Trump keeps talking like a would-be dictator. We should take him seriously.
Back in July, Donald Trump held a press conference in which, among other things, he insisted that no one really knows whether Russia was behind the DNC email hacks, called the whole thing “a deflection,” and also invited Russia to hack the 33,000 deleted Clinton emails. That last remark got a lot of press, but another of his comments didn’t.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robin Mook, made a statement on television that they believed the Russian hacking had been done specifically to benefit Donald Trump (which we now know is true). Trump falsely asserted that Mook had actually said Trump himself was behind the hack, denied it as ridiculous, and then added:
“Honestly I wish I had that power. I'd love to have that power.”
Well, congratulations, America. We’ve handed Trump exactly that power. As president, Trump will be appointing the director of the National Security Agency, and will have the ability to issue orders to the most sophisticated surveillance and hacking programs in the world. This includes the Office of Tailored Access Operations, which specializes in infiltrating computer systems and cyber-warfare. And Trump has told us exactly what he’ll do with it.