Nations of the world, take heed.
There was a time, just months ago even, when a foreign country interfering in America’s elections would have been impermissible by law and unacceptable to the people. The rules of our democracy have changed.
President Trump — who brands himself as a new kind of nationalist (without the historical baggage that term lugs around) — has now turned to the global elite to help him win re-election. Forget George Soros, the Bilderbergs and cosmopolitan consensus. Donald J. Trump has pushed globalism to new, glittering heights. Free trade? Please. Try inviting the world to do everything short of casting a ballot. Not even QAnon could have seen this twist coming.
On Thursday, the president again asked Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, to investigate one of his political rivals, former Vice President Joe Biden. Mr. Trump went on to ask the same of Xi Jinping, preoccupied though the Chinese leader is at the moment with trying to suffocate a democratic uprising in Hong Kong. A Republican on the White House lawn asking Communist China for help in winning a democratic election isn’t something that prognosticators would have picked for 2019. But that’s where the United States finds itself.
But, as they say, don’t hate the player, hate the game. And if those are the new rules, let’s bring in some players who’ve been sitting on the sidelines.
