakness. We destroyed the political system set up by the founders. We turned our government over to two political parties, which systematically set up procedures designed to hamper formation of others. Power was their goal, money was the means. Political professionals sold our government for money. Which they spent in the effort to gain political power, which would then be used to generate more money to gain more power. The cycle was endless. We knew, and did nothing.
Our economy was handed over to oligarchs and multi-national corporations, which did what capitalist entities always do: invest money and seek the greatest possible return on that investment. If cheap labor could not be brought in, jobs would be sent to where the cheap labor was. Socialism became a curse word. Capitalism ruled. No one questioned the false doctrine that competition always ensured more opportunity, more social mobility, more efficiency.
Competition could easily be blocked by payment to a Congressman, who would then slip an ‘amendment’ into an unrelated, must-pass bill. We knew, and did nothing.
We sheep prepared ourselves for slaughter.
Vladimir Putin recognized our weakness. Now we come to the recent national elections.
US and foreign intelligence agencies have evidence that has led them to conclude that Russia interfered in the election. Putin ordered the interference. It was carried out by hacking and disinformation, commonly called fake news, generated to aid Donald Trump and discredit Hillary Clinton. Information gathered from the hacks was released through Wikileaks, possibly others. It was furnished through a cutout to protect the source of the information, but hacking is based on code which includes information about where it originated. Intelligence agencies report the hacks were done by Russians and the campaign was directed by Vladimir Putin.
The effort was designed to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump. Clinton supporters considered him a joke at first, a boor, a bully, a clown. Others, victimized by our political parties and the people who control our economy, saw him as an outsider who would reset the stage. Already looking for a way to upset those in control, they were ready when Putin launched his covert effort to weaken the US from within.
The operation succeeded. We elected Donald Trump. Most of those who voted (many didn’t, or couldn’t) voted for Hillary Clinton. Nevertheless, Donald Trump won election.
We assumed his first official acts, nominations of persons to head departments or advise him, were based on foolishness.
But were they? Or were they part of an effort to attack American institutions, part of a covert attack on the nation? Consider the following:
Trump nominated a man to head the Energy Department who once promised, if elected, to shut it down. The Energy Department is responsible, among other things, for the nation’s nuclear stockpile.
He nominated a woman to head the Education Department whose expressed aim is to weaken public education by taking money from public schools and handing it over to for-profit charter schools.
He nominated a man for Secretary of State, fourth in line of succession to the presidency, who has never held public office, never served in the armed forces, but who holds an award given him by Vladimir Putin: the Russian Order of Friendship. This nominee still has deep economic ties to Russia and Russians. The award has been given to many, including George Blake, an espionage double agent from the UK. Fact.
He nominated a man to head the Department of Health and Human Services who once declined a similar position, citing lack of knowledge and experience. Fact.
He has surrounded himself with people who would not question his motives. These include a propagandist, formerly the head of an Alt-Right news organization. Another is a former intelligence director, removed for inability to lead a major agency. Whose ability to bend truth labeled his conclusions as ‘Flynn Facts’. Fact.
Foolish? Or something more?
Donald Trump has already acted to weaken our trading relationship with China. China has responded by pressing harder in the South China Sea, threatening US allies and some who may no longer be allies.
Donald Trump has disparaged NATO, threatening to not respond if, in his judgment, member nations had not ‘been paying their bills’. His remarks were made during an interview with a NY Times reporter. Facts. It is noteworthy that US troops just moved into Poland; their presence is intended to act as a deterrent to Russian pressure. Poland, formerly occupied by the USSR, is now a member of NATO.
Foolish? Or something more?
One more fact: The U.S. Constitution states, in Article Three, Section Three: “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”
The Russian Federation, with the knowledge of and at the order of Vladimir Putin, interfered with the American election in an effort to elect Donald Trump. Putin’s Russia is, by definition, an enemy.
Donald Trump has frequently expressed admiration for Putin and Russia. Fact.
Donald Trump, as President-elect, has acted and spoken in a manner designed to weaken American government institutions, including departments headed by nominees to become part of his cabinet. His nominations include persons who have stated in the past that they intend to destroy such institutions. He has made statements designed to weaken American alliances and trade relationships. Fact.
I therefore consider the evidence clear, that more than two ‘witnesses’ have observed overt acts by Donald Trump. He has ‘adhered to an enemy, has given an enemy aid and comfort’. Fact.
By his statements and his actions, Donald Trump has met the definition of treason. Fact.
Donald Trump is a traitor.
Conjecture: Donald Trump may be a fool, but he may also be part of a massive covert attack against the United States, an attack directed by Vladimir Putin. I have not included another conjecture in this essay, that Trump is being influenced by compromising information held in a dossier by Russians.
I wonder if essayists in the past have felt as nervous, even fearful, as I do now?
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