That Russia meddled, hacked, or “interfered with our sacred” election has become an article of faith with many people. Challenge it, and you’re in the same vein where you can mine for the resurrection — you’re in for a religious tirade. One is tempted to let those who profess this faith go to church unmolested; that’s the problem with these new religions, though: There’s no church hierarchy you can go and complain to for excesses of zeal on the part of their worshipers. And no shared tradition from which to appeal for ecumenical fellowship.

Your counsel? The threat of nuclear war or accident is so horrible we need to take it down a notch. It’s hard to argue with this, except to point out that it seems to admit there might be something to the allegations, when we both know there’s nothing to the allegations; that they’ve been fabricated, and rely instead on a shared tradition of fearmongering and scapegoating Slavs and communists.

I think a better response might be a valorization of Putin and all things Russian, an aggressive campaign to make Russia know they are our BFF. While we’re at it, we may want to remind ourselves that communism and socialism are better ideas than neoliberalism (they are ideas and philosophical constructs after all, not government policies or even ideologies). I don’t know that it will do any good, like trying to stop a steamroller with your bare hands. The forces we’re up against seem very powerful. They include not only the rump of Mrs. Clinton’s coterie and the deep state apparatus attached to it; but China, which views Russia as their most proximate terrestrial rival. Getting the US to take out Russia advances Han hegemonic ambitions. And the U.S. has a history of viewing China as a potential neoliberal partner in global corporatist conquest.

To do this right, we might have to consider partnering with Trump, at least on this one issue. As reprehensible as his reputation suggests him to be, not only is he the President, his enigmatic multi-faceted persona represents, represents American. Can that be harnessed for a goal other than Russophobia?