Winstonm, on 2017-November-13, 22:07, said:
I find it odd that from that article this is your takeaway.
I think this Russian collusion story is really about how technology has disrupted the intelligence agencies ability to control the narrative (propaganda) and thus the public opinion in our elections. Radical transparency organizations can hack network systems and publish titillating information overnight that sway public opinion and instantly change the poll leader.
This is worrisome on principle alone. But, it is even more worrisome in a Presidential campaign financing system where the victor and the loser are beholden to answering to powerful, gargantuan donors when a surprise disrupts this well-oiled political machine.
Trump won and that, my friend, was an unpleasant surprise.
The Washington elite could not digest this new political reality. They had to admit to their comrades and dismayed donors that their political analysis was wrong and deeply flawed. And there's two things politicians don't like to do: (1) Publicly acknowledge their mistakes and (2) Pi$$ off big donors! It was a new experience for some of the Washington elite and as expected, they realized they weren't in Kansas anymore and became determined to find out how they got played and who perpetrated this fraud.
Enter political kabuki theatre.
Our government didn't take this election meddling threat THAT seriously
until HRC loss and conceded defeat. Trump became President-Elect and leader of THE FORGOTTEN, THE DOWNTRODDEN, THE UNHEARD, THE DISILLUSIONED, and yes, even THE DEPLORABLES. Trump's ascension to power elevated the national security threat assessment for election meddling to high as hell. It was only then that our federal agencies and the 4th estate formally declared that a miscarriage of justice had occurred.
Convenient timing for such collective outrage.
A seemingly rigged federal election produced an unplanned outcome. Who would've thought? Clearly, the powerful wizards of Washington were caught off guard when their magic didn't work this season. They had no choice but to pull almost every lever of the United States government to identify the bad actors.
That's what Congress spent all of 2017 unapologetically doing. Congress hasn't passed many meaningful bills this year but has provided an excellent platform of eye candy hearings over the Russia collusion story line. Almost all of the hearings were fit for public consumption.
Sadly, we are in a perpetual state of reactionary leadership and ineffectual triage management. And that back story won't receive much attention because it isn't as sexy as espionage overtures.
Trump's ascension to the Office of the President was a rude awakening for the Washington elite. They went all in on a post-Cold War national retail politics strategy and that approach failed BIG TIME. And these bought politicians better have some damn good answers for their huge political donors who wasted all of that precious money on a losing Presidential candidate.
In response, Washington declared that there was an enemy of the state that had infiltrated our election system and attacked the foundation of our democracy.
And now that enemy is Wikileaks which is an alleged front for the Russian government. Fascinating...
All I need to do now is find my ruby red shoes, put them on, close my eyes, and click my heels three times and repeat, "There's no place like home!"