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It is worth noting something important that is being left out about Trump’s phone call with @GaSecofState. This is all a continuation of Putin’s initial goal for his meddling in the 2016 election - to discredit our democracy. Trump is playing right into Putin’s hands...still.
In 2011 Putin blamed @HillaryClinton for protests in Russia after she as Secretary of State correctly and courageously called his recent election undemocratic. This really upset Putin and five years later he would exact his revenge. NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/world/europe/putin-accuses-clinton-of-instigating-russian-protests.html?referringSource=articleShare
Putin’s revenge against @HillaryClinton and attempt to destabilize our democracy did not start with Trump however. No. You see, in 2016 Putin helped to support three candidates: Trump, Jill Stein, and...yes, @BernieSanders. Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/16/17021248/russian-election-interference-sanders-stein-trump
So Putin’s goal of getting voters to question the legitimacy of @HillaryClinton’s success started when? Well, right on the very first day of the 2016 Democratic Convention with leaked emails aiming to sew distrust in the primary process & cause chaos: NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/dnc-emails-sanders-clinton.html
Worth remembering here too that @RobbyMook was essentially laughed at on the floor of the convention by @jaketapper when he suggested - correctly - that Russia was behind the leaked DNC emails: https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/24/politics/robby-mook-russia-dnc-emails-trump/index.html
Trump became the leading voice behind the “rigged” system message. He proclaimed to Bernie supporters that the DNC was rigged, that @HillaryClinton was not the legitimate winner, and claimed that the same would happen with the general election: https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/01/politics/donald-trump-election-2016-rigged/index.html
In fact, if you recall this became the Trump campaigns whole closing argument in 2016: the outcome was going to be rigged for @HillaryClinton and he threatened to not accept the results: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/us/politics/presidential-debate.html
This is because Trump’s plan for the next four or even eight years after 2016 was never to be President - it was to go around on cable news and Twitter questioning the legitimacy of a President @HillaryClinton. Just as Putin wanted. Leading voters in questioning the outcome.
But then - to the shock of the world and likely even Putin himself - Trump won in 2016. And so now here we are four year later and he is claiming (yet again) the system is rigged - as he actually attempts to rig it himself. Millions of his followers now question the outcome too.
And so for the next four years you should expect Trump to continue leading the chorus of those who will claim that the election was not democratic. Don’t give him that platform. Because when you do you give Putin a platform. Trump is, as @HillaryClinton warned, still his puppet.
