As a news “junkie,” I read The New York Times and the Valley News every morning and watch several hours of MSNBC every night. Another word for this is “masochist,” I suppose.

Russia dominates both print and cable news: hacking to influence the election; possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign; the appearance of a cover-up or obstruction of justice; odd meetings with odd withholding of information.

I’ll admit to some great pleasure at the thought of President Trump, Jared Kushner, Michael Flynn, Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon and others being indicted, impeached, disgraced or dismissed. But the Russian gambit is not a serious threat to the republic. It seems increasingly clear that it’s all about money — making money, hiding money, borrowing money, laundering money and lying about money. Even the Russian hacking was about money.

Vladimir Putin and his criminal cronies just want sanctions lifted so they can go merrily about plundering the world and they figured dealing with Trump was a better option. They saw him, with what seems real prescience, as a useful idiot. And Trump wants in on the action, although I suspect he is already neck deep and this is why he won’t release his tax returns and is worried about special counsel Robert Mueller.

The fear of Russian influence is exaggerated. While our attention is diverted, the Trump administration is doing the real work of dismantling liberty and justice. We don’t need any Russian help. As Pogo noted, we have met the enemy and it is us.

The Trump team is hell-bent on converting public education into a private, quasi-theocratic commodity. They never met a regulation they didn’t hate, no matter the consequences to society when greed has no boundaries. They are not merely indifferent to the natural environment — they are hostile. It is only the incompetence of Congress and a surge in grassroots activism that has saved millions of Americans from loss of health care and death.

Throughout the rise of Trump I suggested that the phenomenon was inaccurately characterized as disenchantment and disenfranchisement of working folks in the heartland. Even now, as it becomes clearer every day that Trump had no intent to deal with the real problems of working women and men, the conventional wisdom remains stubborn. Democrats are wallowing in regret that they didn’t effectively address the concerns of ordinary Americans in the campaign. The new Democratic slogan, “A Better Deal,” is the rather bland response to loser’s remorse.

While wage stagnation and related issues contributed to Trump’s election, the deeper and far more important factor was resentment over a rapidly changing world. Since the ’60s, a significant minority of Americans has carried simmering resentment over feminism, relaxed sexuality, civil rights, gay rights and immigration. There are and always have been white supremacists, violent homophobes, angry nationalists and misogynists, but they are a minority of the minority. Most Trump supporters would deny being racist or homophobic and many are women.

What they have in common is an aggressive longing for familiarity. They want predictability in life, often found in church membership, traditional institutions and organizations, and patriotism based in the unwavering certainty of God-given American exceptionalism. This set of beliefs includes the sureness that we live in a meritocracy, that gay and transgender folk are not normal, that racism is a thing of the past and we should get over it and stop letting black people play the victim card. And, of course, Build That Wall, which is shorthand for fear of becoming irrelevant in an increasingly diverse nation.

It is fear of the loss of “the way things are supposed to be” that feeds Trump support. Marginalized people and their allies are “snowflakes,” characterized as weak and un-American. Those who suggest that life is more complicated than this provincial view are “coastal elites,” characterized as smug and dismissive. There is a powerful pairing of camaraderie and anger associated with Trump support. That’s why he doesn’t lose his base, however offensively, inconsistently, illegally and arrogantly he acts.

Just last week, the appetite for “the way things are supposed to be” was fed red meat. Trump’s tweets about transgendered soldiers may or may not change policy, but it gratified his base. The Trump administration declared that federal civil rights law does not protect gay women and men. While the courts will ultimately decide such issues, the declaration was part of a very intentional campaign to marginalize and dehumanize LGBTQ Americans.

The recently announced political campaign within the Justice Department to assault affirmative action by suing colleges and universities may or may not result in changes to current law, but it gets rousing cheers from those who are fed up with people of color having the opportunities they think they deserve. The phony “investigation” of voter fraud and the persistent efforts to impede voting rights of brown and black people are part of a well-organized effort to maintain white hegemony.

Since the 1960s, millions of women and men have worked, sacrificed and displayed immense moral courage in the service of true justice for all Americans. The Trump administration is unraveling decades of social progress in a matter of months.

This is the greatest threat to America, not the clumsy hobnobbing with the Kremlin.

Steve Nelson lives in Boulder, Colo., and Sharon. He can be reached at stevehutnelson@gmail.com