Trump Faces Bipartisan Calls to Remain Hostile Toward Russia

Hacking Allegations, General Hawkishness Push Anti-Russia Sentiment

by Jason Ditz, 

President-elect Donald Trump made clear during his campaign, and even clearer after his election, that he intends a major rapprochement with Russia, seeking to end years of hostility and potentially to cooperate between US and Russian forces against ISIS in Syria.

This was a big policy split during the campaign, with Hillary Clinton pushing for military confrontation with Russia over Syria, and accusing Russia of plotting to “hack the election” to get Trump elected. Trump’s election, and by extension Hillary’s loss, has fueled a lot of Democratic calls to move against Russia to punish them for Trump’s victory.

At the same time, a lot of high-ranking Republicans have a hawkish bias toward much of the world, and Russia in particular, and whether using the hacking as an excuse or just general acrimony, they too are pushing against Trump’s calls for better bilateral relations.

That makes one of Trump’s major foreign policy goals a major source of likely clashes with Congress, as in practice he’s got strong bipartisan opposition to moving away from the new Cold War. He was already facing considerable international opposition from NATO members on rapprochement, and facing so much opposition at home and abroad will really test his willingness to resist loud opposition.