It may be the case that the baby boom generation is defined by the influence of the Cold War. For me, a child of a Holocaust survivor, the Cold War and World War II reverberated through my childhood. That is not the case for today's youth, for whom Vietnam is comparably more distant.
The point is: we know about Russia. After the close of the World War, the United States waged a hugely expensive, very dangerous, and defining war against the Soviet Union.
Finally, a Republican president solemnly asked the president of the Soviet Union, Michael Gorbachev, to "tear down that wall". That was the moment that the Putin faction took root and began to grow, morphing into global gangsters who excel at manipulating the Internet and social media as weapons of war.
For these reasons -- for this history -- it is simply unacceptable that a GOP president and a GOP Congress are actively hiding evidence that Russia influenced the outcome of the 2016 election.
Principled conservatives must not turn away from the mess of the Republican Party. The only way back to normalcy? Vote DEM straight down the line.
BOSTON GLOBE OPINION | RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON
Vladimir Putin�s shadow darkens White House
By Richard North Patterson OCTOBER 09, 2018
In June 2016, an intermediary contacted Donald Trump Jr., suggesting a meeting at which Russians would offer the Trump campaign information damaging to Hillary Clinton �as part of their government�s support for Mr. Trump.� Instead of reporting this approach to the FBI, Trump Junior replied �I love it.� Thus originated the notorious meeting in Trump Tower between Kremlin-connected Russians and Trump Jr.; Trump�s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
The meeting surfaced in July 2017. Two weeks ago The New York Times detailed the web of contacts that followed ; last week, the New Yorker catalogued the evidence that Russia�s cyber warfare had changed the outcome of the presidential election. Russia is likely to attack our midterm elections as well.
