Like other conspiracy theorist, RussiaGate deniers believe they hold special knowledge which separates them from those that believe “the official account”. In the case of RussiaGate (Russian election interference and Russian links to the Trump campaign), the Mueller report and related investigations create the narrative for the “official account”.
In an article published at CounterPunch, a popular leftwing media organization, Paul Street argues RussiaGate is essentially a nothingburger. Street’s arguments are meant to minimize the extent of the Russian election interference by making a series of red herring arguments, including claims like, “you can’t undermine a democracy that never was a democracy” and “we do it too, so you can't complain”.
For example, Paul Street states, “First, there was no great US “democracy” for Russia to “undermine” in the first place. Domestic wealth and power structures, home-grown-oligarchy and plutocracy...and racist voter suppression…”
This is true, in fact I’ll take this argument back even further. Scholar Robert Mickey argues in his book, Paths out of Dixie, that until the 1970s, with institutionalized slavery and Jim Crow, the “southern states are best understood as 11 enclaves of authoritarian rule.” In other words, the deep south was never a democracy.
It is no great secret US democracy has always been more of an aspiration than an actuality. News Flash: The Shining City upon a hill is not a real city. Protecting and expanding our limited and challenged democratic institutions, which were handed off to us by our Founding Fathers, is a continuous enterprise.
Yes, this nation has never fully achieved true democracy. We’ve been fighting for democracy ever since the pregnancy of our nation. That doesn’t mean we should throw in the towel and stop struggling for democracy now. Paul Street’s argument is a classic red herring argument meant to divert attention away from Russian interference of our elections.
According to the Mueller report, the Russian’s "defrauded the US" in the 2016 elections in a “sweeping and systematic fashion”. This is something new to US elections. The Russian cyber attack has dragged America’s democratic aspirations down further. The Russian's have yanked us deeper into the mud, making democracy even harder to grasp. Foreign election attacks have added a new, deep, dark, ugly layer of muck on American democracy.
Now, not only do we have to fight off the legal corporate corruption and supreme court sanctioned gerrymandering, we now have to deal illegal hacking, a monstrous disinformation (Russian Active Measures) campaign, trolls manufacturing deepfakes, a foreign government invasion of our privacy, and even cyber attacks on State election rolls, data bases, and voting machine software. What’s next, vote changing by a foreign government?
RussiaGate deniers make red herring arguments to prime their unsuspecting audience for their slippery slope arguments follow. Paul Street will tell you, "Superpower Uncle Sam continues to regularly intervene in and otherwise impact the internal affairs of other nations (Russian included) all over the world.."
That may be true too. However, if you opposed US election interference abroad, wouldn’t you think to oppose election interference here in the US as well? If you haven't opposed US election interference abroad before, maybe it time to rethink your position.
For the RussiaGate deniers, once they have convince you a "sweeping and systematic" attack on our elections was nothing more than just a "slight", unsuccessful, or hardly worth the time attempt, the deniers they will take you down the rabbit hole like so many other conspiracy theories.
They will introduce you to slippery-slope claims like “they tired” but we don't know if they succeeded. They will suggest the DNC’s emails might not have been hacked by the Russian’s at all. They will tell you the emails could have been leaked. None of this is true. At this point, you know you are talking to a true RussiaGate denier.
The Mueller report made clear the Russians hacked the DNC emails and dozens of other private emails. Mueller makes clear the Russians continue to hack and steal data from State election offices, politicians, political organizations all across America all the while sowing discord through troll spreading harmful disinformation.
RussiaGate deniers are working to minimize the impact of Russia’s ongoing cyber-attacks on our elections. They want Americans to minimize or outright dismiss the actual Mueller report findings. They will lure you into their red herring arguments then drag you down their slippery-slope. They'll emphatically state, “nothing to see here, look away, Mueller found nothing, it's no big deal”. As Trump repeatedly and falsely claims, “No Collusion, No Obstruction”. And that is definitely Not True and not what the Mueller report states.