Russia

There is strong evidence that some of the fake campaign news originated from Russia. It isn't as if there wasn't an interest for it, as it would be Putin's payback for the U.S State Dept. operations in Ukraine and the constant expansion of NATO right up to the Russian borders in what has been essentially a new cold war. They know full well how to manipulate authoritarian followers minds, which are very different than much of the population. Authoritarian followers do not operate by reason, but by emotional drives, so arguing factually with them is pointless. They could be present and watching as something that doesn't agree with their prejudices happens in front of them and they would still come to the conclusion that fits their preset assumptions about the world. Don't bother reasoning with or getting angry with his and their traditional followers. They are not factually based. Tradition and security override all reason subconsciously. That is why outsiders sit dumbfounded thinking " Don't they see it?" He (Trump) understands this fully, and that is why he made the statement " I could shoot somebody and not lose voters." Trump, frankly, is modeling his candidacy and governing style after Putin, as he is and has always been a kleptocrat with an admiration for authoritarian rulers. He used the oldest authoritarian tricks there are, fear, fear of outside groups and the anger that comes from it and old archetypal symbols and language . It is all sitting right in front of us, as obvious as it can be. Considering his history, and the history of the Republicans glad to serve with him and join his power, we should be ready for the grandest thievery we have ever seen. Their entire goal will be to extract as much as they can from the public and now they have no limitations other than organized resistance outside of the traditional channels. They will not shrink or limit government, but activate it in the direction they desire, most of it targeted at extracting wealth in some form or another. Our military-industrial complex, already the world's largest, will continue to expand and drain the resources of the country more than it already has. The reason the establishment figures within the National Security State came out so strong for Clinton is she operated within and understood the monstrous, society draining apparatus that it is. Their problem is they understood fully the implications of the monster they had, and they had used the very same methods to create and support it within the population. From Reagan's evil empire and welfare queens, Bush's Willie Horton and Saddam Hussein, we how have terrorists as blowback created by our operations within the Mideast and Mexican's as economic refugees from NAFTA. They created this and have tried to manage it, and now this usurper, using the same methods they have used, not only likely accepted their enemy's aid, but modeled himself after him. They built the many headed monster, and now this ignorant, puppet lunatic was going to be in charge along with a gaggle of crazies who'd all sat on the outskirts. Despite the inherent evil of the empire, and the size of it's internal institutions, they ( Whether Clintonites or people within the security apparatus in general) are at least rationally based. They know global warming is real, and that the models for sustaining current populations at these levels of resource use doom future humans. Trump and his crazies are not rational and do not understand this, as they are nothing but self-interested thieves who cannot assimilate factual information. As Chalmers Johnson and other writers have stated for ages, you cannot be a republic and an empire, and we have been an empire since the revolutionary war, and especially since World War II. FDR might have been our Augustus, but we now have our Caligula, and he was likely helped along with help from Alaric I. Our problem is the empire is much bigger and so are the problems. This is not the sack of Rome, but the fall of American society by internal means, and perhaps risks human civilization.