Opinion

Where is Trump’s response to attack?

On Nov. 11, President Donald Trump chats with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump attempted to discredit the investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election. less On Nov. 11, President Donald Trump chats with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit. In ... more Photo: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV /AFP /Getty Images Photo: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV /AFP /Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Where is Trump’s response to attack? 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Did Russian interference throw the presidential election to Donald Trump?

Certainly, that is a serious allegation, but for the purposes of fashioning a U.S. response, it simply doesn’t matter. This is true even if only 80,000 votes or so in three states did, in fact, determine the Electoral College results, Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million.

The operative words here are “Russian interference.” Put more plainly, there was an attack by a foreign power on this country. This is the only conclusion available from the recent indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller of 13 Russians involved with that interference, though U.S. intelligence agencies were unanimous about this even before the indictments.

And President Trump’s response? Well, he initially insisted that the indictments represented vindication from collusion (they don’t), and shortly after in a tweet storm, he attacked others but, notably, not Russians.

Even the president’s own national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, characterized the evidence of interference as “incontrovertible.” This was followed quickly by a Trump tweet chiding his adviser for not adding that the election’s outcome wasn’t influenced. People believing that Russian interference made a difference seems to be Trump’s fixation.

Whether Russian interference provided the tipping point is unknowable, however. Most political experts point to a few possible factors — among them the political weaknesses of Clinton, campaign strategy that left the three-state Electoral College opening for Trump, and the FBI director’s letter reopening the investigation into her emails (only to reverse himself on election’s eve).

And, yes, Russian meddling, too. With 80,000 votes in three states determining the outcome, it could be all these factors in concert or one alone that pushed Trump over the top.

But here’s all we — and the president — need to know about this Russian interference: Though no guns, tanks or missiles were involved and no lives were lost, there was an active, Kremlin-driven attempt to influence the outcome of a U.S. presidential election via social media — actions to sow division and discord, and to subvert our democratic institutions.

It was an attack.

There is no institution more critical to our democracy than the ballot box.

This demands a proportionate response. The president, meanwhile, used even the tragedy of the Parkdale, Florida, mass shooting — 17 dead and 15 injured — to divert attention from the investigation and the indictments. He tied the FBI’s failure to act on tips of the shooter’s intentions to the amount of time the FBI was spending on the Russia investigation.

No, even if the FBI’s failure to address the tips is cringe-worthy, the agency is quite capable of multitasking. And it — along with the nation’s other intelligence agencies — have done admirable work in ferreting out Russian interference.

It’s this interference — not the investigation’s possible effect on him — on which the president should be focusing.

Where is the formation of a special commission to develop strategies to stop future interference and deter Russia? Where are the words and actions that will reassure Americans that their president puts his constitutional duties to protect and defend over his desire to protect and defend himself and his business empire?

By his actions and inaction, the president is essentially doubling down on forcing people to ask: Why isn’t he taking actions to deter Russia, and why this constant attempt to undermine the investigation?

There can be no good answer, even if it has more to do with Trump’s ego and narcissism than the distinct possibility that he is acting as if he has something to hide because, well, there is something very damaging to hide.

It is not too late for the president to take his constitutional obligations seriously when it comes to Russian interference.

If he doesn’t, our intelligence agencies, even without the president’s backing, must. And Congress must begin acting more as an equal branch of government than a Trump enabler.