In the great – and I do mean great – movie, Citizen Kane, Charles Foster Kane ran for Governor. The New York Inquirer, which he owned, had two banner headlines ready for election night: “KANE ELECTED”, and “FRAUD AT POLLS!” Obviously, the headline to be selected had nothing whatsoever to do with election integrity, only whether Kane won or lost.
I was reminded of this yesterday, when I heard President Trump’s explaining why, if Barack Obama knew about Russia’s attempts to influence the election in August of last year, he did nothing about it.
Trump’s answer?
“I think he thought Hillary Clinton was going to win the election, and he said, ‘Let’s not do anything about it.’”
In other words, President Trump believes that Mr. Obama’s reaction – i.e. sitting on his hands for three months – was due to his assumption that Hillary Clinton would win. If he had any inkling she would lose, he would have acted very quickly and very publicly. It had nothing whatsoever to do with election integrity, only whether Clinton won or lost.
I couldn’t agree more.
Funny how a movie released in 1941 could be so relevant to the present…
