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Why would media come up with such an absurd, 4chan-style conspiracy theory that Trump was a KGB puppet or that somehow Russia brainwashed people into voting for
by rsj_hn 5y ago
Why would media come up with such an absurd, 4chan-style conspiracy theory that Trump was a KGB puppet or that somehow Russia brainwashed people into voting for him?
The only thing I can think of is the governing class was shocked and terrified by Trump winning the election and was scrambling for some kind of narrative, and so a random accusation used in the campaign became a Schelling point for "the resistance". It was not the result of cool deliberation, or thoughtful investigation into the facts. It was a cry of panic.
But once it became the thing people rallied around, the news couldn't just backtrack and say "Yeah, this is cringe. Please ignore."
So they had to keep pushing it, or at least pretend to treat it like it was a real story, and it was used as the cloak for impeachment and other types of political battles. This was the time when independent reporters like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi went full WTF mode on US news media, and were responsible for some of the most enjoyable picking apart of this narrative. Much better than the whole propaganda surrounding the invasion of Iraq, which was a war completely prosecuted on word-association - in which "Saddam" was pronounced next to "Al Qaeda" over and over again, in press conference after press conference and news reports ad nauseam until many otherwise honest people started saying "Yeah, they must be colluding together."
But that was nothing compared to hordes of angry New England soccer moms wearing pussy hats marching against KGB-puppets seizing control of their nation. Someone needs to make a movie.
But now there is no need for the "resistance" narrative and I'm sure almost everyone who participated in pushing that hoax turns a bit red when they look back on it. That's why you are not hearing a lot about it, just as people would prefer you not spend a lot of time thinking about Saddam's ties to Al Qaeda.
- throwawaylinux 5y ago> But once it became the thing people rallied around, the news couldn't just backtrack and say "Yeah, this is cringe. Please ignore." Well firstly, why couldn't they do that? And secondly, why would they do that? If/when they realized it turned out to be wrong, doesn't the story then become who got it wrong and why? Why did no media organization start asking those questions? But secondly it wasn't just the news corporations involved in this. People like Schiff, sitting on the powerful house intelligence committee, were coming out and saying they had "ample evidence" Trump had colluded with Putin. Of course this is a newsworthy thing to report on, but where is that evidence? Did Adam never have any, or is he now hiding it (maybe he's been blackmailed by Putin too?) Why did Mueller's investigation string out for years only to come out and say they found no evidence to substantiate the claim Trump or campaign conspired with Russians? Why was that never clarified that the investigation did not actually have any evidence yet? And why haven't any real journalists from actual news organizations seriously been looking into these things? Just really weird that there was this massive story that was front page news literally for years that pretty much got memory-holed overnight one day.
- crateless 5y agoIt was driving clicks/viewership. If it bleeds, it leads was 20th century. Now what we have is fearmongering and outrage soundbite peddlers.
- standardUser 5y agoThere was a ton of illegal activity uncovered. A bunch of people went to jail over that investigation.
- rsj_hn 5y agoOh, really? Do you have a list of all the people who went to jail for colluding with Russia in order to elect Trump? That would be a nice list.
- standardUser 5y agoI don't see what you're getting at. This stuff has been written about at great length. Many people in positions of power were caught in criminal acts in that investigation, which to me makes it a very useful and successful investigation. I hope to see much more of the same in the future.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoIf you don't believe there is more to the story, then you would accept that you were badly mislead by the investigation and the reporting around it though? If that's all it was, just going after a few lackeys, do you think it would have been better if they had come out right away and said "we have never seen any evidence or suggestion that Trump or his campaign was involved in any wrongdoing surrounding the election or Russian collusion, all we are investigating is Cohen and Manafort's finances and taxes? You don't see any problems with how things were conducted?