National Elections

Day one started out with the New York Times reporting that In Hacking, Russia Accused of Playing in U.S. Politics:

Proving the source of a cyberattack is notoriously difficult. But researchers have concluded that the national committee was breached by two Russian intelligence agencies, which were the same attackers behind previous Russian cyberoperations at the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. And metadata from the released emails suggests that the documents passed through Russian computers. Though a hacker claimed responsibility for giving the emails to WikiLeaks, the same agencies are the prime suspects. Whether the thefts were ordered by Mr. Putin, or just carried out by apparatchiks who thought they might please him, is anyone’s guess.

As Greg Sargent of the Washington Post says, “Let’s be clear about this: the fact that Russia is trying to swing the outcome of an American presidential election is about a million times more important than the fact that some DNC staffers talked trash about Bernie Sanders in emails to one another.” Charles Pierce of Esquire added, Donald Trump’s and Vladimir Putin’s Shared Agenda Should Alarm Anyone Concerned About Democracy.

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Speakers are still being added to those speaking at the 2016 DNC Convention in Philadelphia, but here is a recent summary from Newsday. Democratic convention schedule: Clintons, more speakers and dates:

Here is the planned schedule of events for the 2016 Democratic National Convention at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center, where Hillary Clinton will be the presumptive presidential nominee. More details will be added as they become available.

MONDAY, JULY 25

3 p.m.  Convention opens. Monday’s theme is “United Together.” First lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Astrid Silva, a Dreamer who came to the United States as an undocumented child immigrant, will focus on “putting the future of American families first” and building an economy that works for all.

A number of “everyday Americans” will also be speaking throughout the convention on various themes, including immigration and gun violence. On Monday, Francisca Ortiz, an undocumented immigrant, and her daughter Karla Ortiz, an American citizen, will be among the speakers.

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The Washington Post’s editorial page has a rare full page editorial arguing that Donald Trump is a unique threat to American democracy:

DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America’s problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump’s politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation’s two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew.

Any one of these characteristics would be disqualifying; together, they make Mr. Trump a peril. We recognize that this is not the usual moment to make such a statement. In an ordinary election year, we would acknowledge the Republican nominee, move on to the Democratic convention and spend the following months, like other voters, evaluating the candidates’ performance in debates, on the stump and in position papers. This year we will follow the campaign as always, offering honest views on all the candidates. But we cannot salute the Republican nominee or pretend that we might endorse him this fall. A Trump presidency would be dangerous for the nation and the world.

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