I need to be persuaded that Russian meddling was not a one time happening. If there is a certain level of foreign interference (computer or in person) in every election, why did it tip the scales this one time?
You are asking to be persuaded of something that no one with any credibility (that I'm aware of) is even claiming. The issue is that Trump encouraged, applauded, and possibly even participated in Russia's interference with our elections. And now that he's under investigation for possible collusion, he's putting using every interference technique in the goddamn books to try to stop and/or undermine the investigation. It doesn't matter one iota to me whether or not Russia's meddling swayed the electoral results; I just want to know whether or not Trump and his associated acted illegally or unethically to further his own interests by colluding with a hostile nation.
Exactly. Personally, I suspect Trump would have squeaked out his electoral win regardless of Russia. And at any rate, we probably won't ever know that one way or the other, so it doesn't matter at this point.
Whether or not Trump is a legitimate president isn't in question to me. He is appalling, incompetent, and potentially mentally ill IMO, but he got elected.
The issue of Trump's Camp colluding with Russia is a different one (though related) to Russia going around the world (in other nations as well as ours) and trying to fuck around with their elections. We would need to be investigating the Russia angle even if Dems controlled all three branches of government! Tangential to the important issue (Russian interference) is the secondary issue: potential that 1) Trump or members of his camp colluded in electoral meddling in any way that was illegal; 2) or Trump or members of his camp are subject to undue leverage or blackmail by a foreign government.
The real irony is that in the 2012 elections, the Romney and the GOP were all, OBAMA IS TOO SOFT ON PUTIN! RUSSIA IS OUR NUMBER ONE GEOPOLITICAL FOE OMG! And (apart from Russian interference in elections, which was not being discussed then) I mostly thought the GOP was acting hysterical. But now the GOP (and esp its voters) views Russia as 'no big deal', while the nuttiest elements of the left seem to think that Trump could never have won without Russian help.
In reality, Russian is not our friend, but isn't America's One-Eyebrowed Baby either. However, Russian attempts to undermine democratic elections is a very real concern to ALL WESTERN NATIONS. This would still be true if Clinton had won! Our PRIMARY concern is maintaining free, fair, and democratic elections to the extent we are capable.