The Forbidden Fruit

Nothing captures the absurdity of the 2016 Presidential election like the WikiLeaks scandal.  The so-called "freedom of information" website is releasing a series of purported emails from the chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign this month--and they include information you would expect: the Clinton campaign worked with the Democratic National Committee to torpedo Bernie Sanders' campaign, Clinton promised open borders and unfettered trade to the Wall Street firms that paid her millions of dollars for speeches, the Clinton campaign has reporters at most of the networks and several major websites on call to do "sympathetic" stories for them whenever their candidate was hit hard by real journalism, and that Chelsea Clinton was the only one concerned about the access given to donors to the family foundation.

You would think that everybody and their brother in the press and at Republican national headquarters would be reading these emails verbatim at the top of their lungs to anyone who will listen--but these are actually ill-gotten gains.  The hacking was likely done by state-sponsored Russians.  The State Department has issued a statement asking media outlets not to use anything from the WikiLeaks site, as it believes this is a coordinated attempt by Vladimir Putin to influence the Presidential election.

So to go around trumpeting the not-really-that-surprising "revelations" in the Clinton campaign emails equates to literally aiding the enemy--which makes Donald Trump's use of the "facts" contained in the emails (some of which have been proven to be fake, by the way) almost treasonous and actually makes the Russian subterfuge effective.  And if the Russian hackers can get into the Clinton campaign system, you know full well that they can get into sensitive Republican correspondences--and the Trump campaign too.  Although, the Trump emails are likely all "Who can we totally alienate today?" and the GOP emails are along the lines of "Has anyone considered a name change for the party so people no longer think Trump is with us?"

The correct "usage" of the WikiLeaks documents should not be "we have 'proof' that Clinton is a two-faced liar!" (like that will sway any voters now).  Instead, their acquisition by the Russians should be held up as an example of the complete and utter failure of the "Reset With Russia" diplomatic effort spearheaded by Clinton herself while Secretary of State.  Remember, we were going to work with Vladimir Putin to reduce his influence in Europe, to get him on our side as an ally in the fight against Islamic Terrorism and to put an end to state-sponsored hacking?  Instead, you have a despot who is so emboldened by American weakness that his troops are in Ukraine, his jet fighters are killing those trying to defeat ISIS in Syria and by all accounts, his hackers are brainwashing a Presidential candidate and his legion of gullible followers--all of whom are more than willing to take a bite of the forbidden fruit.