Inasmuch as intelligence officials can be confident about anything that goes on in darkened computer labs on the other side of the world, U.S. officials are quite sure that the Russian government is behind the recent high-profile e-mail hacks of Democratic affiliates, and that its express purpose in doing so is to interfere with the American presidential election. Because some kind of unforeseen cataclysmic event like this is really Donald Trump's only hope of winning, the GOP nominee has been remarkably evasive when asked about the hacks in recent weeks. In fact, he claimed during the last debate that the hacks might not even be real at all.
Remember, as terrifying as this may be given that one of the nominees is a former reality-TV star who openly traffics in racist conspiracy theories, the major-party presidential candidates receive classified foreign-policy briefings in the months leading up to each election. And while the Obama administration made public its conclusions about the Russian government in early October, Trump and Clinton first learned of this in their briefings in mid-August. During tonight's debate, Trump was again asked if he would simply acknowledge Russia's role in these cyber attacks. Get your forks ready, because here comes a word salad.
After this nationally televised fifth-grade-recess exchange, Trump again doubled down on his lie:
To be clear, Donald Trump has heard directly from U.S. intelligence agencies that the Russian government was behind these hacks. There are really only two possible explanations here: Either he is too stupid to understand simple facts that senior-level intelligence officials are telling him to his face, or he is a craven liar who has no problem ignoring foreign governments' intrusions in the American political system if it stands even a slight chance of propping up his listing candidacy. (Yes, both can be true. Thank you for asking.)
