It’s maddening to see some conservatives suddenly embracing WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, whom they once rightly vilified for betraying US secrets.
Even President-elect Donald Trump has joined in, promoting Assange’s credibility over that of US intelligence agencies.
In the process, they’re playing right into the hands of Democratic conspiracy theorists who maintain Russia “stole” the election for Trump.
Which is nonsense on stilts. Moscow may well have been behind the hacking of embarrassing Democratic National Committee emails — but the “dirt” was merely gossip fodder for insiders, at best a sideshow ignored by most voters.
That’s the point Trump and his supporters should be making — not wasting time defending Vladimir Putin’s reputation.
Or promoting the vile Assange.
Clearly, a refresher course is called for: Assange published hundreds of thousands of pages of classified military and diplomatic documents on US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His purpose was to undermine American credibility on both fronts — with no regret that he provided info that let Taliban death squads target locals who’d helped US forces.
Back then, the left hailed him as the second coming of Daniel Ellsberg, while the right — including Trump, who said he deserved “the death penalty” — called for his prosecution. Now the tables are turned.
The DNC hacks didn’t disclose important secrets or endanger lives. They merely embarrassed top Democrats.
But a growing number of Democrats now believe Russia actually manipulated voting tallies for Trump — something no one has seriously alleged. That’s a real threat to this democracy — and the lie Trump & Co. should be busy fighting.