Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum has been thinking a lot about the Steele dossier lately, what with it being confirmed to be absolute garbage and all.
But according to Anne, it doesn’t actually matter that the Steele dossier is absolute garbage, because, you know, Orange Man Bad:
Even if every single word in the Steele dossier was wrong, that would not change the fact that the Russians sought to manipulate the US election using hacked material and a disinformation campaign. Nor would it change the fact that the Trump family welcomed this intervention.
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) November 17, 2021
Also, given the fact that the Russians sought to manipulate the US election campaign using hacked material and a disinformation campaign, it was not stupid for the FBI to take the Steele dossier seriously. Was a mistake to publish it, but that wasn't the FBI's fault.
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) November 17, 2021
It wasn’t the FBI’s fault that they failed to properly vet the document they used to justify surveillance of Carter Page!
And it’s not Anne Applebaum’s fault that she’s full of it!
https://twitter.com/KCMOTurbo/status/1460985989220818955
Shot, shot, shot, shot, chaser. pic.twitter.com/Or6XyzlCV8
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) November 17, 2021
"I was wrong but here's why I wasn't wrong" https://t.co/3hX7XG3i26
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) November 17, 2021
Not that we had a great deal of respect for Anne Applebaum to begin with, but we’d at least manage to muster up a tiny bit if she’d just swallow her pride and admit that she was wrong, full stop.
Another example: here we have an alleged defender of democracy justifying the worst kind of abuse of power — law enforcement agencies illegally spying on an opposition campaign and lying to undercut the elected government. https://t.co/HmzaMJHKuH
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 17, 2021
What the FBI did was far more damaging than all the Russia bots in the world.
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) November 17, 2021
Ostensible responsible journalists like Anne Applebaum did plenty of damage themselves.
The FBI relied on the dossier to obtain a highly intrusive surveillance warrant on an American citizen w/o verifying the underlying allegations. But also, the bigger harm of the dossier came from the gullible media treating its claims as plausible/factual. https://t.co/WpHEQzdRtb
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) November 17, 2021
The big story was not Russian attempts to manipulate the election, but the claim that Trump colluded in that attempt. The result was a media/Democrats wild goose chase that consumed and distorted US politics for more than two years. https://t.co/S0lVL03bdA
— Brit Hume (@brithume) November 17, 2021
The media refuses to admit that the real disinformation was a three year Russiagate investigation built on a lie.
Why? Because their industry profited from the disinformation. https://t.co/PNI00uXi48
— Michael Duncan (@MichaelDuncan) November 17, 2021
you guys pushing the Steele dossier was actually Russian disinformation pic.twitter.com/p3K28Ck4hR
— Dr. Richard Harambe (@Richard_Harambe) November 17, 2021
True story.
For the left, only the narrative matters.
The details are just details.
Trump was a Liar™ so everything he said was a lie. Biden is a Truthteller™ so everything he says has a truthful explanation. https://t.co/sZEfNiKAUO
— Heimish Conservative (@HeimishCon) November 17, 2021
Trump was Putin's Puppet™ so even if specific details were incorrect, in general he was Putin's Puppet™
Biden is an Honest Public Servant™ so all the evidence in the world he might be corrupt is just missing a bit of context and explanation.
— Heimish Conservative (@HeimishCon) November 17, 2021
Trump was clearly a Raciat™ and an Antisemite™ so when he RTd a meme with a 6 cornered star graphic, it was clearly Jew hatred.
But Biden is a Wonderful Compassionate Man™ so saying "negro" or "you ain't black" are innocent poorly-worded affectionate blunders.
— Heimish Conservative (@HeimishCon) November 17, 2021
Pssst, Anne Applebaum … you’re part of the problem:
Just remembered Anne appeared on a podcast about Russia & "disinformation" with none other than Steele this summer. LOL. Keep in mind that at that point Steele hadn't given his Stephanopoulos interview, so this was a rare chance to hold Steele accountable, and she didn't take it. https://t.co/y2MKOjIsgb pic.twitter.com/B43kq9l2wK
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) November 17, 2021
Just own it.