It's Putin's party — and Republicans are celebrating like it's 2016 all over again

It has been nearly eight years since the Republican Party had anything to celebrate following an election of much significance.

Way back then, which still feels like only yesterday to many of us, the GOP was able to parlay a perfect dose of voter apathy, misogyny, and Russian interference into one of the most unlikely victories in American history.

My fingers burn just typing that sentence.

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The weakness of our antiquated, ridiculous electoral college had finally been exploited in spectacular fashion, as the victor, Donald J. Trump, lost the popular vote by close to three million votes.

The Earth shook, and the Blue Wall of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania came tumbling down. Democrats were left to sift through the rubble on the dreadful morning following that election on November 8, 2016, wondering how, and if, they could ever pick up the pieces.

Republicans now held the House, the Senate, the Court, the Presidency and Americans by their necks.

Putin held a party.

We know now that shaken Democrats quickly regained their senses and their fight, and coalesced to form one of the most durable, successful voting blocs in recent history. With renewed enthusiasm and spirit, the party of Blues have been winning elections at an impressive clip. Order has been restored. The Blue Wall has been rebuilt, and Putin’s puppet was sent packing by Joe Biden in 2020.

The flailing Republicans have been unable to stem the tide, losing one important election after another. The Democrats have defied noxious polls, and killer pandemics, and turned out the vote to reclaim the high ground, as well as the hearts and minds of a majority of voters in America.

It has been a stunning and inspiring turnaround.

Democrats have been right on their messaging, fighting for causes they believe in like a woman’s right to choose, healthcare for all and our Democracy, while Republicans have been wrong at nearly every turn, because they are paid big money which flows from deep, dark pockets to be completely out of touch with most of this country.

With another November starting to approach like a freight train, is it any surprise then, that the party of Putin, has once again turned its longing, tired eyes toward Moscow with the hope of replicating the success it had in 2016?

They are a party devoid of ideas and issues that really benefit anybody at all except the filthy rich, Putin, and his orange, blubbering puppet.

I’m not wrong about this.

Trump is not a candidate, as much as he is a desperate cult leader who was pitching $400 sneakers to his slobbery supporters last Saturday. He’s a loser, a rapist, and a two-bit criminal, who owes hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and penalties to a growing number of states and individuals in this country.

This also makes him a prime Russian asset.

He is more dangerous than he has ever been before, which is why I want to take a quick look back at his partnership with Russia before proceeding forward with extreme caution.

There is nothing he won’t do to stay out of jail. We already know what he tried just to stay in office.

Let’s start with the infamous Mueller Report, because thanks to Trump’s corrupt Attorney General Bill Barr and a willing press, that one has never been depicted for what it truly was: an incredible indictment of the traitor, Trump, and his willingness and eagerness to obstruct justice in that investigation, and of course, his eagerness to work with Putin.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found loads of concerning evidence of the traitor Trump and his association with Russia leading up to the 2016 campaign. It meticulously detailed how Trump’s associates had regular contact with Russians and expected to benefit from the Kremlin’s help.

The Russians attacked the 2016 election with hopes of installing Trump in the White House. This is not disputed by Republicans or Democrats. A Republican-led bipartisanSenate Report released in 2020 found that the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russian intelligence services during the 2016 presidential election posed a grave counterintelligence threat.

The Mueller Report lists multiple examples of how Moscow blasted the U.S. with an unprecedented information warfare campaign to confuse and anger voters to benefit Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton.

Remember, Trump literally asked out loud for Russia's help on the campaign trail. “Russia, if you’re listening …”

Mueller made clear to everybody, even if they refused to listen that Trump and his henchmen obstructed his investigation at every turn, typing:

"When a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government's effort to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable."

The investigation resulted in prison for among others, Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Manafort's deputy, Rick Gates, and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn both pleaded guilty, but were never sentenced, and were ultimately pardoned by Trump. Scores of Russian nationals were also charged.

The report famously ends with this:

"If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly didn't commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report doesn't conclude that the president committed a crime, it also doesn’t exonerate him.”

As we painfully now know, this was a fatal and naive error. Mueller somehow did not think it fell on him to punish the traitor, and seemed to think instead that the Republicans would clean up their traitorous mess (Trump) through impeachment and removal. We know now that they did (and are continuing to do) the complete opposite. Trump and his party continue to be Russian assets.

Through their attacks on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), refusal to support Ukraine, their silence about the murder of Putin’s rival Alexei Navalny, and continued use of faulty Russian intelligence to go after our Democracy and President Biden and his family, we must be reminded again of what former Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to tell us: When it comes to Trump and the Republican Party, "all roads lead to Putin."

This is no laughing matter, folks. The Republicans and Russia are trying to end our Democracy and install a dictator, Trump, who we know for a fact means this country harm.

They have signaled that they will stop at absolutely nothing to finish their attempted coup and install a maniac into our White House who will burn it all down to settle scores and at the behest of Putin.

They know it is their only shot. They know they can’t win on the issues, because they don’t have any. They know they can’t win on truth, because they have absolutely no idea what that even is anymore.

They are desperate and they are very dangerous.

They must be stopped.

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D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. Follow @EarlofEnough and on his website.