Stuck in Reverse

The following article by Susan Milligan was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website November 3, 2017:

From President Trump to Congress, official Washington is focused on the past – not a way forward.

Last year was arguably one of the most bitter and divisive campaign seasons in recent American history. And Washington seems determined to keep re-living it and re-litigating it.

Investigations on Capitol Hill and in the Justice Department are focused on how Russia interfered with the U.S. election, and whether Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with the foreign nation. Another inquiry is focused on whether millions of people voted illegally last year. Lawmakers in both parties are putting the spotlight on social media companies, asking if they enabled “fake news” that influenced voters.

President Donald Trump himself is still at war with Hillary Clinton, despite having defeated her for the presidency, accusing her of colluding with Russia. When he isn’t running (still) against Clinton, he’s running against his predecessor, Barack Obama, blaming the former president for increases in health care premiums and seeking to undo virtually every one of Obama’s signature moves, from the Iran nuclear deal to immigration and environmental regulations. Even national Democrats are looking over their shoulders, examining what they did wrong last election cycle.

A city known for ten-year budget projections and advisory committees issuing long-term policy plans, Washington is in reverse. And it’s largely because there’s nothing on the horizon that looks promising, experts say.

“When you don’t have legislation moving and you have such a failed legislative record, it’s natural to talk about older things. There’s really nothing else to talk about,” says Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University. “It’s natural to go back to your old fights and your old patterns.”

The president in May appointed a panel to investigate unsubstantiated claims that millions of illegal immigrants voted in last year’s election. Critics found it odd, since Trump won the electoral college vote, but the president has been openly annoyed at tallies showing he lost the popular vote by several million ballots. Now, the presidential panel itself is under investigation by the Government Accountability Office.

On Capitol Hill, members of Congress are making very little progress on legislation but are hard at work excavating the election. Committees in both chambers are looking at Russia’s interference in the election. And with the Trump camp looking more vulnerable on the matter, some Republicans are also calling for Clinton to be scrutinized, as well.

House Republicans recently announced they will look into two matters involving the former secretary of state. One is the Justice Department’s handling of Clinton’s private email server (former FBI director James Comey, fired by Trump, said Clinton had exercised bad judgment but cleared her of criminal wrongdoing).

The second is a uranium deal, agreed to by the State Department and eight other government entities, under which a Russian company acquired a stake in a Canadian company with mining interests in the U.S. The Canadian company, Uranium One, had made contributions to the Clinton Foundation. There has been no proof thus far that the contributions had anything to do with the deal, which got multi-agency approval.

Some Republicans have been downplaying the indictments of Trump campaign advisers while urging
“If you go read the indictment, the allegations are not [colluding] with the Russians. It was, you didn’t pay your income tax, knucklehead, and you lied to an FBI agent,” says Sen. John N. Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, referring to the indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates and the guilty plea of George Papadopolous. “If they are all true, you have to wonder how these people made it through the birth canal. You have to pay your taxes, and if you talk to the FBI, you can’t lie to them. Duh!” Kennedy says. But meanwhile, “I think there are other issues now that have to be looked at. We have to look at this business of why Russia was allowed to buy 20 percent of our uranium products and how the decision was made,” Kennedy says.

Congress is also taking a backward look at how Russia used social media sites to influence American voters. “This isn’t about re-litigating the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr, R-N.C., said at hearings on the issue. “This isn’t about who won or lost. This is about national security.”