1. Truth hides in plain sight. The opposition does not need criminally damning evidence that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians. It doesn't not need to hang on every word coming out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. It knows everything it needs to know.
2. The Russians helped Trump win in 2016. It will try helping Republicans win in November. The Russians are waging a cyberwar against the US, but the president does nothing. Doing nothing helps ensure the Republicans win. What's good for the GOP is good for Russia, not America.
3. This is out in the open. No need to make it more complex. This president is abdicating the responsibility of all presidents: national defense. If that alone doesn't justify impeachment, nothing does.
4. Again, in plain sight. In testimony Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats said the Russians believe their 2016 cyberwar was a success. Their preferred candidate won. This is not debatable. Yet our elected leaders continue to act as if it is.
5. So successful was this one-sided cyberwar that Russian operatives are planning to repeat the exercise in the run up to November's congressional elections. Their aim is to "degrade our democratic values and weaken our alliances," Coats said.
6. Coats: "There should be no doubt that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] views the past effort as successful."
7. "The Russians have a strategy that goes well beyond what is happening in the United States," Coats said. "While they have historically tried to do these types of things, clearly in 2016 they upped their game.
8. Coats: "They took advantage, a sophisticated advantage, of social media. They are doing that not only in the United States but doing it throughout Europe and perhaps elsewhere."
9. "Frankly, the United States is under attack," he said.
10. No president is to blame for an attack on the United States, but what if a president fails to retaliate? Imagine if after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 President George W. Bush did nothing. You can't. It's impossible. Yet this appears to be the case with Trump and Russia.
11. According to NBC News' Ken Dilanian, FBI Director Christopher Wray and other spy chiefs said Trump "has never asked them to focus on or disrupt Russian election meddling."
12. Let's say that again. The president has not ordered the national security apparatus of the US to "focus on" or even "disrupt" Russia's ongoing cyberwar, an operation that will, if nothing is done about it, seek to protect the Republican Party's majority in the U.S. Congress.
13. If Trump is as innocent as he claims to be, he would order a counter-strike. He hasn't. Why?
14. Again, the truth is in plain sight.
15. Axios reported Monday that Trump does not believe tax cuts and other achievements in Congress will be enough to drive out the Republican base in November. He will need "unexpected cultural flashpoints" – like kneeling during the national anthem.
16. A source said Trump "is going to be looking for opportunities to stir up the base, more than focusing on any particular legislation or issue."
17. The Russians exploit the same "unexpected cultural flashpoints." Indeed, it's clear that Trump and the Russians are aligned.
18. Coats said: "We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false flag personas, sympathetic spokesmen, and other means to influence and try to build on its wide range of operations and exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States."
19. It's a familiar pattern. Trump tweets something, anything. The tweet is reported widely. Hours later, Russian operatives amplify the reporting on social media by orders of magnitude. Finally, Trump denies saying what he said, renewing the cycle.
20. This is what happened in the final stretch of the 2016 election. Twitters reported bots spreading Trump's tweets half a million times in two weeks.
21. More specifically, this pattern unfolded with respect to the so-called Nunes memo, a document Republicans believed showed bias in the FBI investigation into Trump's ties to Russia.
22. They declassified it after Russian operatives ginned up so much attention on social media that the GOP felt it was on solid political ground. It wasn't. The memo was a dud. But its release demonstrated powerfully what happens when Trump, the GOP and the Russians are in sync.
23. So why is the president not ordering a counter-strike? Easy. Because Trump's political strategy depends on Russian operatives.
As I said, this is all in plain sight – if we'd only see.
As I said, this is all in plain sight – if we'd only see.
24. The Russians waged a cyberwar in 2016 to help Trump win. They succeeded. The president has not ordered any form of retaliation, because in doing nothing, he improves his chances in November. The president is trading off national security for political gain.
25. If these are not legitimate grounds for impeachment, nothing is.
26. Thanks for reading. Please share and argue and fight like you mean it. usnews.com/opinion/thomas…
