President Trump has expressed confidence that the investigations into his presidential campaign and whether it colluded with Russia will wrap up soon.
For the sake of the country, we hope so.
To be overshadowed by such ominous accusations has made for a tumultuous and confusing year.
We now have Republicans — the heretofore deficit hawks — voting to add $1 trillion to our national debt in return for cutting taxes. Suddenly, Republicans are cavalier about the country’s $20 trillion debt.
And we have a president schmoozing with Russia and kowtowing to China.
It’s always been Republicans who were the strong arms of foreign policy. But now they appear not to be alarmed that the president is acting in such a deferential manner, especially to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. This is new territory for the United States. We are not accustomed to taking a despot’s word at face value. “He says he didn’t do it and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it,” was Mr. Trump’s response in early November about Putin’s denying interference with the 2016 election, against mountains of evidence to the contrary.
Friday’s news that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn admitting lying to the FBI should help speed the investigation along, as Mr. Trump wants. Flynn admitted he did, in fact, try to placate the Russians in response to new sanctions requested by President Obama before Mr. Trump took office.
Flynn’s inside knowledge of the Trump campaign and then White House cabinet is considered valuable.
If all this is no more than a witch-hunt, as the president alleges, Flynn’s testimony will surely help clear things up.
We’re all for getting the truth out in the open.
But it probably won’t happen by Christmas.
— Susan Lynn
