What did we learn from the hacked emails? Well, we learned that Hillary Clinton maintained “both a public and a private position” — one for the voters, one for Goldman Sachs. We learned that the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. We learned about the corrupt inner workings of the Clinton Foundation. And on and on.
In short, we learned the truth.
Sure, it’s offensive that a foreign power would try to manipulate an American election. But it’s not all that different from what President Obama did in 2015, sending $350,000 (U.S. taxpayer dollars!) to a group called OneVoice, supposedlyto further peace efforts in Israel. The money was actually spent on a failed attempt to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
President Obama and OneVoice tried to smear Netanyahu with lies. By contrast, the hacked emails, though stolen, told the truth. Clearly, Democrats are not opposed to manipulating elections. They are only opposed to losing elections.
When my father, Ronald Reagan, was president, Democrat politicians secretly connived with the Soviets in failed attempts to manipulate elections and defeat Ronald Reagan. Former intelligence officer Herbert Romerstein dug through the Soviet archives after the fall of the USSR and uncovered secret documents written by KGB agent Victor Chebrikov. The documents revealed that Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy had sent a friend, former Senator John Tunney of California, to contact the KGB. Tunney’s mission: undermine then-President Jimmy Carter.
On March 5, 1980, as Kennedy was challenging Carter in the primaries, Tunney met with the KGB and urged the Soviets to sabotage Carter’s foreign policy efforts. It’s amazing: Two high-ranking Democrats — a sitting U.S. senator and a former senator — sought Soviet help in undermining American foreign policy and manipulating an American election.
One 1980 document stated that Kennedy offered to condemn President Carter’s policy toward the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in exchange for KGB help. News accounts of that period prove that Kennedy did, in fact, openly criticize Carter’s Afghanistan policy.
Even more amazing: President Carter himself was also willing to jump into bed with the Soviets. In the closing days of the 1980 presidential campaign, while trailing Ronald Reagan in the polls, Jimmy Carter sent a political ally, industrialist Armand Hammer, to a secret meeting with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin at the embassy in Washington. Hammer asked the Soviets to help Carter win votes in key states by allowing Jewish “refuseniks” to emigrate to Israel. The Soviets rejected Hammer’s request.
In January 1984, former President Carter approached Ambassador Dobrynin in person. Carter wanted to derail President Reagan’s defense buildup, and asked for help from the Evil Empire in unseating President Reagan. It’s not clear if the Soviets gave Carter what he wanted.
Then there’s Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill. He privately told Ambassador Dobrynin that it was in everyone’s best interests if the Soviets would help the Democrats keep “that demagogue Reagan” from being re-elected. O’Neill warned Dobrynin that the “primitive instincts” of this “dangerous man” would plunge the world into war.
It must have amazed Anatoly Dobrynin that these prominent liberals — Ted Kennedy, Armand Hammer, Jimmy Carter, and Tip O’Neill — all viewed President Reagan as more dangerous than any Communist dictator. Historian Paul Kengor observed that the Soviet archives showed “the lengths to which some on the political left . . .were willing to go to stop Ronald Reagan.”
Why did the KGB documents come to light? They surfaced because Ronald Reagan toppled the Evil Empire, ended the Cold War, and thwarted the joint Democrat-Soviet effort to manipulate the election.
Fast-forward to 2016. The Democrats are desperate to blame their election loss on Russian interference. President Obama has ordered a complete investigation, and says he wants a report on his desk before he leaves office. Well, Mr. President, I wanted you to have all the information, including how the Democrats tried to manipulate U.S. elections in 1980 and 1984 — with the help of the Russians.
Karma really sucks, doesn’t it? Especially if you’re a Democrat.
By Michael Reagan
Michael Reagan is the son of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman. He is the oldest living child of the late U.S. President. He published three books: Twice Adopted (2004), The New Reagan Revolution (2011), Lessons My Father Taught Me (2016) .