Even as President-elect Donald Trump works to appoint a new Secretary of State who would be best suited to carry out his foreign policy there are those busy working to undermine it. Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain have already sent a message that the new president had better not stray from the disastrous course of planned by Hillary Clinton and are packing their bags for a trip to Ukraine.

The former Soviet territory has been a dangerous flashpoint ever since a U.S. backed coup championed by Hillary protege Victoria Nuland toppled democratically elected leader Viktor Yanukovych and none other than McCain was spotted in Kiev palling around with neo-Nazis who were instrumental in carrying out the regime change. The liberal interventionists and neocons whose hopes of landing gigs in Hillary’s regime were dashed when Trump won the election but they aren’t about to just give up.

According to the Washington Post “Congress may spoil Trump’s Russian reset”:

Before Trump takes the oath of office, McCain and Graham will lead a congressional delegation to Ukraine, Georgia and Estonia to reassure these European partners that Washington is still committed to confronting Russian aggression. Starting in January, the pair will hold a series of hearings highlighting Russia’s transgressions around the world, including war crimes in Syria, cyberattacks, propaganda campaigns and threats to Baltic states. In addition, Graham has said he wants to use his chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee to steer new funds to European allies for battling Moscow.

And the Hill reports “Senators vow to counter Trump on Russia”:

Lawmakers would like the president-elect to rein in Russia, but they’re also signaling that Congress will act on its own. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said when it comes to Russia he’s planning to be “a bit of a hard ass.” “We cannot sit on the sidelines as a party and let allegations against a foreign government interfering in our election process go unanswered because it may have been beneficial to our case for the moment,” he said. The Obama administration formally accused Russia of hacking and leaking Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails last month as lawmakers debated how to respond to Moscow. Graham added that he is planning a multi-pronged approach: A package to better help allies in eastern Europe counter Russian aggression and a series of hearings to shine a spotlight on Russia’s “misadventures.” Graham’s closest ally, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, separately warned Trump against another “reset” of U.S.-Moscow relations, arguing that he should be skeptical of Putin’s quest for a better relationship. “We should place as much faith in such statements as any other made by a former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies and attempted to undermine America’s elections,” McCain said.

The re-elected McCain has been particularly confrontational after Trump’s election, a continuation of the hostilities between the two men stretching back to last summer when the Arizona codger served as an early catalyst to fire up Trump supporters by smearing them all as crazies.

If President Trump is to have any chance at draining the swamp he will have to focus some of his efforts on snakes like McCain and Graham who have risen to the stature where they are practically the heads of a shadow Republican party if not a shadow government given their parroting of Hillary Clinton’s talking points.

The worst forms of corruption in the D.C. sewer is bipartisan in nature and Trump needs to use the bully pulpit very effectively to point this out and bring scrutiny upon the two Gang of Eighters and their murky meddling in U.S. foreign policy that seems to be immune to elections.

Originally published at Downtrend.com