We Were Hacked in 2016, More Than the Election
We begin and speak with an expert on election administration and redistricting, Justin Levitt, Associate Dean for Research and a Professor of Law at Loyola University Law School whose work has be cited extensively in the media and the in the courts, including the Supreme Court. He joins us for an analysis on the election landscape in 2020 in terms of the security of the voting machines and voter rolls from cyber intrusion or manipulation and the likely impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling opening the floodgates of gerrymandering in favor of Republicans who already have the advantage of an un-level playing field with the Democrats having to get 8% more votes just to break even. We will discuss the prospect that the Russian meddling in 2016 will be child’s play compared to what the Russians are likely to deploy in 2020 and whether the patchwork of state-controlled systems are sufficiently protected and have the resources to shore up their defenses given the reluctance of President Trump to acknowledge the problem or allocate funds to the states. And while some Russian hacking took place in 2016, the main lesson which is largely missed is that WE, the American people were hacked, not the election machinery and that we are still vulnerable to manipulation via social media because of our gullibility and susceptibility to continuing Russian misinformation about the supposed health hazards of the coming 5G network and the “dangers” of vaccination.
The Coming Chaos From a Disputed 2020 Election
Then, with our politics and leadership already in a state of chaos, we look further into the coming chaos that will ensue if the Russians ramp up their efforts in 2020 to influence the election campaign in Trump’s favor and even manipulate the voting result to get him a second term. With Trump, like Netanyahu, determined to win their next term or face jail, there is no doubt Trump will welcome Russia’s help as he did in 2016 and we will investigate these possibilities with Roger Morris who served on the Senior Staff of the National Security Council under President’s Johnson and Nixon, before resigning with Anthony Lake over the bombing of Cambodia. He was an exchange student at Moscow University in the Soviet Union during the early 1960’s where he befriended his Soviet handler who later rose through the ranks to become a KGB General. There are sources in Russia who opposed Putin’s Active Measures campaign to successfully meddle in our 2016 election, and rumors are now emerging that Putin will spend whatever he has to and interfere with whatever election machinery he has to, to ensure a Trump victory in 2020. And unless it is a blowout victory for the Democrats, if the margins are anything like what is expected, the chaos and division sown in America from a disputed election will be victory enough for Putin.