Trump, Putin, and Veteran's Day

By Dan Rather, Dan Rather's Facebook Page

11 November 17

n Veteran's Day no less. On a day when we honor the service and sacrifice of millions of men and women who swore to defend their beloved nation, its Constitution, its rule of law, and its basic decencies in the face of foreign aggression.

On this day, the President meets with an autocrat, a strongman, an avowed enemy of the freedoms we hold dear. And he takes the assurances of a known spy over the consensus of our entire national security and intelligence communities. He takes the word of a foreign adversary over the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. And then he impugns the reputations of the Americans calling them "political hacks?"

As many of you know, I have been traveling the country on a book tour and meeting Americans of all types, across the political spectrum. They are telling me how worried they are. They know this behavior isn't normal for a Commander in Chief. Not by a long shot. And we cannot allow it to be normalized. And all who choose to excuse it away must be called to account. We cannot let politically convenient expediencies cloud hard facts and reasoned conclusions. We were attacked. This was deliberate and the effects and scale of the attack may not be known for some time. We have a serious and active investigation into possible collusion from members of Mr. Trump's inner circle. There are real questions about what the President may have known, and when (remembering that he must be provided the presumption of innocence).

I am pretty confident how history will judge this moment in the American story. There will be a tally of those who spoke up and those who remained silent. In the meantime, how much harm will be done?