Every Time you open Twitter who turn on the television, you’re barraged with lefties who insist that there is overwhelming evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Case in point, here’s “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander from Wednesday:
The amount of evidence linking Trump org. & Putin/Russia with real ramifications to USA is mounting & horrifying. Special Prosecutor now!
— jason alexander (@IJasonAlexander) March 9, 2017
But as we know, this isn’t true. And we’re seeing some remarkable pushback on the above narrative from Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi who warned liberals and the MSM in his latest piece that the Russia story is actually a “minefield”:
Taibbi: Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media – Rolling Stone https://t.co/u3s3Q00XmM
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 8, 2017
Taibbi’s overall point is that Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has repeatedly said there’s “no evidence of collusion” but reporters keep writing pieces on the hope that something new turns up in the future, which could end up blowing up in their faces:
This is the former Director of National Intelligence telling all of us that as of 12:01 a.m. on January 20th, when he left government, the intelligence agencies had no evidence of collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and the government of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Virtually all of the explosive breaking news stories on the Trump-Russia front dating back months contain some version of this same disclaimer.
There is a lot of smoke in the Russia story. The most damning item is General Michael Flynn having improper discussions with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak prior to taking office. There is the much-discussed Republican platform change with regard to American assistance to Ukranian rebels, and the unreported contacts between officials like Jeff Sessions (and even Trump himself now) with Kislyak.
Moreover, the case that the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee now appears fairly solid. Even Donald Trump thinks so. This of course makes it harder to dismiss stories like the one in which former Trump adviser Roger Stone appeared to know that Wikileaks was about to release the hacked emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta.
But the manner in which these stories are being reported is becoming a story in its own right. Russia has become an obsession, cultural shorthand for a vast range of suspicions about Donald Trump.
Taibbi went on to all out SNL and DNC Chairman Tom Perez adding to the “pre-stoked expectations” of the Trump-Russia story:
All of this noise matters. The pop culture realm is filled with bits like the SNL “Santa Putin” routine, the New Yorker’s Cyrillic cover and the promiscuous use of terms like “Siberian Candidate.” Even the new DNC chief, Tom Perez, got in the act with a tweet about a Trump’s weekly address […]
Add all this to fringe-Internet reports about mysterious murders, and soon audiences come to every Russia story with pre-stoked expectations. Those expectations are what allow a paper to turn what may be a page nine story into a front-page sensation.
Many, as expected, aren’t happy with Taibbi’s warning:
https://twitter.com/Post_Truth_Era/status/839667895722459136
please don’t go Greenwald on us
— Marcus Jerräng (@blisk) March 8, 2017
this piece is full on ego disguised as glib reason. You consistently minimized even as every new revelation came out.
— dl willson (@im2b) March 8, 2017
This mofo. https://t.co/cvdzf4cGrw
— Dessalines (@Kiriende) March 9, 2017
Keep in mind, this “mofo” is no fan of President Trump:
I wrote a book called "Insane Clown President." I'm fine with laughing at Trump. But if this story fizzles, he'll be the one laughing. https://t.co/QLM8fxk2CB
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 8, 2017
You’ve been warned, Dems. Red the entire piece here.
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