For the second time since Thanksgiving, Washington Post has issued a Russian-related news-dump at the end of the workweek which features light evidence on some pretty major allegations, and the political media world has eaten it up.
Despite any concrete evidence, Washington Post and others have taken statements from the CIA and run with them, without demanding verification or proof for what they claim is state-sponsored election interference being perpetrated by the Russian government.
Though many are deep in Red Scare hysteria, those of us who have seen this fear-mongering from the start have reason to be skeptical. Though the CIA has indicated that evidence exists to link Russia to the election in some form, they have not yet provided any of their evidence, nor can they conclusively state who perpetrated the attacks or for what reason they did so.
Was the hack caused by Putin himself, or are we blaming an entire nation for the actions of a handful of citizens? Was the hack intended to skew the election in Trump’s favor, or was it merely to send a message to Clinton and a Democratic establishment who spent the last eight years in opposition to Putin?
In the previous red-scare release on the evening of Thanksgiving, Washington Post depended on the word from two illegitimate sources when they claimed that most “fake news” was being supplied by Russian sources. That story was eventually thoroughly debunked, and we can’t help but wonder if this new story is more of the same.
Though Donald Trump would dismiss the claims outright, it is clear that the only thing we can demand on either side of the aisle is that a thorough and transparent investigation be done to truly determine if Russia had any role in the 2016 election. Throughout the investigation, I’s must be dotted and T’s must be crossed to ensure that no false conclusions are made on such serious allegations.
We must also take note that it only serves the DNC narrative to implicate Russians into the election’s turnout. What better than to say that Clinton lost not through her own failures, or the failures of the party, but because of a nefarious outside source?
Make no mistake – these accusations are incredibly serious and if proven to be true, severely complicate relations between two of the world’s superpowers, but we cannot substitute evidence for hysteria.
