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Eli Lake

Trump's Nominee to Lead the CIA Divides the Resistance

Opposing Trump made for strange bedfellows: Democrats and former spy chiefs. Now they're realizing just how strange.

Gina Haspel is breaking up the band.

Gina Haspel is breaking up the band.

Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP, via Getty Images

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One of the surreal features of the Trump era in Washington is the composition of “the resistance.”

There are of course many progressives online who warn against becoming inured to Donald Trump’s transgressions, to “normalizing” his presidency. That's to be expected. But among their allies is also a cadre of former national security insiders who resist Trump primarily on the grounds that he may be unduly influenced by Russia. Most Democrats agree about this possibility, even if their party opposes Trump for more reasons than suspicion of collusion.