Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Policy

Stealing Elections Is All in the Game

| Jan. 10, 2017

Moscow didn't do anything in America's last election that Washington hasn't done elsewhere in the world.

Ever since Donald Trump won the presidency last November, perhaps no issue has consumed America's political class more than the question of whether Russia interfered in the U.S. election. The White House, the FBI, and the rest of the intelligence community says it did, although the government has still not provided the public with the concrete evidence on which that conclusion is based. With the legitimacy of his election on the line, Trump has gone from dismissing the allegations entirely (and denigrating the intelligence community) to saying any possible Russian activities had no effect on the outcome. After all, he tweeted, the Russians didn't hack any voting machines, so anything else they may have done is irrelevant....

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Walt, Stephen.“Stealing Elections Is All in the Game.” Foreign Policy, January 10, 2017.

The Author

Stephen Walt