Over the past few days, we have learned how the C.I.A. has become quite certain that Russian hacking efforts during the past U.S. election cycle were intended not just to interfere with the process, but to aid Donald Trump's candidacy. In response, President Obama has ordered further inquiry into the matter, and elected officials from both parties are calling for investigations.
It is hard to think of allegations more serious than that a hostile foreign power has worked to undermine our democracy and support its preferred candidate in an election; but the allegations are that serious.
Yet in an interview with Fox News Sunday, Donald Trump completely dismissed this possibility, and called the reports of Russian actions to benefit him "ridiculous." What is in fact "ridiculous" is for a president-elect to dismiss out of hand, without any engagement with the facts of the case, charges as deadly serious as these. And as if dismissing the issue weren't bad enough, Trump suggests that these reports are being promulgated by sore-loser Democrats, which would mean that Democrats, not Russians, are actively working to undermine the election results. In fact, this would in turn suggest a conspiracy between the Democratic Party and the CIA to subvert our democracy.
Do we need any clearer evidence that this man is unfit for the presidency? Not simply not taking seriously an incredibly troubling issue, but slandering the opposition in an obvious attempt to protect himself? In declining to take the accusations seriously, he fails the oath of office he is soon to take, which will call for him to "preserve, protect and defend" the U.S. Constitution. The fact that he has such an obvious self-interest in dismissing the allegations, and has chosen self-interest over the national interest, should also be clear to anyone paying attention to this issue. We see an enormous blind spot threatening to engulf his presidency even before it begins: any threats to the U.S. will be ignored if handling them presents a threat to Donald Trump.