Well this is truly epic.
Those who have followed Donald Trump’s campaign from his grandiose, golden escalator descent in the summer of July, 2015 all the way to his victory at the polls last month know that everyone’s favorite brazen, bellicose billionaire likes to talk about Russia.
Specifically, Trump likes to talk about how great it would be if Washington and Moscow got along better. The President-elect has also expressed doubts about whether or not Russia was ultimately behind the hacking of the DNC and in what is perhaps the surest sign of all that the incoming administration will seek to strike a conciliatory tone with the Kremlin, Trump chose ExxonMobil CEO, and friend-o’-Putin Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.
So pervasive is the Trump/ Russia meme that it’s become something of a standing joke amongst the liberal media.
On Tuesday we learn that Russia didn’t even make Trump’s list when it came time to outline top defense priorities. According to a memo obtained by Foreign Policy, “the document, dated Dec. 1, was written by acting Undersecretary of Defense for policy Brian McKeon to employees in his office. In it, McKeon said the four-point list of priorities was conveyed to him by Mira Ricardel, a former Bush administration official and co-leader of Trump’s Pentagon transition team.” Here it is:
“For the media to speculate that this list of issues represents all of the president-elect’s priorities is completely erroneous and misleading,” one Trump official fired back, scolding Foreign Policy for daring to suggest that perhaps Russia didn’t make the list of defense priorities because … well… because Russia isn’t a defense priority.
There’s a fine line between being fair and balanced and displaying clear signs of Russophilia and autocrat-worship. I’d contend that the incoming president displays the latter, as do some very popular websites.
This seemed like an appropriate way to close:
