Seventeen U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia intervened in the American presidential election, in part because Vladimir Putin’s government wanted Donald Trump in the White House. In response to the revelations, the president-elect and his transition team have come up with all kinds of various reactions.Some of the more notable responses include Trump’s mockery of U.S. intelligence officials, his attempts to blame different countries for the cyber attack, his assertion that the hack may not have happened at all, and his team’s insistence that questions themselves shouldn’t be asked because they undermine Trump’s legitimacy.But despite all of these head-shaking gems, the president-elect yesterday rolled out a new line yesterday during an impromptu Q&A with reporters, which was probably the most hilarious to date.Someone asked Trump about several senators, most notably Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), pushing for a thorough investigation into the Russia scandal. The president-elect responded by noting — twice — that he ran against Graham in the GOP presidential primaries, as if that were relevant.In a follow-up, Trump was asked about possible economic sanctions against Russia in general. He replied:
“I think we ought to get on with our lives. I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole, you know, age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what’s going on. We have speed, we have a lot of other things, but I’m not sure we have the kind the security that we need.”
Um, what?There’s evidence that a foreign adversary attacked an American election, stole American materials, and launched an espionage operation to help elect their preferred, allied candidate. The beneficiary of foreign intervention has a new position: “I think we ought to get on with our lives” because computers “have complicated lives.”Obviously, Trump’s answer is the worst kind of word salad, but let’s not miss the bigger picture here: the president-elect is signaling weakness to the world. Trump, presented with evidence that a foreign adversary attacked the United States, doesn’t seem to care in the slightest, and instead of responding, his plan is to simply move on, thankful that the alleged Russian espionage was in his favor.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."