A week after the U.S. elections and Donald Trump actually winning, the real issue is the frenemy relationship between the U.S. and Russia. It is no surprise that our relationship with Russia has been strained and became more strained with Vladimir Putin interference in Syria. Russia interfering in the ongoing conflict in Syria has caused more issues which will have an effect on relationships with other foreign leaders. As you may recall, President-Elect Trump praised Putin and even stated he was a better leader than President Obama. Moreover, his former campaign manager Paul Manafort is currently under investigation for his ties to Russia with prominent businessmen. With the many issues surrounding President-Elect Trump, our relationship with Russia will be the test of his presidency in dealing with Mr. Putin.
This past summer the DNC computer systems were hacked by the Russians, or at least that is what the DNC says. Information revealed illustrated how the DNC was opposed to Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign, how the organization and Hillary’s campaign plotted against Sen. Sanders. Also, the information highlighted former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz bias for the Clinton campaign and was part of the “mean” emails discussing methods to end Sen. Sanders campaign. Going back to the 2008 and 2012 elections, China attempted to hack into the computer systems of President Obama, Mitt Romney (2012) and John McCain(2008) campaigns. With Russia being successful hacking into the DNC which needs better firewall protection, the questions raised are how much damage is done to the U.S. and Russia relationship? And, did the hacking really influence the results of the elections?
“If the American public was interested in the political process like China and Russia we would have higher voter turnout.” Rachel Maddow
In the history of U.S. elections, a foreign country has never interfered nor influenced who will become the next president. This has caused bigger issues for our government such as being vulnerable. If Vladimir Putin ordered for the DNC to be hacked, what will Mr. Trump do? Or, is he going to do anything at all? If the U.S. has become vulnerable, more hacking from foreign countries can become frequent, not a good position for the U.S. Reportedly, Russia has admitted to hacking the computer systems to influence the elections; however, history has shown us Mr. Putin enjoys games and this could be one of his games in order to gain more leverage.
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/trumps-win-signals-open-season-russias-political-hackers/