Fake news from the intelligence agencies

A disinformation campaign to undermine the new president smells like payback

The news stories about the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election won’t end this week, this month or this year. That narrative is just a new version of the “Bush was selected, not elected” meme from the 2000 election.

Sixteen years ago the left and the media — not that they’re separable — tried to convince the American people that George W. Bush stole the election from Al Gore. Now, with the help of the American intelligence community (IC), they have substituted hacking Vlad for hanging chads.

Mr. Trump has made it easy for the media/liberal axis to keep this story afloat by strangely and repeatedly praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rex Tillerson’s nomination to be secretary of State was used by several senators at his confirmation hearing last week to portray him and Mr. Trump as Mr. Putin’s stooges.

The most troubling aspect of this is the Jan. 6 joint report by the CIA, FBI and NSA on the Russian interference in the election. President Obama ordered the report on Dec. 9. It was published less than a month later, two weeks before President-elect Trump takes office.

The report finds that Mr. Putin ordered a campaign to influence and discredit the 2016 election, saying that its goals were to undermine the democratic process and to disadvantage Mrs. Clinton and benefit Mr. Trump.

In the key passage, the report says that Mr. Putin wanted to discredit Mrs. Clinton because he blamed her for inciting mass demonstrations against him five years ago and because he holds a grudge against her for comments “he almost certainly saw as disparaging him.”

Who believes Mr. Putin is thin-skinned?

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