The mainstream media convinced a large portion of the American public that their elected president was illegitimate, playing straight into Vladimir Putin's hands.
For the past two years, the mainstream media has reported hysterically on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. To listen to their apoplectic rants, one would believe it was the first time the Russians had ever interfered in U.S. domestic affairs.
Although this falsehood played embarrassingly well with cable news audiences, one doesn’t have to consult a CIA historian to realize that Russia has actively engaged in meddling and disinformation operations for decades to sow discord among Americans and undermine their confidence in U.S. institutions.
The 2016 Russian disinformation campaign was indisputably Russia’s most successful anti-USA propaganda operation to date. It divided families, ruptured friendships, and caused millions of Americans to question the legitimacy of their country’s leader and the system that elected him.
However, Vladimir Putin’s golden arrow was not the half-million dollars of social media advertisements and posts that seeded this turmoil, it was Russian intelligence’s minor contribution to Christopher Steele’s dossier, solicited by the Hillary Clinton campaign. What’s painfully ironic is that it did not cost Putin a dime. In fact, he likely pocketed a few Rubles from it.
The Steele Dossier
This Steele dossier was the predication of the investigation into President Donald Trump, which has been at the epicenter of the country’s deep divide. The dossier was a weapon, but like all weapons, Putin needed hands to wield it: He needed accomplices. Who would put the weapon into action? Who would spread the deception to the American people and convince them that their lives and their country lay in the hands of a deranged lunatic who answered to a foreign power?
Apparently, Putin understood all too well the misplaced loyalties of the leadership Barack Obama placed in America’s judicial and intelligence institutions. He also understood the American media’s disdain for Republican presidents. He observed the escalation of the media’s attacks on Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan, and the media’s willingness to engage in lies and deception.
Although Putin is an intelligent and calculating villain, never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined such success from so little effort. It is likely he underestimated how hellbent the corrupt government officials and an unscrupulous media were to overturn the will of the American people.
Obama’s Deep State actors ran with Putin’s disinformation to initiate an unprecedented investigation on a sitting president—an investigation that lacked a shred of credible evidence to justify any level of investigation. Nonetheless, anything as illegal as an attempted soft coup predicated on knowingly false, malicious, unsubstantiated reports requires accomplices.
The perpetrators needed to convince the American people that their seditious activities had merit, so messaging to the American people needed to be consistent and repetitive. It required constant bombardment, day and night, of accusations bolstered by convincing charlatans to erode any doubt in the minds of the media audience that their outlandish accusations were true.
The Media’s Role
Working together and coordinating their false pretenses, the mainstream media were successful. They convinced a large portion of the American public that their elected president was illegitimate. They convinced many that their election system and their governing documents were flawed. In doing so, they fomented discord and pitted American against American. In short, the American media accomplished Putin’s goals.
We now know that neither President Trump nor anyone in hiscampaign or administration coordinated with...
