I’ve done political opposition research. Donald Trump Jr. has no idea what it is.
Aid from the Russian government wouldn’t fly in any campaign.
“For me, this was opposition research,” Donald Trump Jr. told Sean Hannity on Tuesday night on Fox News. “Someone sent me an email — I can’t help what someone sends me. I read it, I responded accordingly.”No. That’s not how it works... it’s a thoughtful, directed process of compiling known facts and figures about an opponent’s relevant life and career elements to bolster an argument. But even when done badly, opposition research still has nothing to do with what Trump Jr. did. There are lines that trained and talented political operatives wouldn’t cross... I would formulate hypotheses and seek evidence from the litany of things he had said and done. That litany came mostly from mundane sources such as Nexis or C-SPAN. Diligently, the research team would compile and cite every piece of data. And then, the data could be packaged in any number of ways: by year, by topic, by state, for an ad, for a fundraiser, for a speech and yes, even to assist the media in their reporting... (I never saw a serial-killer-style missive composed with letters cut from a magazine, but some came close.).. Occasionally, a staffer might fall prey to a blocked number and be trapped hearing a long, fantastical story, offering only benign “mm-hmm”s while colleagues offer sympathetic looks... But in a normal campaign, that’s where it stops.That is what “responding accordingly” means... In one way, Trump Jr. is right — he can’t help what someone sends him. I don’t fault him for reading it. But if he believes that he “responded accordingly,” he is gravely wrong.