Bots, an armada of them from Russia, were insinuated through social media into the 2016 presidential campaign election. It was a strategy designed to harm Hillary Clinton, favor Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein, and lift Donald Trump into the presidency, according to recent indictments of 13 Putin-linked operatives.

“With the FBI indictments, the evidence is now incontrovertible,” Trump’s National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said, regarding the subversive actions of those 13 Russian nationals.

Was there outrage, a promise to respond in kind by President Trump? No. What came was a diversion away from McMaster’s statement into what are familiar deflections when it comes to President Putin: “Gen. McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.”

Are there any Trump supporters out there who are finally saying, “I’ve had enough, this man is hurting our country and our nation’s dignity”?

The only thing worse was Trump’s tweet after the Florida school shooting, in which he blamed the FBI’s focus on the Russia investigation for missing a tip on the shooter. That is past shameless and beyond belief. Then, after meeting with victims’ families in the afternoon, videos have shown him attending a disco party at Mar-a-Lago that evening.

And now a second woman has come forward, saying she was paid $150,000 for silence about her affair with Trump.

It’s enough.

Paul Baribault, Lewiston


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