Russians target U.S. elections

Posted: April 20, 2018

Investigation continues; impact measured, Trump involvement questioned

Is Russia tampering with American public opinion? Did Russia meddle in our election? This is a question that hung over the 2016 presidential election, and since then, all of Donald Trump’s presidency. After firing the head of the FBI (supposedly for influencing the election days before Election Day by reopening the Clinton email investigation) Trump appointed a special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, to investigate whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians to affect the election. While there are still a lot of things up in the air, it has become clear that Russia did try to tamper with our election.

The Russian’s attempts to meddle in American politics began four years ago, with the intent to take down any bid for presidency made by Hillary Clinton. When Trump came along, Russia worked to aid his campaign. Recently, Mueller accused 13 Russians and three companies with interfering in the 2016 election to benefit Trump’s campaign. Mueller’s indictment does not say that the Russian government was involved in the meddling, nor did it bring up Russian hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), so there is probably more to come. His indictment also shed a lot of light on the methods used to undermine our election.

The campaign to undermine Clinton involved supporting Sanders, Trump and eventually Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, by using bots on social media to give people the impression of overwhelming support of the other candidates, and overwhelming dislike of Clinton. Russians also hacked the DNC and the computer of Clinton’s campaign chairman. They then published information that would harm Clinton’s campaign. It is pretty clear that the Russians were very strategic in the timing of their publishing, which leads to the question: were they coordinating with Trump’s campaign?

According to The New York Times, “[there is] extensive evidence of contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign.” For instance, Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer to receive negative information about Clinton. The question that remains is: was that illegal?

Until Mueller completes his investigation, we can’t know exactly what has happened or will happen. There are three big questions that need to be answered: Were Russia’s attempts to impact our election successful? Did Trump (or his campaign) collude with Russia (illegally) to win the election? And was the Russian government involved in these attacks on our democracy?

 

 

You may also like…

Guthrie Theater Play Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Under moonlit mischief and a pulsing musical heartbeat, Shakespeare’s classic comedy soars. Where laughter, live music, and theatrical chaos combine to create an unforgettable Midsummer night. Renowned for its romance, pranks, and magical mayhem, Shakespeare’s A...

1-on-1 with Izzy Daniel

The Toronto Sceptres rookie reflects on her 2nd game in her home state Izzy Daniel, a Minnesota native and 2019 Ms. Hockey finalist, played her second game back in her home state while playing for Toronto this season. With Toronto picking up their first win this...

The Hidden Dangers of Overdosing

Increasing OD risk, RN talks about the effects of accidental teenage overdoses and how they impact everyone. A Local Nurse’s Perspective on the Teen Epidemic  At Fairview Hospital in Minnesota, Sarah Curry, a registered nurse (RN), has witnessed firsthand the...

Running for gold

Spanish teacher's life filled with adventure, resilience You are running through the Amazon, gold in hand, scared of who and what lies ahead. You think you hear voices, where will you go? What will you do? Your life may be in danger. This is how Spanish teacher Julio...

Slideshow: SMB Football Wolfpack’s Section Quarterfinal Heartbreak Captured by Ezra Victor

Wolfpack won’t go down without a fight The SMB Wolfpack football team—a co-op of Minnehaha Academy, the Blake School, St. Paul Academy, and Hope Academy—faced DeLaSalle in the Class 4A, Section 5 quarterfinal on October 22 at...