Culture

Was Calling On Russia To Hack Hillary Clinton’s Email Actually A Savvy Move By Trump?

Trump loves creating media outrage in response to his outlandish comments.

by Osman Faruqi  28 July 2016

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The Donald’s back, baby. After the Republican National Convention dominated airwaves and headlines last week the US political circus moved onto the Democratic Party’s own convention, so we swapped the mad ravings of celebrity duck hunters for the dulcet tones of Michelle Obama. Donald Trump, clearly unable to handle being out of the spotlight, decided to get himself back into the news by calling on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Yes, you read that right. A candidate for President of the United States called on one of his country’s historical foes to hack into the email account of his election rival.

Trump’s incendiary comments follow the release of thousands of private emails sent by Democratic Party officials during the heated primary contest between Clinton and her now vanquished opponent, Bernie Sanders. The emails were released by Wikileaks (yep, Assange is still causing mayhem even though he’s holed up in an Ecuadorian Embassy) and showed Democratic Party operatives colluded with the media in order to aid the Clinton campaign, a breach of party rules. The chairwoman of the Democratic Party has resigned in the wake of the scandal.

There’s increasing speculation that Russia was responsible for the email hack and the FBI has launched an investigation. Trump has been described as “a frequent admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin”. His foreign policy is bizarrely pro-Russian. He, like Putin, is not a big of the NATO alliance that is the main barrier to increased Russian authority in Europe. Trump has hit back at suggestions that he’s some sort of secret, pro-Russian candidate, calling the accusations “lies”.

But his attempt to distance himself from Russia took a hit today when he used a press conference to openly call on Russia to hack Clinton’s personal emails.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. They probably have them. I’d like to have them released. Now, if Russia or China or any other country has those e-mails, I mean, to be honest with you, I’d love to see them,” Trump told reporters.

Bizarrely, a Trump campaign staffer later said: “To be clear, Mr. Trump did not call on, or invite, Russia or anyone else to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails today.” But that’s pretty much exactly what he did.

As absurd as Trump’s request was, there is some political logic to it. Clinton is currently gearing up to deliver her landmark speech to the Democratic National Convention. It’s her opportunity to lay out her vision and rally the country behind her. By turning the crazy dial up to 10, Trump is trying to draw the limelight away from Clinton and put the focus back on her controversial use of a private email server.

If this was a normal election, or if Trump was a normal candidate, you would expect that appealing to a foreign superpower to conduct espionage activities against a political rival might spell electoral doom. But Trump has already proven that he isn’t like any other candidate. The crazier he gets and the more wild his comments become, the closer he seems to get to the presidency. In fact the latest polls show that Trump is in an election winning position.

Much of Trump’s political strategy has relied on him making outlandish claims and then riding the wave of media outrage all the way to the ballot box. Presidential candidates in the US always benefit from something called a “convention bounce”. After non-stop media coverage of their national conventions, voters tend to be drawn to whichever party just had their big shindig. It’s why Trump is now leading in the polls. Clinton’s convention bounce is supposed to kick in this week, but Trump is trying to minimise it by throwing as much mud as he can and shifting the narrative to email hacking instead of serious policy.

As crazy as it is, his plea for Russia to hack Clinton’s emails was actually a politically savvy move. We’ll find out the impact it had on voters once Clinton delivers her speech to the Democratic National Convention and the polls settle down a bit. But judging by previous events, it’s clear that being outlandish, bombastic and even borderline treasonous is no barrier to Trump’s success.