The mainstream media would have us believe that major bombshells regarding Russian collusion were revealed last week.  President Trump hid his private communications with Russian president Vladimir Putin from members of his administration, and the FBI investigated Trump for being a Russian agent following the dismissal of James Comey.  Touting "where there's smoke, there's fire" as an unassailable truism, Democrats are claiming vindication of their McCarthyesque fears regarding the Russian control of the U.S. government.

The fake news media are playing a game of sleight of hand with the American people.  By creating a narrative and having an entire industry built around feeding this narrative, they attempt to get the public's mind off the brass tacks of what is happening in terms of public policy.  Trump has been a results president, achieving more jobs, lower taxes, fewer regulations, better trade deals, the near obliteration of ISIS, and peace in Korea in the face of unprecedented chaos and confusion.  Trump is putting together a record that will put him among America's most successful chief executives with a leadership style only he could pull off.  Institutional actors have forced Trump to take unorthodox measures to propel him to this success.

Leakers have been embedded in the Trump administration from the start to sabotage the president's agenda.  Although under-reported by the liberal media, text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and his lover Lisa Page blew the lid off this conspiracy.  Strzok conducted the railroading of Michael Flynn and let former secretary of state Hillary Clinton slide over her use of a personal email server for official communications.  He was caught dead to rights in a text saying to his mistress: "I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go."  Entities such as the Washington Post and the New York Times blow constant smoke with the hope that these crucial details can be forgotten down the memory hole, so you might think the fact the FBI investigated Trump as a possible Russian agent is somehow noteworthy.

Because the FBI and other Deep State agencies have been weaponized by the globalists, Trump had to work Putin, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and noninterventionist Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to negotiate withdrawal of troops in Syria, a crucial campaign promise.  When Trump attempted to go through regular channels, a convenient chemical weapons attack would always occur at an opportune time to make peace improbable.  A similarly timed atrocity, with ISIS taking credit, occurred right as troops intend to come home, but Trump remains undaunted.  By being able to steer through this minefield, Trump is able to achieve his "America First" agenda.

The "Russian collusion" lie is particularly pernicious because it quite literally emboldens the enemies of America.  While Putin's influence must be stemmed for American values to take hold abroad, he is far from the worst threat to U.S. dominance.  Putin is certainly an extreme authoritarian who refuses to respect the human rights of his people, but he is crushing Islamic extremists abroad and has helped to devastate ISIS in Syria.  Instead of looking at the man for what he is – a ruthless strongman who certainly cannot be trusted but may be a strategic ally in certain respects – we are given a crude caricature by the deceptive smear merchants of the fake news.  Some ad agency promoted some memes on social media, thus Putin is a devil.  A young Russian lady came to the U.S. to promote gun rights, so Putin is Hitler.  This is what passes for political discourse right now in our day and age thanks to the Democrats.

Trump ought to be able to protect his communications with Putin or any other world leader for any purpose he pleases.  That is his right as commander-in-chief.  He was elected to conduct diplomacy as he sees fit.  His policies should not be held hostage to a military-industrial complex and a pundit class that is happy to serve it.  Trump is a nimble navigator, a master tactician who can do what was previously considered impossible – actually outmaneuver the Deep State.  Regardless of anything that comes out from Mueller's investigation, we must stand firm behind the president because he is undoubtedly delivering on his promises.  Putting America First requires resolve.  We have to be in President Trump's corner until the bitter end because he has demonstrated he is putting it all on the line for us.

Gavin Wax is the former deputy political director for Nicole Malliotakis's campaign for mayor of New York City and New York State director for the 2016 Ted Cruz presidential campaign.  He is also a small business-owner.  His work has appeared in Townhall, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Washington Examiner, the American Thinker, The Hill, and Newsmax.  You can follow him on Twitter at @GavinWax.