Krugman writes: "On Wednesday an editorial in The Times described Donald Trump as a 'useful idiot' serving Russian interests. That may not be exactly right. After all, useful idiots are supposed to be unaware of how they're being used, but Mr. Trump probably knows very well how much he owes to Vladimir Putin."
FBI Director James Comey. (photo: Reuters)
25 December 16
n Wednesday an editorial in The Times described Donald Trump as a “useful idiot” serving Russian interests. That may not be exactly right. After all, useful idiots are supposed to be unaware of how they’re being used, but Mr. Trump probably knows very well how much he owes to Vladimir Putin. Remember, he once openly appealed to the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Still, the general picture of a president-elect who owes his position in part to intervention by a foreign power, and shows every sign of being prepared to use U.S. policy to reward that power, is accurate.
But let’s be honest: Mr. Trump is by no means the only useful idiot in this story. As recent reporting by The Times makes clear, bad guys couldn’t have hacked the U.S. election without a lot of help, both from U.S. politicians and from the news media.
