Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump-David Corn, Michael Issikoff, authors; Peter Ganim, narrator

The title gives the book away immediately. It is designed to make you believe that Trump’s election was corrupt from the beginning, starting with Putin, America’s new arch enemy. Although I had hoped this book would be a bit different, offering more neutral facts, but it was the same old, same old hatchet job, written by two Trump haters designed with the only purpose being to trash President Trump, and trash, they did.
A more discerning reader, than the average one who simply reads it to reinforce their dislike for Trump, and their anger at having their candidate lose what they are convinced was a stolen election, will actually begin to see the conspiring of the left, from day one, to destroy the legitimate election of President Trump by tainting it with investigation after investigation based on unverifiable facts, innuendo and any idea they thought would blow up into a scandal that would hurt him. Truly, the conduct of the investigations of the FBI and the behavior of the left, leaping to immediate conclusions that they thought would help their cause, including President Obama’s administration, is tainted with utter and complete bias, devoid of facts. Their actual intent was to alienate the electorate, convince them that the President was a criminal, and destroy his Presidency so they could have him removed because they could simply not accept the fact that he won. To do so would force them to face reality and their own failure. At first, there were saner minds prevailing, but as time went by and nothing concrete developed, they grabbed at straws and with the help of a biased press and FBI, they succeeded in beginning an investigation which would taint the entire Presidency, which was their goal, to begin with; they succeeded. History will judge them all, including the hypocrites who wrote the books without fairly showing both sides of the story.
While it is true, that President Trump, a non-politician used non traditional methods during his campaign, it is also true that after he won, the forces against him piled on in far greater numbers and with far murkier methods to destroy him. While Trump used, rather benign, sometimes comical, labels for those he was running against, those that were against him, used far more incriminating terms to describe him, without any evidence to back it up. They took private conversations and made them public and than used them as excuses for their public denouncements. Bullying from the left was rampant and totally excused by a fourth estate that forgot its purpose because it is populated, largely, by left-leaning journalists.
The lies of the Obama administration were totally ignored, Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton’s lies about the video blamed for Benghazi and Hillary’s use of a private email server were all dismissed as non-crimes, although they surely could have been investigated ad nauseum, as well, and a crime could have been discovered. Susan Rice’s unmasking of an American citizen’s private conversations was dismissed as well, when phony and uncorroborated excuses were used to allow it. John Kerry failed to understand what was happening in Russia, as did Obama, yet they were not investigated as to their possible reasons for dropping the ball. The attempt to attach a corruption charge to the Trump business dealings with Alfa Bank failed. When all of their so-called “legitimate” attempts failed to distract the world from Hillary’s offenses, the left created their own.
They were successful because the larger world was truly surprised when Trump won the nomination. They were further surprised when he won the election. In saner times, we would have moved on, but the left collaborated to keep Trump out of the mainstream, with incomplete briefings He was not informed fully about the Russian problem, partly because Obama and his friends did not want the world to know that they had dropped the ball.
If the Republican Party had hung tough, as the Democrats do, this might have blown over. However, there were moles in the party actively plotting against Trump, as well. They essentially shot themselves in the foot, starting with McCain, who disseminated the uncorroborated Steele dossier because it contained salacious information and McCain wanted to get back at Trump. Then you had Senator Flake and Corker who actively undermined every effort Trump undertook. Without the help of an honest media, the enemies of Trump had the stage and could plan the show as they wished. Scene after scene played out without any positive actions attributed to Trump. The only news was bad news about him. We were indoctrinated and we were being brainwashed. The idea that all the emails and other information about the corruption in the Clinton campaign were factual, didn’t matter. The media liked the unsubstantiated trash they could put out on Trump far better.
The left was quick to jump on anyone associated with the Trump campaign that seemed a bit dirty. They sullied even those with fine reputations by finding hints of wrongdoing from so many years ago it was neither possible to prove or refute them. They then callously ignored all of the truly underhanded people involved with Obama and Clinton, saying that was then, this is now. For their benefit, the time line jumped back and forth. For them, the past was meaningless. For Trump and his friends, it was all consuming. Although Trump has had a far more positive effect on the black and Hispanic communities, Issikof and Korn do not mention this. They reinforce his image as a racist, the name the left has branded all those who disagree with them. They decided their book would ultimately trash Trump, and the Afterword at the end of the book reinforces any notion of the book serving any other purpose. The choice of descriptive words by Issikof and Corn showed their deliberate intent to disparage Trump’s character and those that associated with him. Events were cherry-picked for the specific purpose of demeaning Trump; none were chosen to give him credibility.
When the Clinton campaign cheated and lied and misrepresented, it is treated as just a mistake…a mistake by seasoned politicians. When Trump’s campaign makes an error, it is egregious and criminal. This is probably the first time in history that the outgoing administration hindered, rather than helped the incoming one. Shame on them.
Incredibly, the fact that Obama interfered in Israel’s election is totally ignored as Russia is demonized from page one. I do not disparage the description of Russia’s intervention, only the absence of Obama’s into our allies election. The vindictiveness of the left is unsurpassed in history and history will not look kindly upon this period.
Corn and Issikof wrote a book which rocketed the Steele Dossier and Steele to star status. From the Times, some of their statements are analyzed. Anyone interested can read the entire article at this website:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/30/michael-steeles-russia-dossier-donald-trump-fails-/
Most of their claims have never been proven and Issikof has admitted it.