THE POISON RING

February 8, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Tillerson

Were you as appalled as I was when I heard Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent comments on the Russian hacking? Admitting—unlike his boss—that this was a reality, he weakly added, “once they decide to do it, it’s very difficult to pre-empt it.” And “It’s just important to say to Russia, ‘Look, if you think we don’t see what you’re doing, we do see it and you need to stop. If you don’t you’re just going to invite consequences for yourself.”

These are the words of the Secretary of State of what was once “the most powerful nation in the world”! How pathetic! But of course we must remember that Tillerson was a good friend to Putin when it came to oil deals; that your Trump has not a bad word to say about the Russian leader; and of course that you yourself have been referred to as Putin’s best friend in Congress. Perhaps you agree with Tillerson’s lame response?

Was a time—it seems long ago—when Republicans were the first to warn us against Soviet, and later Russian, skullduggery. When Republicans acted as though our country had an important role to play in the world and insisted we could not be intimidated. But that was before Trump arrived to “make America great again.” Before he, and his Republican enablers, and now his Secretary of State, made us look weak and powerless in the face of Russian aggression.

What say you, Congressman? Are you and your colleagues planning to persist in sabotaging every attempt to discover what Putin did in our last election? And in passively permitting his interference in the next? Are we to kiss Putin’s poison ring?

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.