Ep. 43: RussiaGate, Year 3 - How Liberals' Martial Posture Harms the Left (Part I)

For over two years, the U.S. government has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election - interference broadly considered to be in favor of candidate Donald Trump. As a result, a bizarre flip has occurred with the Right and Left: Polls show liberals now trust the FBI and CIA, while many right-wingers – though by no means all – suddenly act concerned about the so-called “deep state.” Liberals have been turned into even more extreme hawks, not just on the issue of Russia, but anything that shores up support for American intelligence agencies broadly seen, fair or not, as a check on the unhinged Trump administration. 

Given that so much of RussiaGate coverage is about the alleged manipulation of Black activists, anti-fracking protesters, the Green Party –and even Bernie Sanders supporters - to attack Hillary Clinton and her campaign, the consequence has been the media, time and again, framing Leftist dissent as de facto Russian propaganda. 

Today we ask: what is the collateral damage of RussiaGate on left-wing activists and media? Who does Red Scare 2.0 benefit, and how can we be honest about "foreign influence" without losing our minds over it? 

In Part I of this two-part episode, we are joined by Jacobin's Branko Marcetic.

Guest

Branko Marcetic is a staff writer at Jacobin.

Show Notes

The Man Behind KeyWiki

Branko Marctic | June 19, 2018 | Jacobin

When It Comes to the Fake News Scourge, Russia Doesn’t Hold a Candle to U.S. Conservative Media 

Branko Marctic | February 22, 2018 | In These Times

Russiagate Targets the Left

Branko Marctic | February 21, 2018 | Jacobin

Dem. Senator calls out Bernie Sanders to "disavow" Russian support

The Beat with Ari Melber | February 16, 2018 | MSNBC

What We’ve Learned in Year 1 of Russiagate

Aaron Maté | February 9, 2018 | The Nation

The Silencing of Dissent 

Chris Hedges | September 17, 2017 | Truthdig

US Government Tries and Fails to Play Media Critic on RT

Adam Johnson | January 10, 2017 | FAIR

An open letter to Google: Stop the censorship of the Internet!

David North | 25 August 2017 | World Socialist Web Site

Obsession With the Russia Connection Is a High-Risk Anti-Trump Strategy

Greg Grandin | April 6, 2017 | The Nation

Rather Than Exposing Propaganda, WaPo Shows How It’s Done 

David Lindorff | December 8, 2016 | FAIR

Russia 'secretly working with environmentalists to oppose fracking'

Fiona Harvey | June 19, 2014 | The Guardian

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Transcript

 A full transcript of this episode is available here. 

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