During the 2016 presidential election Russia undoubtedly attacked and undermined US democracy in order to aid Trump’s bid to win the presidency, as witnessed by several reports, including those produced by the bipartisan Senate intelligence committee and special counsel Robert Mueller.
Accusations that Trump called on Russian support during that election bound but, even if he didn’t, he benefitted from the Kremlin’s activities. Russian cyberattacks stole Democratic data including emails and files which were leaked almost daily via WikiLeaks during the final months of the presidential campaign. This unquestionably contributed to Hillary Clinton's defeat, though we will never know to what extent.
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US intelligence organizations have warned throughout the year, that the Kremlin is for once again using cyberattacks and disinformation against Vice President Kamal Harris’ campaign in order to boost Trump. This includes the widely shared faked video in which a paid actor claimed to have been left paralyzed following a hit and run crash involving Harris. Another attempt used a deepfake audio recording in which Barack Obama appears to suggest that Democrats had ordered the July assassination attempt on Trump.
Against this background the allegation in Bob Woodward's latest book that Trump has spoken up to seven times with Putin since leaving the White House seems quite plausible.
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Trump and Putin depend on each other, their fates are intertwined. Trump needs to regain the presidency if only to disrupt or dispose of the various criminal cases he is facing, such as federal charges that he sought to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Putin is banking on the fact that Trump will end US military aid to Ukraine and force Kyiv to accept peace terms at any cost. When asked about Woodwards revelation Trump refused to say whether he had communicated with Putin since leaving office, while insisting that “if I did, it's a smart thing.” If he did, haven’t voters the right to know what was discussed?
Unfortunately, by now it's old news along with Elon Musk's alleged secret talks with Putin. As Trump-ally Steve Bannon once said “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with s**t.” And so, although one hears a few dogs still barking, the autocratic caravan moves on.
In Pennsylvania which has 19 electoral college votes - the most among the seven decisive battleground states - counts between 100,000 and 200,000 American citizens of Ukrainian descent and 800,000 Polish Americans among its electorate. It seems that they are as split between supporting Harris and Trump as is the rest of the US.
Eugene Luciw, president of the Philadelphia branch of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, a nonpartisan advocacy group, estimates that as many as 40 percent of Ukrainian Americans in Pennsylvania will support Trump. “I think that those Ukrainians see him as the strong man, who in the end, despite his peculiarities, would be able to face Putin down — the businessman who could make the deal,” Luciw told Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin.
Although Harris in her debate against Trump directly addressed the diaspora by saying Trump would sell out Ukraine to Putin and that Poland would be Moscow’s next target, many Polish Americans will also vote for Trump. The younger generations especially do not seem to care about the fate of their ancestral homelands: America First, as Politico reported.
Putin will be more than happy to know that such voters could swing the US election in his favor.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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