The Atlantic

Trump Refuses to Defend the United States

The president won’t take action to protect elections from foreign meddling, because he finds it politically and personally unpalatable.
Source: Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

President Donald Trump has often seemed to conflate himself with the government, and his own interests with the nation’s.

At times, the results are merely ridiculous. At others, they are actively dangerous. At the moment, Trump is declining to protect the United States from foreign interference in its elections, because it’s politically inconvenient and personally irritating to him.

Despite repeated evidence of Russian attempts to interfere in American elections—most recently detailed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, released last week—the White House continues to refuse to take action, because the president

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