| Yesterday was President Obama's thesis, in old-fashioned Marxist analysis, which makes Russia's response the antithesis... |
The move puts Trump -- who has expressed open admiration for Russia and Putin, and who has dismissed the hacking allegations -- in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office.
Trump has yet to comment but Obama’s sanctions on Russia have garnered some support from the Republican leadership.
Stewart Baker, former general counsel for the National Security Agency and former head of policy at the Homeland Security Department, said the administration’s public response to Russia’s hacking activities was "better than nothing" but "more symbolic than real."
"On its face, this is more than a slap on the wrists but hardly an appropriate response to an unprecedented attack on our electoral system," Baker said.
| ...and Mr. Trump's response to both is the synthesis. |
[IsraelTimes] President-elect, forced to choose whether to back moves by Obama, says he’ll meet with spy heads next week over hacking allegations.
Before Trump’s comment, the sanctions garnered some support from the Republican leadership, with House Speaker Paul Ryan
...U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He proposed an alternative to President Obama's 2011 budget and made himself the target of both Democrat and Republican verbal pies...
calling the measures "overdue" and "appropriate."
Republican Senators
John MaverickMcCain
... the Senator-for-Life from Arizona, former presidential candidate and even more former
foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution...
and
Lindsey Graham... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
said the sanctions were "a small price" for Russia to pay for interfering with US elections. They said they’ll lead efforts in Congress to impose stronger sanctions.
McCain, of Arizona, and Graham, of South Carolina, called Russian cyberattacks on the 2016 election a "brazen attack on American democracy" and said retaliation measures announced by Obama were long overdue.