When polarization gets dangerous

All it took for Vladimir Putin to improve his standing with Republicans was to hack Democrats’ computers.

All it took for Putin to get Democrats to hate Russia was to hack Democrats’ computers.

American polarization has grown so bad that for millions of Americans, a geopolitical rival and strategic foe of the United States can redeem itself if that nation helps Republicans win elections. Conversely, Democrats who shrugged their shoulders at Russian aggression and Russian hacks are now at the political version of DEFCON 1 because the DNC couldn’t maintain the IT security level of a moderately sophisticated middle school.

In other words, we’re starting to dislike each other more than we dislike a nation that has not only been actively working to undermine vital American interests in the Middle East in Europe but has done so in part through aggressive military actions that have indiscriminately killed civilians by the thousands.

Four years ago, Barack Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney’s warnings about Russia by saying, “The 1980s are calling, they want their foreign policy back.” Since then, Putin’s regime has invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea, intervened in Syria, menaced the Baltics, buzzed American ships, and launched relentless cyberattacks on the United States. All of those actions are directly hostile to our strategic interests. Each of them makes true great-power conflict more likely.