Case in point: Following last week's intelligence briefing before the House Intelligence Committee, in which lawmakers were notified of Moscow's continuing efforts to interfere in our nation's electoral process, the mainstream media's headlines declared that Russia favors President Donald Trump in 2020. "It's 2016 all over again," declared leftist political pundits and Democrats as they dusted off the false narrative that Trump's victory was due to Russian interference.
Once again, there is no evidence that our nation's actual election process was compromised, rigged, or manipulated by the Russians or anyone else. The interference being breathlessly reported is largely that of a disinformation campaign waged mostly online via social media. While serious, it only becomes problematic when Americans lose trust in those ostensibly tasked with objectively reporting the news.
On Friday, a new headline hit declaring that the Russians are working to boost Bernie Sanders's campaign. The news was based on the leak of a classified briefing Sanders received a month ago in which he was notified by U.S. intelligence officials that Russians were actively engaged in an effort to support his campaign, evidently in a similar fashion to that of Trump's. There is little doubt that the Russians are doing exactly that, especially given that, ideologically, they have much more in common with Bolshevik Bernie's policy platform than Trump's.
The problem, however, is the obviously timed leak to the media. Responding to the news, Sanders alluded to this, stating, "I'll let you guess, about one day before the Nevada caucuses, why do you think it came out?" In any case, Sanders disavowed any Russian help, insisting, "I don't care, frankly, who [Vladimir] Putin wants to be president. My message to Putin is clear: 'Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.'"
Trump also blasted the media report, declaring, "MSDNC (Comcast Slime), CNN and others of the Fake Media, have now added Crazy Bernie to the list of Russian Sympathizers, along with Tulsi Gabbard & Jill Stein (of the Green Party), both agents of Russia, they say. But now they report President Putin wants Bernie (or me) to win." He then observed, "The reason for this is that the Do Nothing Democrats, using disinformation Hoax number 7, don't want Bernie Sanders to get the Democrat Nomination, and they figure this would be very bad for his chances. It's all rigged, again, against Crazy Bernie Sanders!"
The problem is not the MSM reporting on Russian efforts to interfere; it's that the MSM plays along with Moscow's false narrative suggesting that the Russians' objective is seeing a certain individual win the election, i.e. Trump or Sanders. The real objective of Russia's disinformation campaign is to sow distrust in America's electoral system, with the aim of further dividing our nation and weakening our government. Would Putin prefer a feckless Democrat such as Sanders to Trump? Most definitely, but his greater and longer-term goal is permanently disabling Americans' trust in our electoral system.
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Thomas Gallatin is a Features Editor at The Patriot Post.
Tags: Thomas Gallatin, The Patriot Post, Leftmedia, Not Russians, Biggest Threat to U.S. Elections To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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