Close your eyes and imagine that a hacking group backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin broke into the email system of a major U.S. political party. The group stole thousands of sensitive messages and then published them through an obliging third party in a way that was strategically timed to influence the United States presidential election. Now open your eyes, because that’s what just happened
That's slightly terrifying, isn't it?
Donald Trump's business ties to Russia go way back. Trump's campaign manager has been an advisor for the Russian-friendly Ukraine dictator who was just overthrown. Trump is suddenly talking about getting out NATO, which would be a huge boon for Russia.
I'm not a conspiracy theory guy--just don't believe them nine times out of ten--so I'm sure there's something not quite right about this story. But the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong.
(This is a great column by the Washington Post's Dana Milbank speculating how Trump would handle this news if it was about Hillary.)
Also, just as a side note, the content of those DNC e-mails is pretty sickening, especially the one suggesting the use of Bernie's religion against him. (Ironically, it's the same religion as Debbie Wasserman Schultz's religion.)
I know that this is the kind of stuff that campaigns talk about--how to beat the other guy--and they did make the right choice by not going after his religion, but it still makes me a little sad to see they actually considered it.
