Despite what you may have heard, there conclusively was interference from Russia in the 2016 election. Aside from the FBI indicting several people, at least one Russian oligarch has admitted this.
Putin’s goal in this was to sow seeds of doubt in democracy. To show that one of democracy’s greatest weaknesses was among its guiding principles – government by the people. To show that the people cannot choose what is best for themselves.
Fast forward to January 2021 and people have been convinced that it was the 2020 election which was unfair, despite a lack of any real evidence, resulting in an insurrection. Fast forward to 2022 where the Republican party is focused on seizing what used to be non-partisan positions which in some way oversee election procedures, only to find that they actual do need popular support to gain power.
While things appear to be working out, we seem to have forgotten Putin’s role in this. Political polarization has increased, and along with it, hostility, and large swaths of the American population living in separate realities. No one seems to be talking about how this was likely Putin’s plan to begin with – to lead some to believe that autocracy has more merits than democracy. The right-wing of America, “coincidentally,” seems more and more on board with allowing Putin to illegally invade and annex portions of a sovereign nation, unaware of who may have lead them to this stance – that has been lost in the noise.
Part Nine of Nine Months of Non-Fiction.