Post-Modern Political Honesty: Part IV--Trump's Surreal Denial of Russian Hacking

As I said in Part III of this series, Donald Trump has raised Post Modern Political Honesty to new heights, or depths if you like. That is, to the level of surreal denial. 

Take, for instance, his continued refusal to admit that the Russian government hacked into the Democratic National Committee's computer network.

We have before us what has become a ubiquitous question. Why is Trump maintaining this position in the face of fairly convincing evidence to the contrary? Discarding the knee-jerk, albeit accurate, answer--because he's Donald Trump--we are left with the following answers. (None is exclusive of the others.) The POTUS-Elect is maintaining this position on Russian hacking because he is:

1. Espousing a neo-post World War II foreign relations approach
2. Apathetic about the potential implications of such a declaration
3. Subject to dramatically narcissistic perceptions about the 2016 election and Vladimir Putin

I'll talk about each of these in this, and my next, post.

A Neo-Post World War II Foreign Relations Approach

Mr. Trump is consistent (enough), in his infidelity to history in the name of opportunity, that his style can be categorized as a foreign policy approach. To begin defining what his neo-post World War II international relations approach is, let's consider what it is not. First, an approach is not a policy. Foreign policies are specific strategies to protect national interests and reach goals in the international space. Second, an approach is not a philosophy. Philosophy concerns itself with the fundamental nature of knowledge, truth, reality, and existence. This may seem impressionistic to some and a gratuitous shot to others--and both would be right--but the Donald just doesn't come across like someone who would be interested in this sort of thing.

So, what IS the POTUS-Elect's neo-post World War II international relations approach? Otherwise asked, which of the structures set in place at the end of WWII does Trump want to change? These are not difficult questions to answer. Germany has been reunited and the Iron Curtain was drawn. It is but the contest between the West's North-Atlantic-Treaty vision and the Soviet's post-Yalta expansionist vision that remains. The current iteration of this is the US and NATO versus Russia and its client states.

NATO Secretary General congratulates President Donald J. Trump on his inauguration

Trump's approach has revealed itself through his public commentary, on several occasions, in which he questioned whether the US should continue to honor its obligations under the Treaty. Specifically, he suggested that the US might not respond to the invocation of Article 5 by countries whose organizational dues are in arrears. Alternately phrased, the POTUS-Elect may not honor its promise to respond to an attack on any NATO country as if it was an attack on all member states. 

Non-participation by the US would neuter the last post-WWII boundary still in place.

At other points, the POTUS-to-be has wondered aloud about whether NATO's interminable mediocre performance, and unyielding biases, should result in its dissolution. Both non-participation by the US, and the dissolution of the Treaty, would allow Russian imperialism to continue-and exponentiate-unchecked. While NATO is, admittedly, flawed and has not prevented Putin's recent land grabs in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, it's the ONLY buffer we have at the moment. 

Dissolving the last post-WWII structure standing also virtually guarantees another world war.

In my next post, I'll explain the other reasons why Trump is denying the Russian DNC hacking. They are, that he is:

• Apathetic about the potential implications of such a declaration
• Subject to dramatically narcissistic perceptions about the 2016 election and Vladimir Putin