Oh, look, Martha, it’s those pesky Russians again!

Last night, National Security Adviser Mike Flynn was forced to resign over allegations he colluded with a top Russian official concerning matters of state before Alternative President Trump was even in the White House.

It’s the latest chapter in a chilling narrative that finds the Trump administration acting more in line with our sworn international enemy than with the American people he is supposed to serve.  

Flynn resigned four days after The Washington Post and The New York Times – citing nearly a dozen current and former officials – reported that Flynn had spoken with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the U.S., about sanctions placed on Russia for hacking during the recent election. Flynn had repeatedly denied the accusation and supposedly lied to VP Mike Pence about the series of telephone calls.

What’s worse, the White House was apparently briefed on the content of these calls on January 23, when Sally Yates, then the acting attorney general — backed by the Department of Justice, the FBI and the director of national intelligence — reportedly warned the president that Flynn could be blackmailed by the Kremlin, which knew about the secret conversations.

(Note the reference to “blackmail.”  You’ll be seeing it again shortly.)

The Flynn story is still developing today and you can find out more on any of a number of news sites so I won’t repeat it all here, but it adds a new wrinkle to an essay I wrote last month under the title, “If it walks like a Russian and hacks like a Russian….”

It went like this:

January 11, 2017

I can’t get past this whole Russia business.

I mean, it’s not bad enough that every U.S. intelligence agency says the Russians interfered in our presidential election, but now it comes out that the Russians have been dangling blackmail-ready info over Trump’s head while communicating with Trump’s team of advisers.

CNN, among others, reported yesterday that both President Obama and alt-President Trump have been briefed on this damaging new report, but like everything else involving Russia, Trump refuses to acknowledge that any of it is true.

First he sent out his designated truth manipulator Kellyanne Conjob to claim that Trump “was not aware of” the latest briefings. What that means is anybody’s guess. Did he get the briefing but sleep through it? Did he ignore it because he was too busy tweeting about Meryl Streep? Or was he unable to read it because was he blinded by the glare from all of those gold furnishings inside the Tower of Trump?

Later, he shot out a tweet claiming he was the victim of a political witch hunt, and then today during his fake news conference he admitted he DID get the briefing but it was all fake news. To make matters worse, his confirmation of this fake-ness came from…wait for it…the Russians themselves.

“Vat? You tink dat vee interfereski in ‘lexshun? Nyet!” 

First off, he can’t have it both ways. Either Trump got the briefing or he didn’t. If he really didn’t get it then he can’t really comment on it, can he? If he did get it, he should explain how everybody in the world can see what’s going on except for him and his 62 million closest friends.

That may sound funny but it’s no joke. As loyal, patriotic, tax-paying American citizens we have a right to know why the alt-president of the United States – just nine days from his inauguration – refuses to believe what his own intelligence agencies are telling him but absolutely believes what he hears from a known U.S. adversary that has no obligation or motivation to tell him the truth.

Seriously, he has been given a mountain of evidence that Russia is the perpetrator of this crime. Did he really expect them to come out today and admit what they’ve done to help get him elected? When did Vladimir Putin become the teller of truth?

And as for Trump himself, well, he hasn’t told the truth since the day he descended the golden escalator. I didn’t believe him then and I don’t believe him now. I don’t know how long his presidency will last, but frankly, two hours will be too long for me.

I’m not in the intelligence business, but I know one thing: If it looks like a Russian and hacks like a Russian, it’s probably a Russian. I’d suggest to Trump that he either get ahead of this now with some “true truth” or get out while he can. This is likely to get worse before it gets better, and I don’t think it will end well for him. 

Edit: And now we know it is getting worse.