[yt_dropcap type=”square” font=”” size=”14″ color=”#000″ background=”#fff” ] S [/yt_dropcap]o the story of Trump campaign team-Russian collusion has hit the stand again. However, before one goes into that, a mention needs to be done about the tragic and horrific killing of Srinivas Kuchibotla. Srinivas was an Indian on H1B visa working in Kansas for Garmin, a billion dollar Tech Company. He was shot dead by a navy veteran Adam Purinton in a crowded bar in Kansas on February 22.
Adam yelled “Get out of my country” before he shot at Srinivas and Alok Madsani who luckily was only injured in the shooting. Here was an individual who had gone to pursue his American dream in the right way. In fact, when his wife raised concerns about shootings that happened in the country, Srinivas reportedly told her “Good things happen in America.” However, Srinivas tragically lost his life to the bullets of a madman. Yet the action of this drunk lunatic who shot Srinivas is not characteristic of the whole country.
Even when the incident was happening, a few good souls came to the Indians’ side. Foremost among them was Ian Grillot. He was hiding under the table when the shooting was going on. After the round was over, thinking that the bullets were over and probably in order to prevent the madman from reloading again, he chased the person without realizing that the bullets were not yet exhausted. He got shot as a result and is recovering from injuries. After a few days of silence, Trump did condemn the killing during his address to the Congress. Trump should have condemned the killing automatically without prompting by the Indian administration.
That brings us to his Congress speech. He honoured the widow of a soldier who was killed in a Yemen raid recently. Along with that, it would have only increased in his value if he had honored Ian Grillot. It was a splendid, spontaneous act of courage shown by Ian. It was a miss by Trump as it would have sent a real and clear message to a few characters like Adam Purinton. One hopes that Modi would do what Trump failed to do. In fact, an invitation has already been given to Ian on behalf of India and he has agreed to oblige by visiting India.
Trump’s speech in the Congress was a very well received speech and deservedly so. He condemned the recent killings and racial attacks. For the first time, he reached out to the Muslims by saying that he will work with the US’s Muslim allies to defeat the ISIS. He blamed the ISIS for killing Muslims, Christians and people from other religions. The Americans saw it very positively. In the gallery, once could spot Senator Kamala Harris with a thoughtful look that seemed to say ‘looks like I will have to sit here only for maybe 8 years…..hmmmm!!!!’
About the travel ban, a fair question needs to be asked. What became of it? In fact, when Judge Robart blocked the travel ban, Trump tweeted saying that many dangerous people will pour into the country. Now, Trump himself has postponed the travel ban version 2 because he did not want it to be a hindrance for the positive reviews that he was getting after his speech in the Congress. Therefore, a valid question to be asked is “will the dangerous people not pour into the country because of the postponement that he himself has done?”
Next came the Jeff Sessions controversy. The Russophobia of some in the media and the Democratic Party is truly frightening. All this talk about the Trump campaign team’s collusion with Russia will come to a big naught. Trump openly called in July of 2016 that the Russians should hack into Hillary Clinton’s email so that the missing 30,000 emails could be found from Hillary’s server. Of course, it created an uproar in the Democratic Party. ‘How can Trump call upon Russia? This is a national security issue’ they screamed. It got them nowhere. It did not become an election issue at all.
The Americans were not bothered about the fact that Russians hacked into the DNC. In fact, many of them were happy that many manipulations that were happening in the DNC were brought out, which otherwise would not come to their knowledge. If the Americans had thought that Trump colluding with the Russians was ‘so dangerous’ for America, they would have ensured that Trump was defeated.
Not once, not twice. In fact, throughout the election campaign, Trump repeatedly kept on saying that he wanted better relations with Russia. Americans voted for him. Can one not take this as Americans endorsing Trump to try and work out a better relationship with Russia? It is clear. The Democrats and some ‘so-called’ Republicans like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Ana Navarro etc are calling for an investigation into the whole Russia-Trump collusion. It is time for Trump to get into the campaign mode on the Russian issue.
The funny thing is the Democrats failed to bring the Russian angle seriously until the elections results were announced. They were so confident about winning that they thought that the Russian interference was not a major issue and it was something that they could stave off easily. After their shock defeat, they are not able to reconcile to the fact that Trump won fair and square. Hence they are raising the Russia collaboration as a lame excuse and to portray that Trump won in an unfair manner. That is simply not true.
Trump should firmly push back, be at his aggressive best as far as resistance to improvement in Russian relations are concerned. Which he is doing already. A reset of American relationship with Russia will help the US. It will help Russia. Very importantly, it will help Syria. It will help EU. It will help the world. One fails to understand why there is such strong resistance to this. It is a major challenge to Trump and looks an uphill task. If he does it, it would be great.
Even if Trump had colluded with the Russians to hack into the DNC (so far the Democrats and the rebel Republicans, through their investigations, have produced ‘0’ evidence and this writer sincerely wishes that the score would remain at ‘0’), there was nothing wrong in it because interference in foreign elections is nothing new to the super powers. Therefore, it is not as if it is an unpardonable crime.
Actually, on second thoughts, it was a crime. Trump should realize the sincerity of the Democrats. He should think and conclude that there is a lot of merit in the Democrats’ uproar. How can Trump go to Russia for hacking the DNC? What the Democrats are saying is “The next time the hacking is done, Don’t go elsewhere. Don’t go to the Russians!!! There is plenty of talent available at home. The next time, make use of Americans and hack the DNC. We will be happy and let go off the whole episode.”
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author.
